capitalismAn economic and social system based on the private ownership of capital
Readings
Two attachments pdf + Sturken, M., & Cartwright, L. (2001). Excerpt from Viewers make meaning. In Practices of looking: An introduction to visual culture (pp. 56–71).
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Glossary Terms for Reading
Here is a list of glossary terms for the “hegemony” reading:
⦁ capitalism
⦁ class
⦁ ideology
⦁ Marxism
mass media
Here is a list of glossary terms for the Althusser reading:
⦁ relations of production
subject
Here is a list of glossary terms for the Sturken and Cartwright reading:
⦁ appropriation
⦁ encoding/decoding
gender-bending
meaning of glossary words:
capitalismAn economic and social system based on the private ownership of capital (roughly synonymous with the means of production) required to produce, distribute,
market, and consume goods and services. Capitalism proper (as opposed to mercantilism) is usually thought to be the result of the Industrial Revolution, which took
place in Europe between 1750 and 1850. capitalism
class Has various meanings, but within Marxism, classes are groups with identifiable social positions related to the ownership of material resources (in Marxist terms,
the means of production, e.g., things like land, raw materials, and factories). For Marx, economics determined class, and exploitation governed class relations. Other
theorists, especially sociologists, have found Marx’s analysis reductive and stifling. They view economic and social class as separate (though related) categories that
depend on many more factors than Marx was willing to acknowledge. Class
deology In general, ideology can designate any shared system of values. In Marxist theory (and in cultural studies), it refers to the beliefs and doctrines of the
dominant classes and the process by which these become internalized by the rest of society. Key to the Marxist explanation of ideology is the idea that thinking and
understanding are not detached or self-sufficient activities but are shaped by political agendas. Dominant ideologies are reinforced subtly and persuasively in the
media, and ideological content can be difficult to decipher. Ideology
Marxism Derives from the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the nineteenth century. In its original form, Marxism was primarily a critique of capitalism,
which it saw as the domination and exploitation of workers (the proletariat) by owners (the bourgeoisie). More broadly, Marxist theory concerns itself with the
exercise of power under capitalism and with the relations between classes. One of the most influential aspects of Marxist analysis has been Marx’s contention that
material conditions (economics) are the primary factors behind how people think. Marxism)
mass media Radio, television, movies, newspapers, magazines, and, more recently, the Internet and the World Wide Web. The term derives from the trend toward
massification that resulted from the Industrial Revolution and the period of rapid urbanization that followed. A certain uniformity of tastes, attitudes, and
behaviours has been attributed to large urban communities (or “mass society”) because it is assumed that everyone in them receives their information from the same
mainstream sources or mass media. However, while it is irrefutable that mass media reach and influence large numbers of people, it is much more difficult to determine
what individual listeners, readers, and viewers take from them. mass media
relations of production The social interactions between owners and producers in any economic situation. As one of four components necessary for production in Marxist
economics, relations of production must be seen as interconnected with the means of production (discussed under “class”). The remaining two are 1) the forces of
production: a combination of technological capacity and skill levels; and 2) the modes of production: a historically specific interaction between the means, forces,
and relations of production. Historical change comes about, in Marx’s view, when one of these modes (e.g., feudalism, capitalism, socialism) is forcibly displaced by
its successor. Relations of production are static, and for this reason, they are in constant tension with the forces of production (which are dynamic). This tension
creates the potential for revolution. relations of production
subject Althusser’s use of this word acknowledges both its historical and functional complexity. These ideas of subject and subjectivity go back to Descartes’
conception of the thinker as the originator of thought and thought as determining the distinctive character of the self (as in Descartes’ famous dictum: “I think,
therefore I am”). “Subject” carries with it, then, not only connotations of individuality and agency but also, as Althusser indicates, implications of subjection and
subjecthood (1970, p. 56). In the twentieth century, psychoanalysis has been concerned with the difficult, painful, and imperfect processes that form subjectivity.
Exploring the subject’s evolution in ideology is Althusser’s attempt to add a specifically Marxist socio-political dimension to a topic previously discussed largely in
philosophical and psychological terms. (See reference following.)
