Dr. Danielle Lindemann

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124 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Mar 2025 last heard Mar 2025

Dr. Danielle Lindemann’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Ologies with Alie Ward · Reality TV Sociology (‘TRASH’ TV) with Danielle Lindemann · 5 Mar 2025 podcast
Oh, that's such a good question. I sometimes say that my love of sociology actually stems from my early love of reality TV. So I was definitely a fan of reality TV even before I knew what sociology was, you know, watching episodes of The Real World back in high school. And I was just hooked, you know.
And I think the same kinds of social dynamics that I saw on those shows are the same things that excite me about sociology. So then when I became a sociologist, I was like, well, I obviously have to teach a class on sociology of reality TV because there's so much there. So it was just an amazing dovetail of my two loves, sociology and reality TV.
That's a good question. I would not say there are a lot of sociologists who work on reality TV. And I do think there's a lot of stigma around studying something that people see as frivolous. like reality TV. But at the same time, a lot of sociologists have sort of come out of the woodwork or come out to me as people who love reality TV because of what I study. And so that's really exciting to see.
But there definitely is still a kind of stigma around it in academia.
Oh, yeah, for sure. There are tears in terms of this kind of ladder of respectability. In fact, there are a lot of people who tell me that they don't watch reality TV. And for the most part, they do. It just turns out they watch things like HGTV or the Great British Bake. You know, they feel more wholesome because they're kind of trying to teach you something. They're less conflict driven.
Although I would still classify those shows as reality, like House Hunters, I would still say is reality TV. But I think there's a sense of some shows that are maybe more education, overtly educational, less conflict driven. People see as more kind of wholesome and acceptable.
And it's kind of interesting because when people tell me they don't watch reality TV, oftentimes they'll say, well, I mean, I don't watch the Kardashians. I don't watch Real Housewives. That's what they think of when they think of reality TV. But most people are watching reality TV in some form.
So it's kind of an unsatisfying answer. But as a sociologist, I often say reality TV is a social construct. And so there isn't any one definition of it. So it's kind of messy as a construct. The definition that I use, there's two things, basically, is people behaving as themselves rather than as characters. And you can already see how that's kind of messy, right?
If there's some scripting involved, you know, it's all kind of performative. People are still performing. But basically, it's, you know, Kim Kardashian is being Kim Kardashian. She's not playing a character.
And then the main intent is to entertain rather than educate. So like the news wouldn't be considered reality TV, although again, that gets messy, right? Because... pick what stories to tell in the news to entertain. But the main purpose of a documentary allegedly is to educate. But again, a lot of messiness, right? You can probably think of a lot of exceptions, right?
What side of the line a certain thing goes on.
Yeah, that's right. Again, I think you nailed it when you said the closer to documentary it is, people see it as more kind of legitimate. I think you used the word smut, right? Like less smutty if it's overtly trying to teach us something. Although, of course, I argue that all reality TV is actually can be educational for us if we know where to look.
And so people tune into different shows for different reasons, right? And there probably are people who are watching like Bake Off or Top Chef to like learn how to sous vide meat or make a souffle. Right. I also cannot do those things. So there is that educational element. But so there's a lot of research that looks at why people tune in.
One of the things is that kind of voyeurism element where you're watching the train wreck to remind yourself that you are not of the train wreck to feel slightly superior. Right. Like. Well, my life might be messed up in some ways, but at least I'm not like competing on The Bachelor or eating bugs for the camera. So there definitely is that, you know, there's also that sort of community.
But, you know, we can come into community with people, you know, from a wide demographic array just by saying, you know, I like The Real Housewives. And we can have conversations around the water cooler online. So we have there's that community aspect to it as well.
But also paradoxically, even though we watch it to remind ourselves that we are not of the train wreck, oftentimes the people on the shows kind of resonate with us or we feel a connection with them. because reality TV tends to traffic in these broad archetypes, right? Like there's the shy one, there's the bossy one, there's the smart one.
So usually there's like someone you can grab onto and say, well, I'm not exactly like this person, but you know, I'm more of a Chloe than a Kim. I think we need to do some soul searching. Speak for yourself. Or you can kind of grab onto and feel that kinship with the people on the shows. And that's by design.
I mean, it also speaks to the question of is reality TV reality? Mm-hmm. Right. And I think most people at this point don't think reality TV is a hundred percent reality. Like we're pretty savvy. We know that people are being cast to fit these particular archetypes and anything that falls outside of the realm of that storyline of that archetype is cut out.
So we don't really see people as kind of whole people oftentimes, right? If there's someone who is the worst 5% of the time, then we're going to see that 5%, right? We're not going to see that like the other 95% of the wonderful things that that they do. And then, you know, they're prodded with producer questions, free-flowing alcohol and sleep deprivation and all that stuff.
So are they 100% the worst? Probably not. But they do use the kernel of something that's there.
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