Popular Liberation in the Midst of a Peaceful War: A mixed-methods study on the impact of mass media on people’s attitudes and perceptions about gangs
Abstract
My College Senior Thesis is based on field research conducted in El Salvador in 2015. The mixed methods included 405 surveys and interviews. The purpose of this experiment was to examine the impacts on affective empathy from exposure to media reports on gang members, violence, and civilian security among college students at four universities in El Salvador.
For this study, I administered one of three news articles that either framed gang members, violence, and civilian security through a (a) neutral (a news report about turtles), (b) fear-based (a news report blaming gangs for high rates of homicides), or (c) human rights framework (a news report about a gang member who successfully rehabilitated and reintegrated into society). Then, I asked participants to complete a questionnaire that assessed socio-demographic characteristics and their attitudes, perceptions, and stereotypes about gang members.
Participants responded to 25 short statements. For example, “Young people become gang members because they are poor,” “Gangs are more powerful than the government,” and “The best way to eradicate gangs is by killing them all.” Participants rated each statement from 1 to 6 (1 = Strongly Disagree, 6 = Strongly Agree).
Results: Using SPSS, I conducted ANOVA (analysis of variance) tests to examine associations between participants’ attitudes, perceptions, and stereotypes about gangs and the type of media framing they were exposed to. Results suggested that empathy was significantly correlated with exposure to fear-based news (F = 3.399, p = .034). Participants who read human rights-based news, compared to fear-based news, reported higher levels of empathy for gang members. They, in turn, had less punitive attitudes toward gangs, were less likely to see gangs as powerful, and held more humanizing views toward them. My field experiment builds on scholars who have researched gang violence and insecurity in El Salvador.
With this in mind, my thesis is divided into three sections. First, I provide background on the Civil War and contextualize Salvadoran history through a liberation psychology framework. Second, I discuss Salvadoran politics since the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN)'s 2009 electoral victory. Finally, I explore solutions and alternatives to the current state of social relations in El Salvador.
To be precise, firstly, this thesis contextualizes El Salvador’s historical U.S.-backed Civil War (1980-1992) in El Salvador, the formation of gangs in the United States, and the consolidation of gangs in El Salvador through deportations. Consequently, I analyze the military-industrial complex and its relationship to a revolutionary political setback. Then, I engage in a critical conversation about the 2012 historical dialogue between gangs, followed by the 2014 destabilizing media campaign.
Lastly, I share some of the solutions proposed by Salvadorans I met during my field study. The essay ends with alternatives that seek to enact healing from our historical and social trauma(s).
