Critical

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Critical Cultural Theories of Mass Communication

• Baran Davis (2003) Chapter 9, Pgs 220-251
• Griffin (2000) Chapter 19

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Preview of the slides

• Culture in media research
• Macroscopic vs Microscopic Theories
• Critical Theory
• The rise of the cultural theories in Europe.
• Marxist Theory
• Neomarxism
• The Frankfurt School
• Textual Literary Criticsm

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• Political Economy Theory
• The debate between cultural studies political
  economy theorists.
• Cultural studies
• Symbolic Interaction
• Social Construction of Reality Theory

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• Introduction
• Limited effects theory focuses on whether media
  content can have an immediate direct effect on
  specific thoughts actions on individuals.
• Researchers seek evidences for these effects
  through survey experiments.
• There is also another way we can study effects by
  examining social change through understanding
  culture.

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Culture

• Culture is the learned behavior of a given social
  group.
• Media has become the primary means by which many
  of us experience or learn about the world through
  this media. Mass media theory viewed these
  changes with an alarming rate.

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• American media had become highly effective
  promoters of capitalism, individualism free
  enterprise
• (Hegemony). The new media (PC, internet,
  camcorders etc) are biased towards individualism
  market economy rather than collective state
  control.

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• Critical theorists argued media influence was the
  result of complex, social political cultural
  development the risk of these individuals were
  being influence by the dominant professional
  ideology.

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• About this time cultural theorists focus their
  concerned on media influence on cultural
  studies. That the focus on the use of the media
  to create forms of culture that structure our
  everyday life both at the microscopic
  (interpretive theories) macroscopic (structural
  theories)

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• These theories (interpretive structural
  theories) argued that the elites effectively use
  the media to propagate hegemonic culture in order
  to maintain their dominant position in the
  society.

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Hegemony

• Hegemonic culture is a culture imposed from above
  or outside that serves the interest of the
  dominant social positions.
• Hegemonic culture led to the development of the
  Political Economy Theories. This is because these
  theories place priority on understanding how
  economic power provides a basis for ideological
  political power.

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• The political economic theories directly
  challenge the status quo by exposing elite
  manipulation of media and criticizing the
  hegemonic culture.

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Macro vs Micro theories

• Macro theories more concerned with the social
  order is effected.
• Mico theories more concerned with questions
  involving the everyday life of average people.
  They attempted to understand what is going on in
  the world around them. They involved themselves
  with mundane, daily trivial issues. E.g they
  wanted to know to what extend the mass media has
  been incorporated in the routine daily life
  without creating serious disruptions.

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A. Critical Theory

• This theory openly exposing certain values to
  evaluate criticize the status quo , providing
  the alternative ways to interpreting the social
  roles of mass media. e.g. they identified there
  exist constraints on media practitioners that
  limit the ability to challenge established
  authority.
• Critical theory often analyzes specific social
  problem. E.g. media content often reinforces the
  status quo undermines effort for constructive
  social change.

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• STRENGTH
• Politically based actionoriented
• Uses theory research to plan change in the real
  world.
• Asks big questions on media control ownership.

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• WEAKNESSES
• Too political . Call for action too subjective.
• Lack scientific verification. Based on
  observation.
• Use controversial research methods.

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The rise of cultural studies in Europe

• In Europe the development of grand social theory
  (Marxists theory) influences social sciences
  humanities.
• The Grand Social Theory (referring to Marxism)
  highly ambitious microscopic that attempts to
  understand and predict important trends in
  culture society.

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B. Marxist Theory

• Marxist theory arguing that the hierarchical
  class system is at the root of all social
  problems must be ended by a revolution of the
  proletariat (workers) This theory is in response
  to theory of Capitalism who maximized personal
  profits at eh expanse of the workers.

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• Marx argued that hierarchical class system was
  the root of all social problems must be ended
  by a revolution of the workers. He believed that
  the elites dominated society through the control
  of means of production (factories, labor, land
  industrialized society) which are the base of
  this society.

