Introduction to the article

The article "the populace and the police: models of social control in reality based crime television" by Jessica Fishman. The author talks about how people use a narrative of myth to understand the world. since myth contain the fundamental symbols and values which bind a group together. Such as myths about authority, power and social conflict. Fishman focuses on reality based crime TV shows, com parring two types of ideologies,progressive and populist.

Progressive myth supports is the ideology that authority, power and property is given to an elite few.

Populism myth devalues the political culture of centralized government, it facilitates a diffusing of property and power.

Fishman uses this framework to compare to crime reality shows, "cops" and America's most wanted"