qualitative research methods critical textual analysis-- types, part 2

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

CRITICAL TEXTUAL ANALYSIS--TYPES, PART 2

I. MARXISM/CRITICAL THEORY A. Marxism refers to theories of economics,

politics, & society using ideas from Karl Marx & Fredrich Engles.

B. Culture intertwined with class struggle through ideology

C. Ideology conveyed through various institutions (or superstructures)

D. The philosophy is complex & not monolithic.

D. Political Economy

1. Grounded in the economic analysis of institutions a. Actions of individuals motivated by self-interest

(see Adam Smith) b. Self-interest leads to greater level of overall

wealth in the nation (“the invisible hand”) 2. In media studies, Political Economy primarily

focuses on the economics of mass media production & consumption.

3. Seeks to understand “how the capitalist class promotes and ensures their dominant position in capitalist society” (Devereux)

E. “Classic Marxism”

1. Sees culture as “the mirror of social life.” a. Art (or culture) should be viewed in terms of

“realism” b. True art should subvert ideology & capitalism

2. The Frankfurt School--flourished in Germany in the 1930's & in the U.S. in the 1940's a. Sometimes is known as "critical theory" or

classic Marxist theory, focusing on problems in the mass media.

b. Theorists argued that mass media had prevented history from working out as Marx had predicted, because it subverted & seduced the masses (through "low art")

F. The Frankfort School

1. Pop culture is defined as mass culture, produced by big business for a profit

2. Pop culture seen as synonymous with low culture

3. Elitist vs. populist values a. True elitists scorn popular or low culture

as debased & trashy (not really "art“) c. True populists scorn high art as

pretentious & inaccessible

The Frankfort School, con’t.

3. High vs. low art a. High art original, serious & complex

1) Also known as “highbrow” 2) Includes literary & artistic masterpieces,

classical symphonic music, etc. b. Low art is popular, unoriginal & not complex

1) Also known as "lowbrow“ 2) Seen as trashy, garish, crude, or kitschy 3) Includes popular novels; comic books;

mainstream TV shows; Hollywood blockbusters; fashion & fads; etc.


c. "Middlebrow" is an in-between position 1) Prefers a safe & non-controversial middle

position between high & low art; 2) Includes popular foreign or independent films;

PBS; "lite" classical music; etc. 3) Many elitists see this position as too safe &

sentimental (e.g. Adorno) 4) Keeps us from recognizing "high art“ because

prefer easy listening selections or sentimental favorites instead of the truly avant-garde

The Frankfort School, con’t

4. Arguments made against popular art by the Frankfort School: a. Panders to lowest tastes b. Geared mostly to entertainment & fun c. Often nostalgic & sentimental d. Junk is preferred over quality e. Over-commercial (designed to sell

products)


5. Pop art revisionism/arguments for pop art (Neo-Marxism): a. Evocative & can be serious b. The “literature of the people“ c. High art/low art an artificial distinction;

boundaries eroding in a postmodern world d. Pop art is a social unifer

1) Helps with social rituals 2) Cements community feelings 3) Reinforces values

II. PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY A. Freudian Psychoanalysis

1. First formulated by Freud 2. Concerned with internal psyche structures & the

complex relations between them 3. Drives, desires, & wants are geared towards

satisfaction a. Motivation is primarily pleasure-seeking (or

hedonistic) b. Blocked motives lead to frustration, producing

pain.

Freudian Psychoanalysis

c. Pain eliminated from the conscious mind via repression into the unconscious or unorganized mind (or the id)

d. Control of the id role of consciousness (the ego) e. The internalized ideas of others, plus self-

criticism, creates the super-ego 4. Defense mechanisms

a. Condensation--combination of two or more ideas, desires, or memories into a single episode, image, symbol, or sign

Defense mechanisms, con’t.

1) Condensation occurs in dreams, where the manifest content (remembered events) represents repressed, underlying wishes & memories (the latent content); e.g. a locked door

2) Condensation also operates in innuendo & punning (similar to metonymy (part for whole/whole for part)

b. Displacement 1) Process by which significance of something is

transferred (displaced) onto something else 2) Similar to metaphoric transposition 3) Redirect energy away from a frustrating goal &

towards a more vulnerable target


c. Projection 1) Process by which ideas, images, & desires are

imposed on an external environment. 2) Projection denies unpleasant self-accusations,

projecting such accusations onto others (fueling scapegoating, prejudice, etc.)

d. Identification 1) Process by which the individual merges at least

some of another's identity with his/her own 2) Three ways--can extend into someone else, can

borrow from someone else, or can confuse identity with someone else (Rycroft)


e. Narcissism 1) While some self-love is necessary to function, it is

problematic if lead to self-absorption, egoism, selfishness, childishness, etc.