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• He also argued that the elite control power over
  the culture or superstructure that this
  control of culture that misled average people
  encourage them to act against their own interest.
  e.g. use of ads to promote products that some
  consumers cannot afford. Ads aspire hollow
  expectations beyond their affordability of most
  consumers. Thus, these aspirations create
  frustrations disillusions.

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C. Neomarxism

• Is the hybrid from the Marxist idea it tend to
  focus the concern more on the superstructure
  (control over culture) issues and ideologies
  rather on production functions (labor,
  factories, land, capital etc).
• Using textual analysis literary criticism on
  high culture (high value- music, arts,
  literature, poetry, movie) an attempt to help
  people become more humane civilized.

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D. The Frankfurt School

• Another hybrid of Marxism and this theory argue
  in support of the high culture that the elite
  used to strengthen their personal power in
  society.
• The Frankfurt school had a direct influence on
  American society because of the rise of the
  Nazis forced its Jewish members into exile
  especially to the U.S. U.K. This ideology
  find new homes at few American universities.

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• In Britain during 1960s 1970s two neomarxist
  theory emerged The British Cultural Studies
  Political Economy Theory. These ideas derived
  from literary criticism, linguistics,
  anthropology, history.

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• These theories attempted to trace elite
  domination over culture, to criticize the social
  consequences of the domination, demonstrate how
  it continues to be exercised over minority
  groups or subcultures (Murdock, 1989 William,
  1967, 1974 Hall, 1982 Habermas, 1971, 1989)

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• Hall (1982) argued that mass media in liberal
  democracies can best be understood as pluralistic
  public forum in which various forces struggle to
  shape popular notions about social existence. In
  this forum new concepts social reality are
  negotiated new boundary lines were drawn.

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• In other words this theory promote the idea that
  media may provide a place where the power of the
  dominant elite can be challenged.

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E. The Political Economy Theory

• This theory argues for the control of the
  economic institutions such as banks, stock
  markets then try to show this control affects
  many other social institutions, including mass
  media (Murdock, 1989 Gerbner, 2001 Schiller,
  2000).

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• Political economists examined how economic
  constraints limit or bias the form of mass
  culture that are produced distributed through
  the media. They are less concerned with
  investigating how mass culture influences
  specific groups but are more concerned with
  understanding how the process of content
  production and distribution are constrained.

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• e.g. why do some form of culture dominated prime
  time TV schedules where as other form are not
  presented. Can these reasons be linked to the
  interest of economic institutions? What about
  TV3 Msian Idol or Mentor, Astros Ria Acadamy
  Fantasia and TV1 Bintang RTM? What do you think?
  SMS etc.

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The debate between Cultural Studies Political
Economy Theorists

• 1. Cultural theorists tend to ignore the larger
  social political context in which media
  operates.
• 2. They concentrate how popular culture contents
  is consumed by individuals groups.

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• 3. The found that average people interpretation
  of media content in ways that would serve the
  elite interests.
• 4. They are not interest in
• influencing social policy.

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• 1. Political Economy theorists central
  concerned with larger social order elites
  ownership of media.
• 2. These theorists have argued the growing
  privatization and centralization of the media
  ownership around the world.
• 3. They are interested in policy changes.

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Cultural Studies Transmissional vs Ritual
Perspectives

• Carey (1989) noted two types of perspectives or
  approaches on cultural studies.
• 1. The Transmissional perspective view mass
  communication as merely the process of
  transmitting messages from a distance for the
  purpose of control. e.g. first persuade,
  attitude change, behavior modification,
  socialization through the transmission of
  information , influence or conditioning. ad
  commercials persuade us to purchase products
  services, political campaign persuade us to vote.

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• 2. The Ritual Perspectives view of mass media
  as the representation of shared belief where
  reality is produced, maintained, repaired
  transformed. Communication is used as a symbolic
  process. e.g. a commercial sells more than
  transportation. It sells image, status,
  position, taste, life style, values, norms,
  position of the company, market dominance, an
  acceptable culture etc.

