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MARXISMMARXISM&&HEGEMONYHEGEMONYMedia Issues and Debates

Karl Marx Antonio Gramsci

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Marxism is based on the writings of 19th Century philosopher and social activist Karl Marx. His writings were a response to the extremes of poverty and exploitation he witnessed in the years after the British Industrial Revolution. His most famous book

Das Kapital (1867) argued that in a capitalist society the most important and fundamentally antagonistic divisions are along class lines and that there are two

fundamental classes:

The Proletariat – Workers who have to sell their labour to surviveThe Bourgeoisie – The ruling class, own the means of production (i.e Factories),

property or wealth

Marx argued that in capitalist systems the bourgeoisie dominates and exploits the proletariat in pursuit of profit. He also suggested that ideology, values and beliefs are

important in persuading the proletariat to accept the power of the bourgeoisie. Marxism is subject to a wide variety of interpretations but essentially has the notion

of class struggle as its core tenet

MARXISM

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MARXISM&MASS MEDIAMarx’s ideas have been applied to the media in contemporary society to suggest that the world constructed in most mainstream media contributes to persuading the proletariat to accept capitalism as natural and inevitable, whilst simultaneously distracting them from complaining about exploitation.(Source: AQA Textbook)

“The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class”

The Communist Manifesto (1848)

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HEGEMONYHEGEMONYAntonio Gramsci was a leading Italian Marxist however he disagreed with the Marxist

view of how the ruling class maintained their status and power. He considered why given the inequality of capitalism the Proletariat did not simply rise up and revolt. He came up with the concept of Hegemony (or more specifically ‘Cultural Hegemony’)to describe how the ruling class dominate other classes by manipulating the culture of a society in order to present their view as being “common sense” or just “the way things are”. The ruling class cannot rule by force alone and rely on the ‘consent’ of the proletariat. So rather than question a system that clearly does not benefit them they are convinced that the dominant ideology is the only ideology. This is sometimes

referred to as “Ruling by Consent”

In other words, hegemony is the process for which the ruling classes enforce

dominant ideologies on the proletariat.

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Can you think of any examples of dominant ideologies that we

are encouraged to believe relating to the following?

Ethnicity, Age, Gender, Nationality, Class, Religion, Family, Politics

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Some dominant ideologies

Patriotism. To love, support and protect one’s country and its

people.

Marriage and family. The “right way” to live is to marry an

opposite-sex partner and have children.

Capitalism. The production of capital and consumption of surplus

value as a life goal.

Male superiority. Men are more suited to positions of power, and more suited to

decision-making at work and at home.

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Applying Marx to the mass media todayWhen Marxists apply this ideology to the mass media they will argue:

The institutions of the mass media are owned by the ruling classes (e.g.

Rupert Murdoch, Richard Branson)These institutions are used to

indoctrinate the masses into believing capitalism is good for all

Media industry workers are exploited just as other workers 

…therefore the mass media exists to serve the ideological interests of

the ruling class.

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“Any dominant ideology in any society presents itself as the ideology of that society as a whole. Its work is to deny the legitimacy of alternative and oppositional ideologies” Dyer

(1979)

It should be noted that ideology is not necessarily a fixed set of ideas and is in a constant state of flux – its common goal however remains the same; to maintain the status quo of the dominant class.

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CRITICISMSCRITICISMSThe problem with both Marx and Gramsci’s theories when applied to the media is that they assume audiences are passive and easily manipulated.

Stuart Hall (1980), argued that the dominant ideology is typically inscribed as the 'preferred reading' in a media text, but that this is not automatically adopted by readers. The social situations of readers/viewers/listeners may lead them to adopt different stances. 'Dominant' readings are produced by those whose social situation favours the preferred reading; 'negotiated' readings are produced by those who inflect the preferred reading to take account of their social position; and 'oppositional' readings are produced by those whose social position puts them into direct conflict with the preferred reading.

Key note! Use this to challenge Stuart Hall’s reception theory

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The Glasgow University Media Group (GUMG) suggests that media content does support the interests of those who run the capitalist

system. However, this is an unintended by-product of the social backgrounds of journalists and broadcasters rather than a conscious

capitalist conspiracy. The GUMG points out that most journalists working for national newspapers, television and radio tend to be overwhelmingly male, White, and middle class, e.g. 54% are privately educated. (source)

This is a bit of a chicken and egg

scenario!

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The term “Ruling by consent” was used by John Pilger at the start of his documentary “The War You Don’t See”. We know from watching this that the mainstream media in the UK and USA chose not to print or broadcast anything that ran contrary to the ‘war agenda’ that the governments of both countries were pursing. Even though there was strong evidence that the public were being mislead. This is what Chomsky (1992) refers to as ‘manufacturing consent’. In other words information is ‘filtered’ through the media therefore influencing audience’s ideas and thoughts. Chomsky does not suggest that this is done deliberately or conspiratorially but is done through a media institutions own censorship of what is included in media texts. This filtering is often based on the institutions need for profit and to appeal to consumers

MANUFACTURINGMANUFACTURINGCONSENTCONSENT

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Still with me?Marxism and Hegemony are broad concepts that encompass a wide range of political, social, economic and cultural issues – and both pre-date modern media as we know it by quite some time. Essentially we are interested in how the terms can be used in relation to contemporary media. Read through the Case Study on pg 51 of your textbook for some examples.

Marxism focuses on relationships based on social class; however the concept of hegemony can also be applied to the power relations found in gender, sexuality and race.

Consider the representations of gay characters, women and other races/ethnicities in the media. Can you think of any examples of how the dominant ideology is enforced? (a useful starting point could be looking at how women are represented in advertising)

Can you link this to our case study looking at moral panics? Or IS?