BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Media, Creative, and Cultural Industries
This article is part of the Research Topic(Mis)perceptions of Inequality as a Social IssueView all 11 articles
Peeling The Onion: A study of audience reactions to anti-classism satire
Provisionally accepted
- 1S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, Syracuse, United States
- 2Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, United States
- 3University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, United States
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The topics of socioeconomic status, class, and income inequality are integral to human rights. However, media misrepresentation of socioeconomic class and the pervasive national narrative of social mobility inhibit audiences' ability to understand and mobilize around these issues. Satire can disrupt this cycle by effectively exposing the inconsistencies of class inequality and the flaws of the "American Dream." Thus, we examine the potential of satire to challenge prevailing attitudes toward class inequality and bolster anti-classism confidence through an online study featuring written satirical articles from The Onion categorized based on style (aggressive vs. benign) and target (individual vs. institutional). Overall, participants enjoyed the anti-classism satirical articles and exhibited more appreciation after repeated exposure. Satirical ratings were negatively correlated with legitimizing income inequality and positively correlated with confidence in disrupting hegemonic patterns regarding class inequalities. However, participants classification of the satirical targets did not align with the a priori categories established by the researchers. This work is some of the first to deploy content from The Onion, an American satirical staple, and explore the role of marginalization satire that tackles socioeconomic injustice.
Keywords: Satire, Socioeconomic status, classism, Survey, Audience reception, Media Effects
Received: 13 Feb 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 CORSBIE-MASSAY, Santia and Anderson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: CHARISSE L'PREE CORSBIE-MASSAY
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