Cultural Studies Theory

Tech Check Paper

By Tiana Tippetts
Comm 1050
Submitted 2/28/14

According to our textbook, an assumption of Cultural Studies is that culture pervades and
invades all facets of human behavior.
1.
Ok, that makes sense, how we behave is a result of our culture,
right? Well, what is our culture? Ideology, the framework used to make sense of our existence, includes
languages, concepts, and the categories that different social groups collect in order to make sense of
their environments.
2.
Graham Murdock, a professor of Culture and Economy at Loughborough
University and professor of Sociology at Auckland University, stated that all groups are constantly
engaged in creating and remaking meaning systems and embodying these meanings in expressive forms,
social practices, and institutions.
3.
As we are, as Murdock states, embodying these meanings in
expressive forms, social practices, and institutions, we are aspiring for our meanings to be the social
and cultural platforms of our own existence. Unfortunately, not everybody can have their say and we
end up falling into submission to a greater power or influence.
Karl Marx, a German economist, is credited with identifying how the powerful (the elite) exploit
the powerless (the working class). He claims that being powerless can lead to alienation. Alienation is
the perception that one has little or no control over his or her own future. Marx continues to claim that
alienation is most destructive under capitalism, when people lose control over their own means of
production and must sell their time to some employer. Workers in a capitalistic society are measured by
their labor potential. According to the Marxist tradition, the capitalistic society shapes society and the
individuals within it. Frankfurt School Theorists are Marxist theorists who believe that the media is
more concerned with making money than presenting the news. They believe that media has one goal in
mind: capitalism.
4.

So as we are struggling to make sense of the world around us, we are being influenced by media
to help us make sense of our world and our culture. Our textbook states that the media could simply
be called the technological carrier of culture.
5.
Michael Real, a professor at Royal Roads University in
Canada, said that media invades our living space, shape the taste of those around us, inform and
persuade us on products and policies, intrude into our private dreams and public fears, and in turn,
invite us to inhabit them. If the media deems something to have importance, then something has
importance.
6.
Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist, calls media dishonest and fundamentally dirty. He says that
no institution should have power to decide what the public hears. The media are tools of a dominant
class. Hegemony, the domination of one group over another, usually weaker group; is an important
feature in cultural studies. Individuals might be under the false consciousness, where they are unaware
of the domination in their lives. Dominant groups in society manage to direct people into complacency.
If people are given enough rights (freedom, material goods, and so forth), they give consent to the
dominant cultures ideologies.
7.

My Methodology

In studying the Cultural Studies Theory, Ive had a hard time determining if there is a hidden
agenda involved. Is our culture completely based on media, or even worse, propaganda from the
government and other elite entities? If I may, using research Ive found online (professional journals,
magazines and newspapers) and at the library (books), with information published between 2008 and
2014, Id like to address the influences media may or may not have on a culture and examine whether or
not the Marxist theory is valid, even in current times.

Professional Journals

Through the online access to professional journals on slcc.edu, I was able to narrow a search to
journals related to the Cultural Studies theory published in the last few years. I came across a journal
called Introduction: Marx is back The Importance of Marxist Theory and Research for Critical
Communication Studies Today by Christian Fuchs and Vincent Mosco. Dated July 1, 2012. The abstract
of the journal points out that the purpose is to point out why there is a return of interest in Marx and
why Marxian analysis is important for critical communications studies today. They also provide a
classification of Marxian dimensions of the critical analysis of media and communication and discuss
why commonly held prejudices against what Marx said about society, media and communication are
wrong.
8.

Another journal titled Youth and New Media: Studying Identity and Meaning in an Evolving
Media Environment by David R. Zemmels, December 1, 2012. The introduction to this journal explains
that it is a review to, first, define new media, and then outline the historical theory about the
overlapping nature of subject and cultural construction of identity.
9.
Again, giving us an idea of the role
media plays on our culture.
Books

I found several books that touch on the topic of cultural studies, and more specific, the role
media (from the greater masses) plays on society and our culture. In the book "Media in the Digital
Age, it states. "Since the dawn of modern mass communication, those who have controlled the means
of media distribution have wielded enormous power." It goes on to say that the number of television
channels has exploded with the development of digital format and the ability to watch TV through the
internet, which means that the size of an audience for an individual TV program has shrunk and the
competition for the audiences has grown dramatically. Not to mention the mass media sources of
internet, videos, satellite radio. To touch on the theory of Karl Marx (in every society and every epoch
there is a ruling elite, and the ideas of the ruling elite are the ideas that dominate the society), this book
suggests that the Marx's model applied most clearly during the analog age of television, radio,
newspapers, and other mass media which were dependent on expensive and limited means of
production and distribution.
10.
With these new sources and almost endless opportunities to receive
mass media, the leading media distributors are almost the same as in the analog era, with the exception
of a few new dominant figures (Google, iTunes).
11.


