1. Culture and Media Chapter 3 Lecture PowerPoint
Lecture Summary
This chapter defines culture and then proceeds to describe the many ways that the media influence our culture and values. Material and nonmaterial culture are discussed; these are clearly a part of the media. Politics of media are discussed as a means of controlling what is allowed in the media.
Lecture PowerPoint
© W. W. Norton & Company, 2008

2. Definitions of Culture
No way of life is “natural” to humanity!

3. Definitions of Culture
Culture can be loosely defined as a set of beliefs, traditions, and practices.
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1. Definitions of Culture
a. Culture = Human – Nature
i. Culture is a set of beliefs, traditions, and practices; a shared way of life.
ii. Culture is the technology by which humans have come to dominate nature; it also incorporates belief systems, ideologies, symbolic representations, and anything artificial. All cultures are relative. Culture is what we do not notice in our home country but would spot in a foreign context. Why do we say, Excuse me,” in public? Do they do this everywhere? Is it strange? Japan, on trains and such
b. Culture = (Superior) Man – (Inferior) Man
i. Some societies declared their own culture superior, going so far as to claim that non-Western peoples didn’t have culture. This was convenient for colonialism.
You May Ask Yourself
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4. Material vs. Nonmaterial Culture
Material culture is everything that is a part of our constructed environment, such as books, fashion, and monuments.
Nonmaterial culture encompasses
values, beliefs, behaviors, and social
norms.
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2. Material versus Nonmaterial Culture—a created way of life, whatever is not natural.
a. Nonmaterial culture includes values, beliefs, behaviors, and social norms.
b. Material culture is everything that is a part of our constructed environment, including technology.
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5. Material vs. Nonmaterial Culture
Culture includes language, the meanings we assign to words, and concepts such as class, inequality, and ownership.
Nonmaterial culture can take the form of ideology, which is a system of concepts and relationships that includes an understanding of cause and effect.
i. Emoticons—an example of the influence of new technology on human behavior; texting emotions like :)
c. Language, Meaning, and Concepts
i. According to the Sapir-Whorf thesis in linguistics, the language we speak directly influences (and reflects) the way we think about and experience the world.
ii. Race, gender, class, and inequality are part of our culture as well.
d. Ideology is a system of concepts and relationships that promotes an understanding of cause and effect. If one works hard, they will be successful. Why are we here? Evolution or Creationism?
ii. Religion and science are ideological frameworks.
e. The High/Low Culture Debate
i. Distinctions are often made between high culture and low, or pop, culture, such as between Van Gogh’s paintings and street graffiti.
You May Ask Yourself
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6. Material vs. Nonmaterial Culture
Cultural relativism, a term coined by Ruth Benedict in the 1930s, is the idea that we should recognize differences across cultures without passing judgment on or assigning value to those differences.
Ethnocentrism is to judge another culture by one’s own cultural values, to see one’s culture as superior.
Cultural scripts are modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural, but that may strongly shape beliefs or concepts held by a society.
a. Cultural relativism means taking into account differences across cultures without passing judgment or assigning value, judging another culture from its values and norms.
b. Cultural scripts are modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural and that shape our notions, such as in the case of gender. Is appropriate male or female behavior biological?
You May Ask Yourself
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7. Material vs. Nonmaterial Culture
A subculture is a group united
by sets of concepts, values, traits,
and/or behavioral patterns that
distinguish it from others within
the same culture or society.
Counterculture – rejection of the major values, norms, and practices of the larger society and replacing them with a new set of cultural values
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c. Subculture
i. A subculture, historically, has been defined as a group united by a set of concepts, values, symbols, and shared meaning specific to the members of that group. Today, the idea of multicultural is preferred to the ideas of mainstream/dominant culture and subculture because main/subculture judges one as superior to the other.
(a). Participants of subcultures are sometimes marginalized or dismissed as “weird.”
You May Ask Yourself
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8. Material vs. Nonmaterial Culture
Values are moral beliefs
Norms are how values tell us to act
Socialization is the process by which a person internalizes the values, beliefs, and norms of society and learns to function as a member of that society.
i. Values are moral beliefs.
ii. Norms are how values are put into play, rules and expected behavior.
iii. Socialization is the process by which we become accustomed to our environment and those around us. Because of socialization, we look at the world through the lens of our cultural ideologies.
You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

