How We Know What We Know Culture & the Critical Perspective Dr. Fred Blevens (2018 additions GP) Culture & the Critical Perspective

Definition of Culture The symbols of expression that individuals, groups, and societies use to make sense of daily life and to articulate their values. Culture = Meaning

What is Culture?

Culture as Process It delivers the values of a society through products or other meaning-making forms . . . Newspapers Entertainment media Mass communication Point-to-point communication There is no single location for culture It cannot be defined the same for everyone

Media Creates Culture This is done by a process called “negotiation,” which is the interaction of the symbols and ideas in the media you consume with the symbols and ideas already in your head. Through that process of sampling, thinking, processing, things come to be meaningful to each of us.

Cultural/Historical Change Individuals alter culture Social movements alter culture Technology alters culture

Communication is not . . . Truth -- language and perception Reality -- interpreted, constructed, mediated Objective -- experience and identity Comprehensive -- guess who gets left out?

Origins: The Frankfurt School Jewish scholars Challenged Hitler’s assumption that fascism could lift up the Germans Seeds of the Holocaust Many died for their beliefs Survivors came to U.S. to establish the basis for the critical perspective.

Critical Perspective Hallmarks Questioning assumptions: Hitler and Jews Make America great again (Now, it really sucks) Taxes are too high (Cuts benefits for everyone) We must privatize (Business better than government) Immigration in crisis (They take away great jobs) Expanding the bounds of debate What documents/data prove or disprove? Who are left out of the conversation? Are there different and better “authorities”? Betterment of society All peoples treated with dignity/respect All taxpayers are treated equally “We don’t do these things because they are easy; we do them because they are hard.” John F. Kennedy

Taxes Are Too High? 91% highest tax bracket 50% corporate tax Increase of 24 cents per gallon gas tax Federal spending on education 1.03% GDP (2020 = .47%) Research spending increased from .73% to 1.69% GDP

Who is it?

Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961

What Are the Implications? It’s easier not to question things It’s easier to accept assumptions It’s easier to assume the best in people It’s easier to be egocentric It’s easier to blame vulnerable populations It’s easier to not think deeply about the issues Put in context, few people work hard enough to participate vigorously in the world; some work hard enough to understand the world; most work just hard enough to watch it pass by.

Our Uncritical Past Assumptions: Critical Perspective: White men write most history White men tend to be the heroes of most history People of color tend to be the villains of history Women are left out of most history The East ignores the West; the West ignores the East Most history is Eurocentric storytelling Critical Perspective: We have missed (and continue to miss) a lot Point A may connect to Point B, but A did not cause B History simply cannot be that simple

Practice this, please Active, not passive, reading Turn on your critical sensibility This course is an alternative explanation What problems do we introduce here? What or Who is missing from our work? Who are Professors Blevens, Pearson, Ottolenghi and Soto, anyway?

A moment of Zen Many things in history are inevitable when somebody does something. If we learn about the coarse of events we can prevent ourselves from doing it again. History, as we know, is always bias, because human beings have to be studied by other human beings, not by independent observers of another species.