This book also brings up, what I believe is an important subject, ethical considerations in the digital
era. We are shown 2 types of ethics problems, errors of omission and errors of commission. Errors of
omission are things that journalists and other media professionals fail to do, even though they should do
them. Errors of commission are things that journalists and media professionals should not do or acts
they should not commit (like taking bribes). In the context of journalism, these two types of ethical
errors result in the potential or real compromise of the truth.
12.


Later on, there is a case study of the use of video news release (VNR).
13.
The heading to the
paragraph is "Case Study: Propaganda Disguised as News." VNR's are basically news stories made up by
the government and other for profit and non-profit organizations that are sent to news stations and
voiced over with the local news reporter's voice to make them seamlessly fit in to the newscast as if
they are actual news stories produced by the local news station itself. A study in 1990 by Dan Berkowitz
and Douglas B. Adams found that 22% of VNRs sent to local television stations were used.
14.
In 1994
another study by John H. Minnis and Cornelius B. Pratt found that 34% of print news releases were used
at least in part by weekly newspapers.
15.
An interesting side note, after reading this section of the book,
I recently came across a news article online on the main page of yahoo.com where it focused on the
benefits of Obamacare, it made me wonder if this was a form of a VNR, submitted by the government
with the deadline for health insurance drawing near. The question of ethics about VNRs are brought
up. Scholarly research on VNR use generally conclude that VNRs constitute audience deception. VNR
viewers believe that they are watching the product of a station's news gathering and independent
judgement. They do not generally realize they are seeing and hearing the news as told from the
perspective of the VNR production company's client. David Lieberman, an author of a cover story called
"Fake News" in TV Guide on 2/22/92, recommended that newscasts that air even a portion of a VNR
should provide a continuous on-air graphic labeling the VNR. Few stations have implemented this
recommendation, but in failing to do so, newscasters risk destroying the trust that the public has in their
broadcasts.
16.


Another book Media/Impact an introduction to mass media, 9th edition by Shirley Biagi. Published
in 2010 by Wadsworth Cengage Learning. (Textbook). Chapter 13: Society, Culture and Politics: Shaping
the Issues. I'll take a look at the header, "Mass Media Reflect Cultural Values," it states that together,
media present the consensus; journalists reflect the prevailing climate of opinion. As this consensus
spreads, people with divergent views may be less likely to voice disagreement with the prevailing point
of view. This creates the "spiral of silence" which is the belief that people with divergent views may be
reluctant to challenge the consensus of opinion offered by the media.
17.
This is basically the Marxist
theory in action.

I'd like to take a look at another view. In the book "Connecting Social Problems and Popular
Culture: Why Media is not the Answer" by Karen Sternheimer. Published in 2010 by Westview Press in
Colorado. The synopsis of the book is: Popular culture is an easy answer for many of society's problems,
but it is almost always the wrong answer. The book goes beyond the news-grabbing headlines claiming
that popular culture is public enemy number one to consider what really causes the social problems we
are most concerned about. The sobering fact is that the roots of poverty, child abuse, and unequal
public education are much more complicated than the media-made-them-do-it explanations.
18.


Another turn is found in the book "Ordinary People and the Media: The Demotic Turn" by Graeme
Turner Published in 2010. It focuses on the results of identity with new media, claiming that ordinary
people are influencing culture. From posting our own favorite images on Facebook, to having
homemade videos going viral and the ever popular reality stars on TV. The book claims that "the
ordinary citizen's access to a media profile that was unavailable before the digital revolution has
encouraged some to argue that we have entered an unprecedented era of networked information,
which in turn provides opportunities for participation that are so widespread and various that they
constitute a form of democratization - an opening up of the media on a scale that invites us to think of it
as a new form of political enfranchisement. It goes on to argue that the consumption of media has
become so individualized and fragmented that the notion that the media should bear some kind of
social or community responsibility seems, to many, anachronistic (expectations that the media might
serve the public good seem to have been displaced at the very same time when media performances by
members of the public have never been more visible). The function of media, for so long, connected to
assumptions about its implication in the construction of the citizen, and about the importance of the
provision of information to the public as a means of enabling the proper functioning of the democratic
state, now looks as if it must be explained in relation to a range of other, quite different, assumptions.
19.

