Section 1: Core concept definitions Flashcards
What is Interpellation? (Althusser)
Interpellation is the process by which ideology “hails” individuals, positioning them within a social system as subjects.
For example, being addressed as a “citizen” or “consumer” shapes how we understand ourselves within society.
Define the Public Sphere. (Habermas)
The public sphere is a space (historical or metaphorical) where individuals gather to discuss issues of common concern, ideally free from state and market control.
What is Technoscape? (Appadurai)
One of Appadurai’s five -scapes, technoscape refers to the global flow of technology, expertise, and infrastructure across borders.
Define Pseudo-Individualization. (Adorno & Horkheimer)
The illusion of individuality in mass-produced cultural products. Audiences believe they have choice, but most products follow the same formulas.
What is Anchorage? (Barthes)
Anchorage is when text (such as a caption) guides or limits the meaning of an image, shaping how the viewer interprets it.
What is Deterritorialization? (Appadurai)
Deterritorialization refers to the separation of culture from specific geographic locations, allowing identities and practices to circulate globally and take on new meanings.
What is the Culture Industry? (Adorno & Horkheimer)
The culture industry refers to the mass production of culture under capitalism. Cultural products become commodities, reinforcing conformity and distracting the public from critical thought.
Define Constitutive Rhetoric. (Charland)
Constitutive rhetoric refers to speech or media that brings a political or social identity into being. It creates subjects by addressing them as if they already exist.
What is the Panopticon? (Foucault)
A metaphor for modern surveillance where individuals internalize discipline because they might be watched. It produces self-regulating, “docile” bodies.
What is Textual Poaching? (Jenkins)
Textual poaching is when fans reinterpret or remix media content for their own purposes, resisting or reshaping its original meaning.
Define the Ritual Model of Communication. (Carey)
A model that sees communication as a symbolic process that sustains culture and shared beliefs, rather than simply transmitting information.
What are Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs)? (Althusser)
Institutions like schools, media, and religion that maintain dominant ideology through consent, shaping individuals into subjects of the system.
What is Media Ritual? (Couldry)
Media rituals are repeated practices (like watching the news) that reinforce the belief that media is central to social life and meaning.
What is Myth? (Barthes)
A second-order signification in semiotics where cultural meanings become naturalized.
Define Participatory Culture. (Jenkins)
A media environment in which audiences don’t just consume content but also produce, remix, and circulate it.
What is Postfeminism? (Gill)
A cultural sensibility that suggests feminism is no longer necessary. It emphasizes individual choice and empowerment while ignoring structural gender inequality.
What is Surveillance as Productive? (Foucault)
Rather than just repressing people, surveillance actively shapes how they behave and think. It produces certain kinds of subjects.
What is the Transmission Model of Communication? (Carey)
A model that treats communication as the delivery of messages from sender to receiver. It’s focused on accuracy, clarity, and efficiency.
What is Black Luminosity? (Simone Browne)
A concept describing how Black bodies are hyper-visible under systems of surveillance, yet still erased from dominant narratives of citizenship or legitimacy.
Define Hybridity. (Kraidy)
The blending of cultural forms across global contexts. It can challenge cultural hierarchies or reinforce them, depending on who controls the exchange.
What is the Oppositional Gaze? (bell hooks)
A critical gaze developed by Black women to resist dominant representations in media. It allows marginalized viewers to reject objectifying or stereotypical portrayals and reclaim agency.
What is the Myth of the Mediated Centre? (Couldry)
The belief that media connects us to the center of social and cultural life. It reinforces the authority of media institutions and positions them as gatekeepers of truth and importance.
What is Identification in communication theory?
A process by which individuals align themselves with others or with media figures. It can foster connection or persuasion, but also reveal power relations and exclusions.
Define Hypervisibility. (Simone Browne)
A condition where marginalized groups, especially Black bodies, are excessively visible to surveillance systems, yet excluded from full social recognition or rights.
What are Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs)? (Althusser)
Institutions like the police, military, and courts that maintain state power through physical force or coercion, unlike ISAs which operate through ideology.
What is Agitation vs. Integration Propaganda? (Ellul)
Agitation propaganda seeks to stir unrest and change the status quo. Integration propaganda aims to stabilize and unify society by reinforcing existing norms and values.
Define the Five -scapes. (Appadurai)
Appadurai’s five frameworks for global cultural flow: ethnoscape (people), technoscape (technology), finanscape (capital), mediascape (media), ideoscape (ideologies).
What is Relay? (Barthes)
When text and image work together dynamically, each contributing to the creation of meaning. Common in comics, film, and multimedia storytelling.
Define Docile Bodies. (Foucault)
Individuals who have internalized discipline and behave in regulated, controlled ways due to institutional power (e.g., students, workers, prisoners).
What is Pre-Propaganda? (Ellul)
The background conditioning that prepares audiences to accept propaganda. It relies on myths, stereotypes, and cultural narratives already in circulation.
What is Soft Propaganda? (Welch)
Subtle, often entertainment-based messaging that reinforces dominant ideology without overt political content.
Example: war glorification in Hollywood films.
Define Creative Industries. (Rodríguez-Ferrándiz)
Cultural sectors (e.g., media, design, advertising) where creativity is commodified and workers face flexible, precarious conditions under capitalism.
What is Relational Labor? (Brooke Erin Duffy)
The emotional labor creators perform to build and maintain relationships with audiences—often unpaid and gendered—especially on social media platforms.
What is Speaking Into the Air? (John Durham Peters)
A critique of the fantasy of perfect communication. Peters argues that communication is always partial, haunted by miscommunication, and shaped by longing, not clarity.
Define Digital Dark Sousveillance. (Peterson-Salahuddin)
The use of digital tools by marginalized groups to document, resist, and expose surveillance, often reclaiming visibility in empowering ways.
What is Surveillance as Racialized? (Simone Browne)
The idea that surveillance disproportionately targets racialized bodies. Surveillance practices are not neutral—they are historically and structurally shaped by race.
What is Evasion in communication? (various scholars)
A subtle tactic of resistance where marginalized individuals avoid or subvert dominant narratives—through irony, silence, withdrawal, or reinterpretation.
What is Gender as Ideology? (de Lauretis)
Gender is not natural but constructed through social discourse, media, and institutions—it’s a learned system of norms and power.
What is Vertical vs Horizontal Propaganda? (Ellul)
Vertical propaganda is top-down from institutions or elites. Horizontal propaganda spreads laterally through peer groups, communities, or social media.
Define Banal Populism. (Almendra)
Everyday media representations that use populist logic—framing issues as ‘the people vs the elite’—without explicit political language. Often found in tabloid news or talk shows.
