1. Ideology Criticism Communication, Signification and Culture PR 203 - Intro to Communication Dr. P.M.G. Verstraete WEEK 12

2. Last week McLuhan – about transformation of culture through technical advances of typography/alphabet and printing (the ‘Gutenberg’ Galaxy) to understand the history of mass media: a development from acoustic space (‘aural-tactile’, tribal, pre-literate) to visual space (linearity, homogeneity, distance, perspective, causality, literacy) a cultural transformation in the electronic age : multimedia, new image-sound relations that strain both halves of the brain, simultaneity

3. This week Ideology Criticism through Semiotic AnalysisIdeology Criticism through Semiotic Analysis Hegemonic Analysis of a (Mass Media) TextHegemonic Analysis of a (Mass Media) Text

4. Remember Marx? Mass media are an instrument of the bourgeoisie / a capitalist tool of exploitation.Mass media are an instrument of the bourgeoisie / a capitalist tool of exploitation. The wealthy and the powerful utilize media to maintain the hegemonic status in the social order. The dominant class owns the media (only a few corporations).The wealthy and the powerful utilize media to maintain the hegemonic status in the social order. The dominant class owns the media (only a few corporations). Mass media disseminate ideologyMass media disseminate ideology = a body of assumptions, ideas, and values the combine into a coherent world view Ideology is top-down : ideas by the ruling class = mass deception, the ‘status-quo’.Ideology is top-down : ideas by the ruling class = mass deception, the ‘status-quo’. The bourgeoisie suffer from ` false consciousness ’ = production and consumption of commodities (‘commodity fetishism’).The bourgeoisie suffer from ` false consciousness ’ = production and consumption of commodities (‘commodity fetishism’).

5. We have also seen… Stuart Hall: dominant/preferred reading, negotiated reading, oppositional readingStuart Hall: dominant/preferred reading, negotiated reading, oppositional reading Roland Barthes: myth, the ‘ rhetoric of ideology ’ & second- order meanings (connotations)Roland Barthes: myth, the ‘ rhetoric of ideology ’ & second- order meanings (connotations) In a tightly knit culture or subculture, the interaction is smooth and effortless: the connotations and myths upon which the text draws, fit closely (if not exactly) with those of the audience members. = dominant encoding/decoding

6. Dominant / Preferred Reading? Negotiated Reading? Oppositional Reading?

7. Norm(al) – man = human Natural: shifts from one culture to another, one generation to the next… Ideology presented as “natural”

8. Black Pete in the Netherlands/Belgium

9. Ideology Provide the philosophical threads that weave a community togetherProvide the philosophical threads that weave a community together Serve as the psychological and emotional justification for the differential treatment of some people within a societyServe as the psychological and emotional justification for the differential treatment of some people within a society

10. Raymond Williams IDEOLOGY = A system of beliefs characteristic of a particular class or group A system of illusory beliefs—false ideas or false consciousness —which can be contrasted with true or scientific knowledge The general process of the production of meanings and ideas P sychologist definition: the way that attitudes are organized into a coherent pattern, ‘attitudes have homes in ideologies’ Marxist definition: ruling class controls the main ‘means of production’ by which ideology is propagated and spread/distributed throughout society + working class sees its subordination as ‘natural’ and ‘right’ Roland Barthes’ rhetoric of ideology: myths and connoted values are usable manifestations of the ideology = presented by signifiers of ideology = source of second-order meanings

11. Racial ideology: White supremacy vs. Black ‘thug’/’stud’ Gender and sexism: patriarchy vs. women Sexuality: heteronormativity vs. deviant gays Ideology ‘at work’ - by producing meaning through signs Roland Barthes: manifest binary oppositions (cf. myth) structure mass media messages

12. This shows/determines the dominant values and attributes of a culture vs. those taken for granted The ones presented as ‘natural’, so unspoken = ‘ exnomination’ (Barthes) The deep structure = the ideological frame Myth vs. Counter-myth

13. second-order meanings are produced by the dominant ideology of our culture

14. Semiotic triangle Myths and connotations are commonly understood because of their frequent use in communication : Every time a sign is used it reinforces the life of its second-order meanings in the culture and in the user. The user of the sign keeps it in currency by using it, and maintains the myths and connoted values of the culture by responding to their use in communication. Signs = material, concrete form of myths and values – We are formed by the ideology by using and responding to ideological signs!

