Media- Marxism Flashcards
What is ideology?
Set of ideas which forms the basis of economic or political theory
What is meant by ‘dumbing down’?
Act of making something simpler/ easier to understand to make proletariat not question the problem’s significance and complexity
What is ‘false consciousness’?
A way of thinking that prevents a person from understanding the true nature of their social/ economic position
What is ruling class ideology?
Hegemonic ideas about society, how it should function and the norms and values e.g control of production and importance of profit in capitalism
What is capitalism?
Pursuit of profit
What is the ‘superstructure’? What is its purpose?
Social institutions, culture, norms and values that reflect the ruling class interests to maintain the economic base in society(bourgeoisie) e.g religion, family, law, media, politics, education etc
Via transmitting ruling class ideology that puts across ideas that make existing unequal social system seem to be fair+natural, it creates a false consciousness amongst proletariat to stop them challenging exploitative system so bourgeoisie maintain control and power to shape society in a way that benefits only them
What is the ‘economic base’? What is its purpose?
The means of production, e.g tools, machines, factories, land etc, and relations of production, e.g property relations, employee work conditions, technical division of labour etc, that is controlled by the bourgeoisie and shapes the superstructure
The base is generally dominant as it heavily influences the superstructure so that it transmits ruling class ideology, maintains economic inequality and conflict in society and secures the bourgeoisie and their position of control and authority e.g law, politics, education
How does Marxists say media representations benefit the upper class?
Representations of social groups are constructed to support interests of the ruling class to maintain power, via presenting the ruling class as deserving of their position and the working class as ignorant and irresponsible- mainly media focuses on social class as economic inequality is the fundamental conflict
Why do Marxists say the media is seen as portraying society as characterised by consensus?
The media is controlled by media owners, e.g Rupert Murdoch, that obscure legitimate points of conflict in society and directly influence content to reflect their ruling class interest and what they think is important/ correct
This reinforces false consciousness and myth of meritocracy within proletariat, via carefully presenting content that shows society having a system in which success is achieved through talent and ability rather than privilege or wealth, when in reality the rich do not deserve the inherited power and wealth
What does Miliband say about the media and its effect on the proletariat?
Media controls society via representing capitalism in a positive way and showing that inequalities are inevitable & justifiable, so that the proletariat accept values of capitalism though not in their best interest- ‘opium of the people’: media acts like a drug to produce illusion of happiness and steal attention away from exploitation
What are the evaluations of Marxism? (Neo-Marxists, liberal-feminists, pluralists and post modernists)
•Neo-Marxists= ignores other forms of inequality e.g ethnicity, age, gender
•Liberal-feminists= ignores role of media professionals in constructing media representations
•Pluralists= ignores wider range of representations and increase in diversity and choice of media products
•Post-modernists= it is increasingly difficult to identify specific social groups as boundaries have blurred- class is not an important source of identity anymore
