popular culture - postmodern view

Question 1

mass media creates identities

Answer 1

strinati - postmodern world - distinction between high and popular culture has become blurred - increased consumer choice

eg classical music and opera often accompany TV coverage of global sporting events

globalisation - essential - increases consumption choices
- identities through facebook and instagram

Question 2

mass media creates identities eval

Answer 2

limitation
- criticised for exaggerating the degree of social changes that they associate with global media and popular culture
- marxists and feminists - people still see social class, ethnicity and gender as having more influence over their lives than global media or culture

Question 3

media saturation and the rejection of meta-narratives

Answer 3

pm - people today disillusioned with grand political or scientific theories or meta-narratives about the way society works

pm - media-saturated society - creates more media-literate society that is aware there is no such thing as an absolute truth and knowledge is underpinned by diversity

media-led way of looking at social world produced more critical global culture

hyperreality part of this

Question 4

media saturation and the rejection of meta-narratives eval

Answer 4

limitation
- hyperreality and media saturation are concepts that are difficult to operationalise

Question 5

globalisation creates participatory culture

Answer 5

Jenkins - we are now part of global participatory culture eg youtube - created a shared community as those involved in media feel connected
- globalisation of popular and participatory culture enhanced by social media

Jenkins and Shirky - global culture and society more democratic - users produce cultures themselves

audience participation empowers consumers

Question 6

globalisation creates participatory culture eval

Answer 6

limitation
- 4 out of 10 in those 65 and over in UK do not have access to internet at home - generation and class divide in access to global media source and participatory culture
Helpsler - digital underclass

Question 7

globalisation of media = social media

Answer 7

Murthy - investigated impact of twitter - global media sites can help increase political awareness of issues eg human rights abuses

Spencer-Thomas - observed mass anti-government protests in Burma - failed to receive media attention because military banned foreign journalists - 1988
contrast - mass demonstrations of 2007 gained attention as Burmese population shared images online

Question 8

globalisation of media = social media eval

Answer 8

limitation
- pm ignore the large number of people, especially in the developing world, who are unable to access social media to create positive change and contribute to a global mass culture

Question 9

the effect of global media on local cultures

Answer 9

Thompson - globalisation of communication - so intensive that all consumers of global culture are citizens of both the world and their locality - global media products often domesticated by local folk cultures - cultural hybridity

Cohen and kennedy - local people do not abandon their cultural traditions and beliefs just because they watch a disney film

pick n mix aspects of global culture

Question 10

the effect of global media on local cultures eval

Answer 10

strength
- many examples of cultural hybridity eg bollywood

limitation
- marxists - negative consequences of global media and is form of american imperialism

Question 11

globalisation and the new media

Answer 11

global optimists (postmodernists) - free exchange of ideas and information on web produce worldwide democracy - freedom of expression

Giddens - new media influential in the fall of the communist bloc in eastern europe
- internet is less controlled by the state

new media - increasingly breaking down global barriers to access media - helps to spread one dominant culture (marxist) or encourage cultural hybridity (PM)

Murphy - 300million users of twitter can help raise awareness

2011 arab spring linked

Question 12

globalisation and the new media eval

Answer 12

limitations
- global audience - large profit - more money put into media - small producers find it hard to compete with american media
- digital divide - global poor have little internet acces
- new media companies rarely generate news themselves - cultural power continues to reside with traditional media companies