Unit 1: Orientation to Media Theory

What is culture? Defining the values of culture? Ideology and Culture

What is culture?
the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc. that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.

a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture.
development or improvement of the mind by education or training. the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.

Definition of culture
the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc. that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.

a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture.
development or improvement of the mind by education or training. the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.

Culture and Media

Culture industry: It includes a set of organizations or individuals with an interest (economic or otherwise) in having their products reach the widest possible target audience Cultural products: Creates Information and knowledge, ideologies, thoughts

Evolution of the word culture

Marcus Tullius Cicero:cultivation of the soul or "cultura animi Immanuel Kant : Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity Matthew Arnold -"culture refers to an ideal of individual human refinement, of "the best that has been thought and said in the world German Concept of : bildung: "...culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world.

Evolution of the word culture

Herbert Spencer's theory of Social Darwinism, Lewis Henry Morgan Rousseau High and low culture (Classical culture corrupting, Folk Culture a part of the noble savages) Sir Edward Tylors definition in 1871 (first use of this term): that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society (Tylor is representative of cultural evolutionism. In his works Primitive Culture and Anthropology)

Evolution of the word culture

Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) (Cultural Antropologists) Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other as conditioning elements of further action.

Definition by John Bodley

Topical: Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such as social organization, religion, or economy Historical: Culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to future generations Behavioral: Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life Normative: Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living Functional: Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to the environment or living together Mental: Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses and distinguish people from animals Structural: Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, or behaviors Symbolic: Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by a society http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Cultural_Anthropology.html?id=IBD3vXrMFL0 C&redir_esc=y

Culture is divided and united through sounds, tastes, and sight

These build a set of codes interpreted a wide number of ways These codes are across classes unifying and dividing classes These are consciously and unconsciously used in media

Compare with the concept of Sanskruti

Discuss

Ideology
Destutt de Tracy Coined the term The term ideology denotes value and defines a way of thought Through Worldview, belief system and values

Ideology - Early Marxist Origins

Ideology was seen as a powerful mechanism of social control whereby members of ruling class imposed their worldview, which represented their interests, on members of subordinate classes Early Marxists stood for a social revolution that would stand in opposition to the ruling ideology

Ideology
Images and words in media texts , ways of thinking and defining social and cultural issues all part of ideological analysis Media sell products and ideas, personalities and worldviews!

Media is at the centre of culture wars

Advertising, news, public opinion means of public discourse that wage cultural warfare Morality of issues debated in polarized terms in media Cultural conservatives and cultural progressives use media technologies alike to promote their positions

Media helps define and reflect society

Media texts serve as sites of articulation of social norms Media represent images of social interaction and social institutions that by mere repetition on a daily basis shape broad social definitions Accumulation of media images suggests what is normal and what is deviant Popular media have a tendency to display a remarkably narrow range of behaviours and lifestyles marginalizing others!

Media is at the centre of culture wars

Discuss

The media standpoint

Media negotiates and also opposes the ideologies of the powerful!

Hegemony
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony Indirect form of imperial dominance

Cultural Hegemony
Some ideas and concepts become a form a social construct Connects questions of culture, power and ideology Is a Marxist concept ruling groups can maintain their power by way of force and exploit institutions to affect the same These institutions could be military, police or even media Consent is the key to understand the concept of hegemony

Cultural Hegemony
For instance it is natural that some people are rich and some poor If this condition is natural then there is little reason to be concerned about economic inequality! What we think of as natural and normal is the central part of the terrain of hegemony the hegemonic ideology

Media hegemony
Media are involved in the politics of signification media produces images of the world that give events particular meanings Media images do not simply reflect the world, they re-present it! Process of giving meanings to events suggests presence of multiple definitions of reality a question about ideology Media are cultural sites where the ideas of powerful are circulated (and contested)

 http://www.culturesofresistance.org/soundof-resistance-iran

https://www.facebook.com/uncyclopedia http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com