Althusser, L. (1970). From ‘Ideology and ideological state apparatuses’. In A. Easthope & K. McGowan (Eds.), A critical and cultural theory reader (1992, pp. 50-58).
Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press. subjectbinary opposition: Saussure’s theory of language (see also “semiotically”) maintains that meaning is a function of
difference. The clearest illustration of this is the binary opposition, a couplet in which each member is understood through its relationship to the other (e.g.,
good‐evil, right‐wrong, light‐dark, male‐female, public‐private, etc.). As the French philosopher Jacques Derrida has pointed out, one component of the binary
opposition is also always privileged over the other, and by analyzing this relationship of privilege, we can better understand the workings of power.
Appropriation Involves taking existing representations and altering them to invite different interpretations that may be opposed to the way(s) these works are usually
understood. appropriation.
encoding/decoding In Stuart Hall’s description, producers encode cultural products with preferred meanings that consumers may then decode. Far from a straightforward
exchange, however, each of these activities is informed by a number of parallel but variable conditions such as class, education, taste (cultural codes), context
(workplace or viewing site), and the attributes of the medium (as they influence production and consumption). encoding/decoding.
gender-bending An oppositional practice that resists the conventional binary oppositions of male-female and masculine-feminine with images that cannot be categorized
as one or the other. It may also make reference to forms of eroticism or sexual behaviour that challenge stereotypical sex roles. gender-bending
Assignment
Look at the works listed and answer the following set of questions for each, taking into consideration the issues you have studied and using the vocabulary you have
learned above:
Part A, Web Discussion: Viewers and Meanings
Your contributions to the discussion are graded on how well you understand the main ideas and terms you have studied in the unit and how effectively you can use them
to ask and answer questions
“Culture jamming” is a phrase invented by the band Negativland in 1984 as a name for the efforts of artists and activists to critique or subvert the ideological
manipulations of the mass media. Watch the clip from Jill Sharpe’s video Culture Jam in which culture jammers talk about what they do and why they do it. Using the
terminology you have learned in this unit, discuss these practices, their motivations, and the consequences they could have. Do you think the issues they focus on are
important ones? Why? Can they effect (i.e., bring about) social change? How?
Stop and replay the clip as often as you need to get the sense of culture jamming presented. You might also want to use the accompanying transcript as a reference.
The transcript:
Transcript
In this video clip culture jammers talk about what they do and why they do it. Culture jammers are artists and activists who critique or subvert the ideological
manipulations of the mass media.
(Scene 1: A musical montage with various culture jammers speaking.)
Interviewer. I can’t believe how many people I talk to, Craig, that have never heard of the words ‘culture jamming’. So, I mean, to someone who’s never heard of it
before, how would you describe culture jamming?
Craig. Okay, well first of all I don’t want to be contrar—, well actually I do want to be contrarian, but I don’t want to be perverse. I must say that I don’t really
care if people know the words culture jamming. It really has to do with an activity.
Various culture jammers (montage). Speaking of the right to jam. / Steal the best ideas, remake them into your own and go out and do something new. I mean that’s what
artists and freaks and pranksters have done forever. / If you think about it, it’s not entirely accurate—it’s culture jamming culture. And then the culture jams at me.
/ It’s sort of a slap in the face. There’s a little something, there’s something a little bit shocking and bracing about it, you know. Sort of a good, good healthy
slap. / You’ve got jam, as in, like, jamming the machinery. Like the Luddites throwing the wrench into the machine, jamming the machinery. / We can reconfigure the
logos that confront us. We have that power. / The words are there; the canvas is there. Go use it. You know, just get out there and don’t get caught. / I don’t get
caught. / You know when I’m in jail I don’t like it. There’s always that feeling in jail, that they’ve lost your records.
Culture jammer 1. The way to protect yourself from the sort of insidious corporate culture is to sort of take the classic expressions of that corporate culture and
sort of add a little sort of, uh, a twist that redefines their meaning in a revolutionary direction and sends it back in their faces. That sounds like as good a
definition of culture jamming as I can come up with extemporaneously!