15. Barthes: connotators and myths are the rethoric of (my) ideology Function = cultural identification: they enable members of a culture to identify their membership of that culture through their acceptance of common, shared myths and values They are constituting me as a member of a culture Reading signs = defining me in relation to an ideology & society

16. Ideology A way of making sense (always political/social dimension) A social practice

17. Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels: The German Ideology (1845) Ideology = the ideas of the ruling class = those sets of ideas that promote the capitalist class's economic interests “The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it…." A little Marxist theory and history…

18. Individual members of the ruling class, to the degree that they rule as a class, will then determine (produce, regulate and distribute) the ideas of their age Universality: Ruling interests are represented as the common interests of subordinate classes, the only correct, rational ones available. Marx: all knowledge = class-based: it works to prefer the interests and ideas of the ruling class (as natural and normal) Consciousness determines how we relate to each other, how we make sense of our social reality = produced by the society

19. This explains why majority in capitalist society accepts a social system that disadvantaged them

20. Ideology as “false consciousness” Marx used a variety of metaphors: a form of distortion, such as ‘phantoms’,‘abstractions’, ‘illusions’,‘blocks’ or ‘dream-like’. Engels:‘Ideology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker consciously, it is true, but with a false consciousness.’ Marx believed: socio-economic reality > ideology so workers would overthrow the bourgeoisie/capitalism and produce a class-less, fair and equal society conscience of its social relations

21. The economic base or infrastructure (i.e. the economic and productive forces and relations of production) Give rise to the superstructure of that epoch (prevailing ideas, laws and ideological mystifications) Changes in the economic foundation or base will ultimately lead,‘sooner or later’, to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure ?

22. THENNOW

23. Louis Althusser (1918-1990)

24. In contemporary society, the superstructure can be divided into two groups: Repressive State Apparatuses (RSA): organizations of physical force centralized within the state itself, all of which operate through the use, real or implied, of violence.The government, the army, the police, the courts, and the prisons. Repressive State Apparatuses (RSA): organizations of physical force centralized within the state itself, all of which operate through the use, real or implied, of violence.The government, the army, the police, the courts, and the prisons. Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA): acts ‘massively and predominantly’ by ideology to reproduce the structural inequalities of capitalist society. Media, religion, education, parental upbringing, art etc. Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA): acts ‘massively and predominantly’ by ideology to reproduce the structural inequalities of capitalist society. Media, religion, education, parental upbringing, art etc.

25. IDEOLOGY an all pervasive set of practices in which all classes participate (rather than defined by one class), but still can benefit the interests of the dominant class – deeply inscribed in the ways of thinking and living of all classes (more effective/complex than Marx thought)

26. Ideology operates through "interpellation" = ‘hailing’ Hey, You!

27. "Interpellation" evokes the social structures and practices which "hail" individuals, endowing them with a social identity and constituting them as subjects who unthinkingly accept their role within the system of production relations Interpellation can position us in an ideological category that may differ from our actual social one

28. Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

29. Hegemony: ‘spontaneous’ consent given by the great masses of the population to the general direction imposed on social life by the dominant fundamental group; this consent is ‘historically’ caused by the prestige (and consequent confidence) which the dominant group enjoys because of its position and function in the world of production. IDEOLOGY AS ‘STRUGGLE’ So: constantly winning and rewinning consent = constant instability

30. Consent vs. Coercion Coercion: the ‘apparatus of state coercive power which “legally” enforces discipline on those groups who do not “consent” either actively or passively’. e.g. the armed forces of the military or the police, courts and prison system to maintain ‘law and order’. Coercion: the ‘apparatus of state coercive power which “legally” enforces discipline on those groups who do not “consent” either actively or passively’. e.g. the armed forces of the military or the police, courts and prison system to maintain ‘law and order’. Power: is much more commonly exercised over subordinate groups by means of persuasion through ‘political and ideological leadership’.A ruling group is hegemonic only to the degree that it acquires the consent of other groups. Power: is much more commonly exercised over subordinate groups by means of persuasion through ‘political and ideological leadership’.A ruling group is hegemonic only to the degree that it acquires the consent of other groups.

