key concepts cultural studies Flashcards
cultural materialism (Raymond Williams)
understand how and why cultural meanings and practices are enacted on a terain that is not of our making, even as we struggle to creatively shape our lives. it is concerned with the connections between cultural practise and political economy
culture (Raymond Williams)
one of the three most complicated words in the English language
anthropological approach to culture (CS)
centres on everyday meanings: values, norms and material/symbolic goods
Ordinariness of culture
The everyday, lived character of culture
The active, creative capacity of common people to construct shared meaningful practices
culturalism
culturalism stresses the `ordinariness´ of culture and the active, creative capacity of people to construct shared meanings and practices
marxism
philosophy/theory attempts to relate production & reproduction culture to organisation of material conditions of life→ ‘Culture is a corporeal force tied into the socially organised production of material conditions of existence’
ideology (CS and Marx)
the binding and justyfing ideas of any social group. it is commonly used to designate the attempt to fix meanings and worldview in support to be powerfull
The production of ideas, of conceptions, of consiousness, is directly interwoven with the material avtivity of men. If in all ideology men and their circumstances appear upside down as in a camera obscura, this phenomenon arises just as much from their historical life-process as the inversion of objects on the retina does from their physical life-process
base-superstructure
In Marxist theory, society consists of two parts: the base (or substructure) and superstructure. The base refers to the mode of production which includes the forces and relations of production (e.g. employer–employee work conditions, the technical division of labour, and property relations) into which people enter to produce the necessities and amenities of life. The superstructure refers to society’s other relationships and ideas not directly relating to production including its culture, institutions, roles, rituals, religion, media, and state. The relation of the two parts is not strictly unidirectional. The superstructure can affect the base. However, the influence of the base is predominan
social formation (louis Althusser –> Stuart Hall
- not a totalitry of which culture is just an expression
- complex structure of different instances (levels of practices) that are structured in dominance
- different instances of politics and ideology are articulated together to form a unity
- not the result of single, one way, base-superstructure determination
- the economic level is determant only in the last instance (relative autonomy)
Louis: you work bc you need money
Stuart Hall: you work because you like your job
hegemony (Gramsci and CS)
implies in a situation in which an `historical bloc´ of rulling-class factions, exercises social authority and leadership over the subordinate classes through a combination of force and concent, It is the process of making, maintaining and reproducing the govering set of meanings of a given culture
Culture comprises a multiplicity of streams of meaning and encompasses a range of ideologies and cultural forms. However there is one strand of meaning that can be called ASCEDANT (OR DOMINANT). the process of makin, maintaining and reproducing these authorative sets of meanings and practices is what we call hegemony
globalization
increasing multi-directional economic, social, ciltural and political global connections across the world and our awareness of them
structuralism
theory that implies that elements of human culture must be understood by way of their relationship to a broader system.
semiotics
study of signs
signifier-signified
Signifier= the physical form, so the letters on paper, the sound of the word etc
Signified= the concept/meaning of a word etc
dennotation-connotation
denotation= descriptive+literal level of meaning shared all members of a culture→ example: pig is a pink animal
connotation= meanings that are generated by connecting signifiers to wider cultural concerns→ meaning involves association of signs with other cultural codes of meaning→ single sign becomes loaded with many meanings → usually arises by comparison with absent alternatives (paradigmatically) → example: pig is nasty police officer etc
myth
form maps of meaning to make sense of world→ myths are cultural constructions→ appear to be pre-given universal truths embedded in common sense→ thus related to ideology→ which arguably works at level connotation→ Volosinov: domain ideology corresponds with ideology→ where there are signs, there’s ideology
polysemic signs
Later Barths: signs not one stable denotative meaning but are polysemic= carry many potential meanings → reader of texts temporarily ‘fixes’ on meaning for particular purposes→ interpretation depending on reader’s cultural repertoire+knowledge social codes→ which are differently distributed along class, gender, nationality etc.
discourse
refers to the production of knowledge through language which gives bounded meanings to material objects and social practices. Discourse constructs, defines and produces the objects of knowledge in a regulated+comprehensible way while excluding other forms of reasoning as incomprehensible-
→ concept of discourse involves the production of knowledge through language→ discursive gives meaning to material objects+social practices→ because through language they are given a meaning/brought into view, thus discursively formed
active audience paradigm
Active audience paradigm= suggests audiences not passive but active producers of meaning from within their own cultural context
→ meanings of tv not only generated by texts but also by audience → watching tv is socially+culturally informed activity centrally concerned with meaning
manipulative model
Manipulative model
→ media seen as reflection of class-dominated society→ ideology consciously introduced by media controllers→ direct result of concentration of ownership in hands of people who are part of ‘establishment’ or through direct government manipulation and/or informal pressure
exL:nazi propaganda
pluralist model
Pluralist Model
→ media selection is determined by audience→ market forces lead to plurality of outlets+multiplicity of voices addressing different audiences→ audiences aware of range of political views+presentation styles within media, choose to buy/watch what already agree with
hegemonic model
Hegemonic Model
→ been popular within CS→ any given culture multiplicity if streams of meaning→ but cultural hegemony: one strand of meaning the dominant one
→ within hegemonic model: ideological processes in news production result of routine attitudes+working practices of staff→ reproduction of ideology (or justifying world views) as common sense→ in translating the primary definitions of news, the media as secondary definers reproduce the hegemonic ideologies associated with the powerful
circuit of television
“Each of these moments in circuitive meaning has specific practices which are necessary for the circuit but which do not guarantee the next moment” → by going along circuit make sense→ impact eachother again and again→ so although meaning in every level, not necessarily taken with to next level→ “Circuit of Television”
Production, distribution, circulation and reproducion
subculture
A subculture refers to a group or person who share distinct values and norms which are held to be at variance with dominant or mainstream society. Subcultures offer maps of meaning which make the world intelligible to its members.
resistance through ritual
→ book by Hall+Jefferson→ homology+bricolage played significant role in this book about youth cultures