So, do these claims suggest that we, as "ordinary people" are forming cultures rather than the higher,
more powerful corporations in our capitalistic society? I would say that it certainly seems so.

Magazines and Newspapers

In my final resource, I went to www.rollingstone.com and found this article titled Marx was right:
Five Surprising ways Karl Marx Predicted 2014, by Sean McElwee, published January 30, 2014. This
article attempts to prove that Karl Marx predicted modern issues, namely, the Great Recession, the
Iphone 5S (why are we being convinced to throw away our perfectly good phones from only a year
prior?), the IMF (The Globalization of Capitalism), Walmart (Monopoly), Low wages, big profits (the
reserve army of industrial labor). The article goes on to state that, Marx was wrong about many
things.
20.
An interesting side note is all of the comments this article received online. Many people were
in opposition to the view of the magazine as well as Karl Marx.

I found another article on www.usatoday.com titled How Media Blows Bubbles, by Morgan
Housel, November 22, 2013. It mentions that Yale Economist and recent Nobel Prize winner, Robert
Shiller, stated at a conference in October 2013, "The big fluctuations of bubbles are primarily social-
psychological changes," he said. You need a well-armed media to drive that change. "You can't have a
bubble with word of mouth.
21.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I suppose I can say that there is evidence in current times to support the Marxist
theory of inequality and the role media plays on culture. At the same time there is evidence to argue
the theory and we see that there are deeper roots to social problems. And, maybe, we as individuals
are having more of a say as we are able to make our voices heard through social media and other forms
of modern media outlets. This may be a baby step to a bigger picture, but we may be breaking the
pattern of the Marxist Theory.
Work Cited

1., 2., 5. Textbook: Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application, 4
th
Edition. By Richard
West and Lynn H. Turner. 2010. Chapter 21, Cultural Studies.
3. Graham Murdock (1989) Cultural Studies: Missing links critical studies in mass communication, 6, 436-
440
4. Karl Marx & Engles, F. (1848) The Communist Manifesto. New York. Penguin Books
6. Michael R. Real (1996): Exploring Media Culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
7. Stuart hall (1989) Ideology and Communication Theory. In B. Dervin, L. Grossberg, B.J. OKeefe, & E.
Wartella (Eds.), Rethinking Communication Paradigm issues (pp.40-51). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
8. Introduction: Marx is Back The Importance of Marxist Theory and Research for Critical
Communication Studies Today. Christian Fuchs & Vincent Mosco. July 1, 2012.
9.Youth and New Media: Studying Identity and Meaning in an Evolving Media Environment. David R.
Zemmels, December 1, 2012.
10. Media in the Digital Age. John V. Pavlik. 2008. New York (pp. 130, 131)
11. Media in the Digital Age. John V. Pavlik. 2008. New York (pp 148)
12. Media in the Digital Age. John V. Pavlik. 2008. New York (pp 236)
13. Media in the Digital Age. John V. Pavlik. 2008. New York (pp 252-261)
14. Dan Berkowitz and Douglas B. Adams, Information Subsidy and Agenda-Building in Local Television
News, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 67 (1990): 723-31.
15. John H. Minnis and Cornelius B. Pratt, Newsroom Socialism and the Press Release: Implications for
Media Relations, paper presented at the annual convention of the Association for Education in
Journalism and Mass Communication, Atlanta, Georgia, august 1194, Sponsored by the Samsung
Economic Institute.
16. David Lieberman, "Fake News" in TV Guide 2/22/92 (pp. 22-28)
17. Another book Media/Impact an introduction to mass media, 9th edition by Shirley Biagi. Published in
2010 by Wadsworth Cengage Learning. (Textbook). (pp. 274)
18. "Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture: Why Media is not the Answer" by Karen
Sternheimer. Published in 2010 by Westview Press in Colorado (back cover)
19. "Ordinary People and the Media: The Demotic Turn" by Graeme Turner Published in 2010
(Introduction pp i, ii)
20. www.rollingstone.com Marx was right: Five Surprising ways Karl Marx Predicted 2014, by Sean
McElwee, published January 30, 2014
21. www.usatoday.com How Media Blows Bubbles, by Morgan Housel, November 22, 2013 with work
cited by Robert Shiller