marxism Flashcards
Milliband - Marxism
His book, ‘The state in a capitalist society’ told us that the ruling class uses the media to control society by creating a false picture of reality. Karl Marx said religion was the opium to the people, Miliband says the media is the new opium (as a distraction method, opium stops the suffering).
Marx also said that his opium was stopping a revolution by giving people pleasant illusions which gave them the strength to carry on.
Media now takes the Proletariat’s attention away from exploitation and oppression of the capitalist system and allows the ruling class to control and dominate them. We’ve become unthinking, obsessed, passive (social media). Eg, getting likes/comments make us happy, keeping us from seeing what is actually going on around us.
The owners of the media are part of the Bourgeoisie. Ruling classes are portrayed as trustworthy, deserving of their position. The working class are portrayed as feckless, ignorant and undeserving.
Curran - Marxism
Owners directly manipulate media content, eg. Rupert Murdoch. Owning Harper Collins, stake in BSkyB, BT retail, Daily Mail, Channel 4 etc.
Politicians clearly believe media moguls have a great deal of control over media content because they try to get on the right side of them.
