QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS CRITICAL TEXTUAL ANALYSIS-- OVERVIEW, CULTURAL STUDIES & GENERAL TYPES, PART 1

I. MEDIA CRITICISM/CULTURAL STUDIES A. Analysis of media texts, controversial issues related to the media, and/or the structure & operation of media institutions.  1. Not the same as media reviewing, but an interpretative & evaluative process.  2. Attempts to answer one or more RQ(s)  3. Documentation/evidence is from the media text/artifact itself.  4. Methodology usually derived from theory (sometimes called a model)

B. Cultural Studies 1. Interdisciplinary—No one set theory or method s--Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in Britain 3. Basic Assumptions:  a. Examine relationship between culture & power 1) Culture is a site of the production of power, & the struggle over power 2) Cultures always multiple with meanings contested 3) Culture is complex 4) Not everything is culture, or can be explained in cultural terms

Cultural Studies, con’t. b. historical context & everyday practices are important in analysis of media—”radically contextual” c. Assumes reality is constructed d. People are not passive "cultural dopes”; instead are active participants in creating & understanding meaning e. Mass media is the "literature" of the people as well as the expression of a particular society f. Thus often critique "low" or popular culture (e.g. advertising, movies, TV shows, comic books, etc.)

Cultural Studies, con’t. 4. Major goal is to enhance media literacy in the general population (criticism is both pragmatic as well as theoretical) 5. Most media critics freely admit their subjectivity in dealing with social texts, believing that it is impossible to be completely "objective“ 6. Focus on issues of meaning & representation; subjectivity & identity; and/or society, culture, & power, as these issues affect the communication process

Cultural Studies, con’t. 7. A cultural studies critic analyzes “texts”(or media messages), considering the following:  a. The nature of culture--often popular culture conveyed through the mass media; examines how power enters into people's everyday life.  b. The nature of context--where are cultural texts located?  c. The nature of the effects of cultural practices & contexts  d. The nature of meaning & representation  e. The nature of power & its organization in society

Cultural Studies, con’t. 8. Audience responses (S. Hall)—audiences not passive; 3 ways to decode any cultural message:  a. The preferred "reading" of a text--a "naive" decoding, accepts dominant meaning  b. The negotiated reading 1) Accept parts of the message, but adapt others to your own frame of reference (e.g. Trekkers with Star Trek) 2 “Poaching the text” (Jenkins)  c. The oppositional or resistant reader--deconstruct the narrative, take it apart, argue with it, refuse to accept it as constructed.

C. General types of media criticism (may be combined): 1. Aesthetic--an analysis of the artistic qualities of the media text/artifact 2. Audience-centered--how messages are interpreted by audiences; also analyzes possible effects on audiences (may be rhetorical or use Reception Theory) 3. Pragmatic--how might media texts/artifacts, institutions, policies, etc. function to attain specific professional goals?

General Types, con’t. 4. Ethical--analyzing the ethical & moral implications of media texts/artifacts, institutions, policies, etc. 5. Archetypal (or Mythic) Analysis--examine influence, effects, etc. of shared cultural stories & universal symbols in media. 6. Psychoanalytic (or Poststructuralist) Analysis-- explores how symbolic aspects of media express our unconscious, repressed desires, especially our desires for sex, violence, etc. (often applied to film, especially horror films)

7. Semiotics & structuralism--Looks at how representation of signs & story structures establish meaning for particular groups. 8. Sociological—uses cultural theory to analyze how media texts & institutions reflect, reinforce, and/or shape social values, human behavior, & social-cultural institutions. 9. Ideological/neo-Marxist Analysis--understand how media reinforce dominant power structures & social ideologies, etc. Often looks at an entire media industry, esp. with the rise of media conglomeration General types, con’t.

10. Feminist media criticism. Very diverse, but usually focus in one of three areas:  1) Rediscovering media made by women  2) Analyzing media genres targeted to women (e.g. soap operas, the “chick flick,” fashion magazines, etc.)  3) Evaluating stereotyped images of both women & men in media, especially how such images denigrate & oppress both sexes