2) Narcissists seem self-assured, but in reality are extremely anxiety-ridden & insecure.

3) A problem in identify formation--develop feelings of superiority to protect from feelings of inadequacy

4) Not the same as egoism--egoists may be selfish, but are often realistic, whereas narcissists are not

5) Narcissists often deny their self-love; may assume a mask of humility, being altruistic, etc.

6) Or may be super-confident, self-assured but with grandiose ideas


f. Sublimation 1) Rechanneling sexual impulses from primary

gratification into more socially acceptable gratifications (e.g. shopping, gambling)

2) Civilization forces us to renounce uninhibited instinctual gratifications (esp. sex & aggression), creating guilt for such impulses

3) Operates in fetischizing or the substitution of desire onto a less threatening image, usually something that can serve as a substitute phallus


4) Mulvey notes that the "male gaze" of the camera evokes visual pleasure (sublimation & resolution of the castration complex) by both overvaluing women characters as fetish objects & undervaluing them (punishing them for being sexual objects)

g. Voyeurism 1) A person with a privileged, yet hidden view, esp.

who watches the sexual (forbidden) activities of others, yet without their permission.

2) Produces guilt (because the scene is private) & a sense of power (it reveals knowledge which we "shouldn't" possess)

3) Voyeurism implies omnipotence

5. The Oedipal Complex

a. The process of maturation found in everyone--natural instead of environmental

b. Children mature through 4 stages—oral, anal, latent, & phallic

c. Myth of Oedipus shows how children resolve crises occurring during puberty (phallic stage) 1) Boys have castration anxiety (fears of castration by

the father), eventually leading to an identification with the father & a rejection of the mother

2) Girls have penis envy (fantasy that they have lost their penises), eventually leading to a re-identification with the mothers; as women turn to outside males to obtain a male child (gaining back their "lost" penis)

The Oedipal Complex, con’t.

d. There is also a reverse Oedipal complex, involving fantasies of incest with the same sex parent, & murderous wishes toward the parent of the opposite sex

e. A controversial concept, yet also often used to critique literature & film (e.g. Hamlet, Freud argued, plays out a version of the complex). 1) Brenner (1974) argues that "for a literary work to

have a strong, or, even more, a lasting appeal, its plot must arouse and gratify some important aspect of the unconscious oedipal wishes of the members of its audience" (p. 235)

2) An example is the original Star Wars, which can be "read" as a working out of Luke's Oedipal complex

B. Lacanian Psychoanalysis

1. Jacques Lacan believed that Freud's hypotheses must be interpreted symbolically rather than essentially

2. Language structures the social subject 3 Reinterpretation of psychoanalysis through

semiotics & structuralism 4. Posited 3 stages in place of Freud's oral, anal,

& phallic stages of growth: a. Preverbal phase--undifferentiated identity

with the mother, pre-oedipal, instinctual

Lacanian Psychoanalysis, con’t. b. Mirror phase

1) the moment when the child sees itself as a self, in a mirror--separates from the mother & sees self as a subject

2) More representative of femininity than the symbolic phase. with its assumption of narcissism

3) The child experiences pleasure (jouissance) at seeing itself, yet also alienation & dismay, since separate from the mother (the first object of desire)

Lacanian Psychoanalysis, con’t c. Symbolic phase

1) Child enters into the Symbolic, or the realm of language (language replaces the penis/phallus)

2) Gaining the power to speak (through socialization) provides the child with the primary tool needed to operate in the public world

3) To gain the power to speak means to repress the hidden desires for the mother, which kicks in a (symbolic) Oedipal complex

4) Boys can identify with the "rule of the father" & resolve the Oedipal crisis by taking the place of the father, separating fully from the mother, then transferring their affections to an adult woman

Lacanian Psychoanalysis, con’t

6) Girls, however, are characterized by "lack"--they don't possess a phallus, therefore cannot identify with the father

7) Girls must separate from the mother, transferring the forbidden desire to the father (or father substitute); yet, they also cannot separate from the mother, since already “castrated”

