Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
Communication, Professional
Date of Award
5-2011
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
John M. King, Stephen W. Marshall
Committee Members
Weixing Chen
Abstract
This study will provide a clearer understanding of the construct, Third World, which may not seem to have a consensus meaning. This is because its perceived definition, which is linked, first to feudalism and then to the socio-politico conditions that existed during the period leading up to and immediately after the cold war means that its conceptual metamorphosis should have ceased once these periods were relegated to the annals of history.
Whether and how contemporary definitions of Third World have changed since then should be of interest to scholars and is the focus of this study. This is because anecdotally speaking the media have reframed this construct in a manner that recreates, so called, Third World nations into the three categories of very Third World, somewhat Third World, and not at all Third World. What this study reveals, however, is that these distinctions and to some extent the designations of nations as first, second, and third worlds are misleading colloquialisms.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Fiske, James Tutu, "Western Media use of the Third World Construct: A Framing Analysis of its Validity." (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1246. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1246
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.