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• The common questions asked before from these
  theorists were
• (a) how culture organized themselves,
• (b) how people negotiate common meanings
  to the culture how they are bond by it
• (c) how media systems interact with it.

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• But,
• The new questions asked now were no longer on
  the issue on whether media have certain effects
  on the audience but rather what kinds of people
  we are, we have become, or we are becoming in
  our mass mediated world.

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F. Symbolic Interaction

• This is a theory that people gave meaning to
  symbols these meanings then control those
  people (Herbert Mead (1934).
• It addresses the questions of how people use
  culture to learn.
• We learn social roles through interactions,
  through experiences in daily life. Over time we
  internalize the rules and adjust our actions
  accordingly. e.g. traffic rules Traffic symbols
  and use of colours to name few.

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• What about quality? Once internalized these
  roles provide us with a powerful means of
  controlling our actions. In times our identity
  becomes bonded with the expected roles that we
  aspire to be.

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• Meads offer another important insight of
  socialization by using symbols. Human consciously
  learn socialization through the use of symbols to
  represent unseen phenomena. Using symbols we can
  create vivid representations of the past and we
  can anticipate the future.

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• In Meads (1934) Mind, Self, and Society he
  argued that we use symbols to create our
  experience of consciousness (Mind), our
  understanding of ourselves (self) and our
  knowledge of the larger social order (society)

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• Applying to the information processing theory
  symbols (schemas) enable us mentally gives
  interpretation of the information we takes in.
  The mind, self and society serve as filtering
  mechanism for our experiences.

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• Symbolic interactionism explains that our
  actions based on our response to symbols. A
  person understanding of the physical reality
  based on the interpretation of the mind, self and
  society that we have internalized.

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• E.g. Colours of the American flag during the
  time of the crisis signal different messages. To
  the Serbs in Kosovo, North Vietnamese Iraqi the
  American flag represent oppression, to the
  Somalis (1992) it means aids in terms of food
  medical care etc.
• What about the Msian? What is your perception?

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• Meads work relevant to communication scholars
  are follows
• 1. Cultural symbols are learned through
  interaction.
• 2. The overlapping of shared meaning means that
  individuals who learn that culture should be
  able to predict the behavior of others in that
  culture.

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• 3. Self usually defined largely defined
• with the environment.
• 4. The extent to which people is
• committed to a social identity will
• determine the power of that identity to
  influence his behavior.

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• Faules Alexander (1978) supported the idea that
  symbolic interaction behavior are the results of
  shared meanings and values between participants.
  He offered three propositions
• 1. People interpretation perception of the
  environment depend on communication.
• 2. Communication is guided by the concept of
  self, roles situations these concepts
  generate expectations in the environment.

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• 3. Communication consisted of
• complex interactions, such as
• action, interdependence, mutual
• influence, relationship situational
  factors using signs for eg.

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• E.g. Proton is not just an automotive
• company. It is actually a core
• activity within the Malaysian
• manufacturing sector.
• Datuk Azlan Mohd. Hashim
• Chairman of Proton
• Star 26/07/05

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• Natural sign referring to nature
• Artificial signs referring to elements of
  construction like shake hands.- a gesture of
  friendliness etc which can produce highly
  predictable responses. What about traffic lights?

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Social Construction of Reality

• Cultural studies theories have one thing in
  common i.e. the assumptions that our experience
  of reality is constantly under-going social
  construction because people share common sense of
  meaning about its reality.

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Summary

• At the end of this lesson you should have learned
  the following topics
• Culture in media research
• Macroscopic vs Microscopic Theories
• Critical Theory

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• The rise of the cultural theories in Europe.
• Marxist Theory
• Neomarxism
• The Frankfurt School
• Textual Literary Criticism

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• Political Economy Theory
• The debate between cultural studies political
  economy theorists.
• Cultural studies
• Symbolic Interaction
• Social Construction of Reality Theory

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Thank you