Youth, class, and reality (TV): The discursive alliance between the orientalist discourse and the neo-liberal discourse

This article addresses the interpretive readings that teenagers from a high socio-economic class offer for one of the most popular reality programs in Israel: Big Brother. The findings of the study demonstrate how the youth completely focused on the ‘ethnic other' in Israel (Oriental characters). The dominant interpretations of the participants suggested open use of accounts affiliated with Orientalist discourse. The findings of the study also show that to explain the Orientalist accounts, the youth made dominant use of the neoliberal discourse. The discussion section offers some thoughts on this discursive alliance between the Orientalist and neoliberal discourse.