SAC 1&2

Question 1

What is culture?

Answer 1

Implicit culture: culture as a way of life
Explicit: culture as a form of artistic expression and communication

Question 2

What is art according to Alexander?

Answer 2

Includes: fine arts, popular (mass) art, folk arts
Excludes: popular (youth) culture, non-fiction media

criteria:
- Artistic product (tangible, visible or audible)
- Communicates publicly (touched, seen, heard)
- Experienced for enjoyment (pleasure, escape)
- Expressive form (fictional, to some extent)
- Art is defined by its context (physical and social)

Question 3

Reflection approach

Answer 3

Art as a source of information about society (it says something about society in which we live: reflects the zeigeist; is an expression of our culture)

Question 4

Zeigeist

Answer 4

The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history shown by by the ideas and beliefs of the time

Question 5

Karl Marx on reflection approach

Answer 5

Art and culture is a reflection of society (mostly economic and class structures)

Question 6

Origin reflection approaches

Answer 6

Superstructure and Base
- Superstructure (media, religion, art, philosophy)
- Base (economic relationship)

Superstructure reflects and legitimates base: what appears/is shown by the superstructure shows what’s important within the base -> art is reflective of society

Question 7

Theodore Adorno on reflection approach

Answer 7

Capitalism -> alienation -> passivity -> mass culture (mindless)

Question 8

Hyper rituals

Answer 8

Very clear in message, strong portrayal of different dynamics, they are easy to decode which, makes them a good/easy source of information (ex: ads)

Question 9

Critics of ‘simple reflection approaches

Answer 9

• It is only a mirror of society, if it only shows a certain angle it might disregard other issues.
• Art can have multiple interpretations. Distortion.
• There is a gap between art and society: another layer in between (market, publishers,…) and simple reflection approaches skip all of the layers.

Question 10

Shaping approaches

Answer 10

Art affects people and thus society
- Positive influence: culture and civilization
- Negative influence: harmful and corrupting

Often popular culture is harmful whereas high culture is positive

Question 11

Hegemony

Answer 11

Universal acceptance of norms, values, ideas that are created and distributed by elites (through cultural products)

Question 12

Gramsci on shaping approaches

Answer 12

Hegemony -
TV, movies, ads, music propose certain ideas as ‘natural’
Have an effect on our way of thinking, morals and behaviour

Question 13

Frankfurter Schule on shaping approaches

Answer 13

Mass culture is the standardization & predictability, avoidance of effort, immediate satisfaction
- People lose ability to think critically

Question 14

Matthew Arnold on shaping approaches

Answer 14

• Culture is ‘the best that has been said and thought in the world; culture of the upper class
• Culture brings ‘civilization’ (class specific though)
• Culture serves mainly to keep the working class in check

Question 15

Criticisms of ‘simple’ shaping approaches

Answer 15

It’s hard to measure how art affects people
- Short versus long term effects
- Isolating causal influences

Question 16

Cultural Diamond

Answer 16

(Wendy Griswold, 1986)

Question 17

What is sociology?

Answer 17

Sociology is the scientific study of social groups, whole societies, and the human world that tries to understand the complex and profound ways individual lives reflect our social experience