Änglar, eldsjälar och klädshopping på kredit - om makt och villkorad hjälp i svenska reality TV-program

Sammanfattning: Angels, inspirers and shopping clothes on credit” – power and conditional assistance in Swedish reality-TV The aim of this study is to provide a closer look at the nature of help given in selected Swedish reality shows with charity and lifestyle platforms. Descriptive in nature, the study is a content analysis of the influence and power the reality programs may have on participants, focusing on three different shows, chosen for their charitable aspirations. Sofias änglar, Lyxfällan and Den hemlige miljonären all differ in style and structure with regards to donor and recipient of help, but all have in common that their participants are deprived with something that the shows are ready to provide for or extend. Using the transcripts and visual materials of the programs, the content analysis is aimed at three core issues: 1) choice and presentation of the participants; 2) motivation behind the help; 3) influence of the help in the relationship between donor and recipient. These issues are described for each of the three reality shows from the perspective of Bourdieus theories of symbolic power, and Foucaults theories of power, specifically, on the pastoral kind of power. The main finding is that the help extended in all three shows played a significant role in the strength or power ratio between the donor and recipient. The nature of the help, which all differed among the shows, did play a part in how and in what way the participant, their problems and the solutions are characterized, which by the commercial nature of the reality shows leads to the conclusion that the described wants and expected needs of the participants are structured by and attributed to production requirements and prerequisites.