8) Without a "voice," girls are thus Other, that which is an object outside of the realm of the symbolic

d. Ideas very useful to feminist critics, esp. when combined with other concepts

Lacanian Psychoanalysis, con’t 5. Difference

a. Both language & unconscious signify by means of binary oppositions

b. Difference, as Other, controls the mind; the Other & (male) desire become sexualized

6. Jouissance a. The totality of enjoyment--sexual, spiritual, physical,

& conceptual b. Exists outside linguistic norms (in the realm of the

poetic), therefore more associated with women, who are also constituted outside of society

c. Women have the capacity for a decentered, multiple sexuality, "the sex which is not one“ (Irigray)

III. POSTMODERNISM

A. Means many things, ranging from a social condition to a critical perspective

B. The "modern" period occurred during & after the Enlightenment, with the rise of the individual & the beginnings of capitalism & industrialism (though some trace it back to the 15th century, with the invention of the printing press) 1. Associated with writers like James Joyce, Marcel

Proust, T.S. Eliot, & William Faulkner 2. Connected to artists like Pablo Picasso, Henri

Matisse, along with Dadaism & surrealism 3. In music, modernist composers include Igor

Stravinsky & Bela Bartok

Postmodernism, con’t.

C. Postmodern refers to 4 interrelated phenomenon (Denzin, 1991): 1. An artistic, aesthetic movement called

postmodernism (seen in media & architecture, as well as traditional art forms)

2. A historical transformation of society following World War II

3. A new form of theorizing about the contemporary historical moment

4. Social, cultural, & economic life under late capitalism

D. Influential postmodern theorists include Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault & Jean-Francoise Lyotard


E. Some key concepts: 1. Truth & knowledge

a. Postmodernism disavows truth, especially the notion of absolutes & universals.

b. Knowledge is a discourse that becomes an accepted statement of truth, or "metanarrative“ 1) Metanarratives set their own criteria or

standards for what counts as truth (e.g. science). 2) Must be skeptical about metanarratives

c. Postmodernism also attacks the law of non-contradiction (that an object cannot be both A & not A), seeing it as an instrument for control


2. History & subject a. Postmodern society tends toward

disconnection & fragmentation--runs counter to the modernist impulse to order & define

b. Postmodernism "eschews history; humans exist in fragmented current moments." (Gill, p. 202)

c. Thus it reflects "the end of history"; or the end of the metanarrative of linear historical progress


d. Postmodernism also argues for the "death of the subject“ 1) Individuals occupy positions in various language

games or "communication circuits," (where we are both sender-receiver)

2) The self is socially & linguistically constructed, a position which generally denies autonomy & individualism

e. The postmodern critic asserts that the author/artist/creator of discourse has no special privileged status in determining meaning


3. Embracing low/popular culture. a. Consists of a “degraded landscape of schlock &

kitsch, of TV series & Reader's Digest culture, of advertising & motels, of the late show & the grade-B Hollywood film," with romance novels, murder mysteries, science-fiction, etc. (David Lodge, 1988)

b. Popular culture is integrated with all other culture, with past & present mixed together

c. Gill notes that such art can be "sexually explicit, rebellious…critical of both political & social norms. It also is schizophrenic & disorderly" (p. 203)

Postmodernism, con’t

F. Some postmodern elements: 1. Simulacra of experience--a type of "virtual reality"

or hyperreality, as in video games 2. Pastiche--a mixture of elements not normally

connected; a "crazy quilt" of images, etc. 3. Self-referential elements--there is a self-

consciousness that occurs through multiple allusions & intertextuality

4. Spectacle--over inflated staging of events, designed to promote euphoria

5. Overcommodified--focus on clutter & consumption 6. Contradictory images—paradox is embraced

Postmodernism, con’t

G. Todd Gitlin (1989) offers this perspective on postmodernism: "It self-consciously splices genres, attitudes, styles. It relishes the blurring or juxtaposition of forms (fiction-non-fiction), stances (straight-ironic), moods (violent-comic), cultural levels (high-low) . . . It takes pleasure in the play of surfaces, & derides the search for depth as mere nostalgia." 1. Postmodern American society offers "culture as

garage sale" 2. Gitlin’s list of postmodern examples include

architecture, Andy Warhol's multiple image paintings, Disneyland, Las Vegas, shopping malls (especially mega malls), William Burroughs, Monty Python, science-fiction/action films, MTV, etc.

qualitative research methods critical textual analysis-- types, part 2

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