31. Common Sense Negotiation between subordinate groups and the ruling group within the limits of ‘common sense’ (dominant norms, values and beliefs). Hegemony: a site of ideological struggle over this ‘common sense’. Common sense: the site on which the hegemonic rules of practical conduct and norms of moral behaviour are reproduced and, crucially, also challenged and resisted.

32. Common Sense if the ideas of the ruling class can be accepted as common (i.e. not class-based), then their ideological object is achieved and their ideological work is disguised criminality as function of the individual rather than the unfair society

34. No escape There is no way to escape ideology: although our material social experience may contradict it, the only means we have of making sense of that experience are always ideologically loaded ; so the only sense we can make of our selves, our social relations, and our social experience is one that is a practice of the dominant ideology. Gramsci’s theory makes social change appear possible, Marx’s makes it inevitable, and Althusser’s improbable.

35. WE NEED TO ANALYZE THE SIGNIFIERS OF IDEOLOGY

36. In order to maintain its hegemonic leadership, especially in transformative moments of potential social upheaval, the ruling class would sometimes use more consensual tactics, even incorporating certain working- class aspirations into the dominant ideology or superstructural system. E.g.The extension of voting rights, the rise of compulsory public education, and the creation of welfare state health, environmental policies etc. Some final concepts…

37. Incorporation The process by which the dominant classes take elements of resistance from the subordinate and use them to maintain the status quo, rather than to challenge it.

38. displacement When a topic or anxiety is repressed, either psychologically or ideologically, the concern for it can only be expressed by being displaced on to a legitimate, socially acceptable topic.

39. Commodity Capitalism is the system that, above all others, produces commodities, so making commodities seem natural is at the heart of much ideological practice. We learn to understand our desires in terms of the commodities produced to meet them; we learn to think of our problems in terms of the commodities by which to solve them. Connected with myth : Naturalizing the existing order makes it appear universal and therefore unchangeable (like nature); the problem is not how to change the social system, but how to insert oneself into it (with the aid of the right commodities) and thus how to maintain it.

42. Resistance Hegemony is the means by which their consent to the system that disadvantages them is won, but its victories are never complete or stable: because of the contradictory experiences of everyday life the struggle is never over. Resistances against the dominant ideology, capitalism, patriarchy, commodification are always still available to promote oppositional readings of the mass media messages and representations.

43. Torn jeans: Aesthetic or Resistance?

45. Ideology/hegemony analysis Use Stuart Hall: Dominant or preferred reading/reader Negotiated reading/reader Oppositional reading/reader Use semiotic analysis: signifiers of ideology Use Barthes’s theory of the second order of signification ( connotations & myths with binary oppositions) as the ‘ rhetoric of ideology ’ Use Marxist concepts: hegemony, interpellation /hailing, incorporation, displacement, commodity /commodification, resistance

46. contradiction Interesting contradiction in a mass media message: If it is to be popular, if it is to hail its intended readers accurately, it must contain some signs of their oppositional social position as well as the voice of the dominant ideology So: it must contradict itself!

49. Ideology as struggle Winning the consent of the addressee = not just an ideological practice but an ideological struggle, and that signs of the resistances it has to overcome can never be wiped out So there is the possibility to challenge and perhaps to modify the dominant meanings!

50. Next Week “The Limits of Communication” http://www.guernicamag.com/feat ures/the-limits-of-communication/ http://www.guernicamag.com/feat ures/the-limits-of-communication/ “Googlization of Everything and Why We Should Worry about It” http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=97805202588 22#read-chapter-1 http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=97805202588 22#read-chapter-1