Culture jammer 2. What did, you know, what did the peasants do in the Middle Ages when they were being wiped out by the uh, by the aristocracy, you know? Try to get a
job as court jester. (Laughs) It’s where they wouldn’t kill them, and they’d feed them and they could make fun of the king and get away with it. I mean, the rest of
them got hacked to bits.
Culture jammer 3. Culture jamming, you know, in essence in a single sentence, is, you know, again semiological guerrilla warfare.
(Scene 2: Inside a moving subway car with a few passengers. A young female culture jammer walks through the car and pastes anti-consumerist pseudo-ads on various
advertisements (e.g., a 1950s-era image of a woman pushing a shopping cart, accompanied by the exhortation: “Shopping is good; enjoy debt. Fill your inner emptiness
with stuff.”).)
Culture jammer. I’ve gotten comments from pedestrians or, like, other citizens. They see me doing this and they need to respond, so they’ll read aloud what I just
wrote and look at me and ask me what I mean by it or they’ll comment on it. I haven’t had too much conflict. I’ve had tons of other friends who’ve gotten arrested, or
gotten stopped and have argued their case. People that don’t like it usually don’t say anything. It’s weird.
Interviewer. What do you think about that? Do you think people should have a right to do that?
Man 1. No, I don’t think so.
Man 2. It, uh, is in violation of other vendors’ advertisements, so I would think that many would find it offensive.
Interviewer. And do you find it offensive?
Man 2. Yes
Interviewer. And you, sir?
Man 3. I do as well, yes.
Culture jammer. I think it’s really important to remember that we target the brands because the brands are the ones that are hovering out there above us and the ones
that the companies invest so much money into creating. But it’s not just the brands, you know. We’re targeting that to get to something much more deeper [sic] that we
can’t necessarily access.
Part B: Short Essay
Instructions
Write a short informal essay (approximately 1000 words) on the following topic. Be sure that you are presenting the concepts in your own words and that you include
current information. (You may use “I” when it seems appropriate.)
Follow conventional format for preparing your essay and citing sources.
Essay Topic
Appropriation may or may not produce what Stuart Hall calls “oppositional readings.” Both of the works below can be seen as examples of appropriation. Pick one and
examine it carefully. Whether or not either artist “borrowed” from an original, what cultural codes (or shared meanings) does each reference? How have these been re-
coded? Describe the difference between the “old” connotations of particular elements in each piece and the “new” interpretations that re-combining or re-
contextualizing have enabled. Do you believe the creation you have chosen is oppositional? Why or why not?
[d]
Barbara Kruger “Untitled” (I shop therefore I am) 111″ by 113″ photographic silkscreen/vinyl 1987 Courtesy of Mary Boone Gallery, New York. Reproduced with permission.
[d]
Michael Jackson and Bubbles 1988 Porcelain 42 x 70 1/2 x 32 1/2″ © Jeff Koons The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica. Reproduced with permission.
Criteria for Evaluating Essay Assignments
Here is a set of criteria that will form the basis for evaluating essay assignments.
Substance (75 per cent)
⦁ The essay provides evidence of critical thinking and presents an informed and thoughtful discussion.
⦁ Research sources are relevant, current, and credible. They are clearly documented in the paper.
⦁ The introduction explains the purpose of the paper and the issue or issues you will address. This can take the form of a question or questions.
⦁ The body develops your enquiry by providing explanation/information and organizing ideas and examples as clearly and directly as possible.
⦁ The conclusion summarizes the learning that has taken place through writing the paper; it also presents a (tentative) position statement and/or suggests
direction for
Writing Style and Format (25 per cent)
⦁ Paragraphs are coherent, with transitions between ideas.
⦁ Sentences are grammatically correct; words are chosen for accuracy and impact.
⦁ The writing follows the conventions of spelling and mechanics (punctuation, etc.).
⦁ The format follows the documentation style (i.e., APA, MLA, Chicago Manual of Style) accurately and consistently.
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