Conflicts of Race, Class and Gender Under the Hidden...

INTRODUCTION Dance Moms, in its fourth season on Lifetime, a channel whose main demographic is women, featuring dance studio owner/dance teacher Abby Lee Miller, is the flagship â€Å"maternal television† program to be examined in this paper. Abby is famous for the pyramid, a system in which she ranks her favorite dance students (top of the pyramid) and least favorite (bottom) directly in front of the students and their mothers. These three groups of females, particularly the mothers and Abby, are in constant negotiation with another as they fight for a place at top of the pyramid and this paper theorizes the techniques and reasons for their power negotiations. Employing the method of content analysis, I examine the†¦show more content†¦The women’s ways of negotiating are usually related to class and gender. However, race is not to be left out and can be a factor in these negotiations since dance mom Holly is the only African-American in an all-white cast. Analyzi ng how, gender, class and now race, play a role in these power negotiations will demonstrate how Abby represents men and a patriarchal society which in turn reveals the nature of hurt different women sustain as a group in a male-dominated world. The popularity of the program can be attributed to various socio economic factors. Mainly the economy plays a vital part in the popularity of reality television and Dance Moms. New technology has made cameras more mobile and allows viewers real-time glimpses of never before seen lives. Due to Dance Moms using â€Å"ordinary people† the program is also more inexpensive to produce. The popularity of talent shows such as Dancing with the Stars and a recent â€Å"tween boom† makes Dance Moms a familiar hit with females of various ages as various ages are present on the program. The behavior of the women is also due to the socioeconomic times they are in. Not needing to work despite the tough economy and fighting boredom, the mother s only worries are out doing one another— not figuring out how to pay a bill. Due to the mothers being high class, they provide insight into a world for the privileged. The program portrays supermoms that sacrifice their lives for their beautiful, talented