Media representations of the nouveaux riches and the cultural constitution of the global middle class

The article offers a distinctive account of how the nouveaux riches serve as an anchor for a range of upper- middle- class ambivalences and anxieties associated with transformations of capitalism and shifting global hierarchies. Reflecting the long- term association of middle- class symbolic boundaries with notions of refinement and respectability, it examines how the discourse of civility shapes how the nouveaux riches are represented to the upper middle class, identifying a number of recurrent media frames and narrative tropes related to vulgarity, civility, and order. The author argues that these representations play a central role in the reproduction of the Western professional middle class, and in the cultural constitution of a global middle class — professional, affluent, urban, and affiliated by an aesthetic regime of civility that transcends national borders. The findings underline the significance of representations of the new super- rich as devices through which the media accomplish the global circulation of an upper- middle- class repertoire of cultural capital, which is used both to police shifting class boundaries and to establish a legitimate preserve for univorous snobbishness

Effectiveness of Mobile Telecommunication Networks (MTN), Corporate Social Responsibility in the Development of Education in Enugu State, Nigeria

In Nigeria, just like in many other parts of the globe, there is increase in the CSR movement. Studies have shown that organisations embark on Corporate Social Responsibility in different ways and for varied reasons, which include corporate reputation and branding management, etc.This study investigated the effectiveness of public relations in promoting MTN corporate social responsibility operations in development of education in Enugu state, Nigeria. The researcher used cross-sectional survey research method for the collection of quantitative data. The population of the study was 25,911 government secondary school teachers in the three senatorial zones that make up Enugu state. Instrument for data collection used was questionnaire. The findings showed that out of the 404 respondents used in the study, 365 (90.3%) have high level of awareness of the MTN corporate social responsibility. This means that majority of the respondents used in the study are knowledgeable about the CSR programmes of MTN Nigeria. There are eight broad categories of the corporate social responsibility programmes of MTN which few will be mentioned: The MTN foundation Child-friendly school initiative, MTN who wants to be a millionaire, MTN project fame West Africa etc. The results revealed that out of the 404 respondents used in the study, (53.5%) have benefited from MTN foundation while, (46.5%), of the respondents disagreed that the (CSR) programmes of MTN do not influence their patronage. The study recommended among others that government should promulgate national policies which will ensure that multinational companies develop and practice good customer relations programmes