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Unit 1: Orientation to Media
Theory
What is culture? Defining the values
of culture? Ideology and Culture
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What is culture?
the quality in a person or society that arises from a concernfor what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners,scholarly pursuits, etc.
that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.
a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certainnation or period: Greek culture.
development or improvement of the mind by education or training.
the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social,ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.
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Definition of culture
the quality in a person or society that arises from a concernfor what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners,scholarly pursuits, etc.
that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.
a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certainnation or period: Greek culture.
development or improvement of the mind by education or training.
the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social,ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.
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Culture and Media
Culture industry: It includes a set of
organizations or individuals with an interest
(economic or otherwise) in having their
products reach the widest possible target
audience
Cultural products: Creates Information and
knowledge, ideologies, thoughts
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Evolution of the word culture
Marcus Tullius Cicero:cultivation of the soul or "cultura
animi
Immanuel Kant : Enlightenment is man's emergence from his
self-incurred immaturity
Matthew Arnold -"culture refers to an ideal of individual
human refinement, of "the best that has been thought and
said in the world
German Concept of : bildung: "...culture being a pursuit of our
total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the
matters which most concern us, the best which has been
thought and said in the world.
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Evolution of the word culture
Herbert Spencer's theory of Social Darwinism, Lewis Henry
Morgan
Rousseau High and low culture (Classical culture corrupting,
Folk Culture a part of the noble savages)
Sir Edward Tylors definition in 1871 (first use of this term):
that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society (Tylor is
representative of cultural evolutionism. In his works PrimitiveCulture andAnthropology)
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Evolution of the word culture
Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) (Cultural Antropologists)
Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for
behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting
the distinctive achievement of human groups, including theirembodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists
of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and
especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the
one hand, be considered as products of action, on the otheras conditioning elements of further action.
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Definition by John Bodley
Topical: Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such associal organization, religion, or economy
Historical: Culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to futuregenerations
Behavioral: Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life
Normative: Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living
Functional: Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to theenvironment or living together
Mental: Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses anddistinguish people from animals
Structural: Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, orbehaviors
Symbolic: Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by asociety
http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Cultural_Anthropology.html?id=IBD3vXrMFL0C&redir_esc=y
http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Cultural_Anthropology.html?id=IBD3vXrMFL0C&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.in/books/about/Cultural_Anthropology.html?id=IBD3vXrMFL0C&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.in/books/about/Cultural_Anthropology.html?id=IBD3vXrMFL0C&redir_esc=yhttp://books.google.co.in/books/about/Cultural_Anthropology.html?id=IBD3vXrMFL0C&redir_esc=y -
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Culture is divided and united through
sounds, tastes, and sight
These build a set of codes interpreted a wide
number of ways
These codes are across classes unifying and
dividing classes
These are consciously and unconsciously used
in media
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Compare with the concept of Sanskruti
Discuss
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Ideology - Early Marxist Origins
Ideology was seen as a powerful mechanism
of social control whereby members of ruling
class imposed their worldview, which
represented their interests, on members of
subordinate classes
Early Marxists stood for a social revolution
that would stand in opposition to the rulingideology
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Ideology
Images and words in media texts , ways of
thinking and defining social and cultural issues
all part of ideological analysis
Media sell products and ideas, personalities
and worldviews!
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Media is at the centre of culture wars
Advertising, news, public opinion means of
public discourse that wage cultural warfare
Morality of issues debated in polarized terms
in media
Cultural conservatives and cultural
progressives use media technologies alike to
promote their positions
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Media helps define and reflect society
Media texts serve as sites of articulation of socialnorms
Media represent images of social interaction and
social institutions that by mere repetition on adaily basis shape broad social definitions
Accumulation of media images suggests what isnormal and what is deviant
Popular media have a tendency to display aremarkably narrow range of behaviours andlifestyles marginalizing others!
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Media is at the centre of culture wars
Discuss
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The media standpoint
Media negotiates and also opposes the
ideologies of the powerful!
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Hegemony
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony
Indirect form of imperial dominance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony -
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Cultural Hegemony
Some ideas and concepts become a form a socialconstruct
Connects questions of culture, power andideology
Is a Marxist concept ruling groups can maintaintheir power by way of force and exploitinstitutions to affect the same
These institutions could be military, police oreven media
Consent is the key to understand the concept ofhegemony
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Cultural Hegemony
For instance it is natural that some people are
rich and some poor
If this condition is natural then there is little
reason to be concerned about economic
inequality!
What we think of as natural and normal is the
central part of the terrain of hegemony the
hegemonic ideology
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Media hegemony
Media are involved in the politics ofsignification media produces images of theworld that give events particular meanings
Media images do not simply reflect the world,they re-presentit!
Process of giving meanings to events suggestspresence of multiple definitions of reality a
question about ideology Media are cultural sites where the ideas of
powerful are circulated (and contested)
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http://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-
of-resistance-iran
http://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-of-resistance-iranhttp://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-of-resistance-iranhttp://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-of-resistance-iranhttp://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-of-resistance-iranhttp://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-of-resistance-iranhttp://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-of-resistance-iranhttp://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-of-resistance-iranhttp://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-of-resistance-iranhttp://www.culturesofresistance.org/sound-of-resistance-iran -
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