9. Material vs. Nonmaterial Culture
Reflection theory states that culture is a projection of social structures and relationships into the public sphere.
A Marxist version of reflection theory argues that cultural objects reflect the material labor and production relationships that went into making them.
f. Reflection Theory
i. Reflection theory states that culture is a projection of social structures and relationships into the public sphere, a screen onto which the film of the underlying reality or social structures of our society is shown. Therefore, violent movies are just a reflection of our culture; they will not influence it or us. Is culture really unidirectional, one directional?
ii. Marx’s view of reflections theory was that our norms, values, sanctions, ideologies, laws, and even language are outgrowths of the technology and economic means and modes of production. Again, do we believe culture is only unidirectional; doesn’t our culture influence our technology and economic means and modes of production?
You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

10. Limitations of reflection theory
If culture is just a reflection of society, Mozart should not be popular today.
Cultural products, such as Shakespeare, should not change meaning over time (low to high culture).
If it is unidirectional (one directional), it accepts that culture has no impact on society. But, this is not true; the media and ideologies do have an impact on the way we think, live and the choices we make.
iii. Limitations of reflection theory include:
(a). It does not explain why some cultural products have staying power, whereas others fall by the wayside, such as classical music, Mozart. If culture is just a reflection of society, Mozart should not be popular today.
(b). It does not explain why some products change their meaning over time, such as Shakespeare as it was considered low culture during colonial America but high culture today; also, it should not be popular today, different society.
(c). If it is unidirectional (one directional as mentioned above), it accepts the rappers’ defense that culture (gangsta rap) has no impact on society. But, this is not true; the media and ideologies do have an impact on the way we think, live and the choices we make.

11. Media
Media are any formats or vehicles that carry, present, or communicate information – books, posters, Web pages, clay tablets, and radio.
Mass media refers to any form of media that reaches the mass of the people.
4. Media
a. Media is any format or vehicle that carries, presents, or communicates information.
b. From the Town Crier to the Facebook Wall
i. Media initially reached small audiences, but as radio, television, and finally, the Internet came on the scene, all media became mass media.
You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

12. Media moral and intellectual leadership within a
Hegemony, refers to the process in which a dominant group exercises
moral and intellectual
leadership within a
society by winning the
voluntary “consent” of
the masses.
Photo Courtesy of AP Photo
c. Hegemony: The Mother of All Media Terms
i. Hegemony refers to the process in which a dominant group exercises moral and intellectual leadership within a society by winning the voluntary “consent” of the masses.
ii. Domination occurs when people perform an action or follow a dominant group because they are forced; hegemony means getting them to go along with the status quo because it seems like the best course. When I talk about stratification with my high school students and ask them if taxing the rich at a higher percentage is a good idea, most are against it. This is voluntary consent, hegemony. Almost 100% of Americans have TV, and low income families watch TV more than high income families. Also, who owns the media? Riches ½ to 1% of the population own more than 90% of the media, via six corporations.
You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

13. Political Economy of the Media
90% of Media ownership in the United States is in the hands of six companies.
The media, especially advertising, play a large role in the maintenance of consumerism, the idea that happiness and fulfillment can be achieved through acquisition of material possessions.
5. The Media Life Cycle
a. Texts
i. Textual analysis involves looking at texts (everything from fairy tales to soap operas) and trying to determine what patterns emerge and why.
b. Back to the Beginning: Cultural Production
i. Journalists are supposed to be objective, but Herbert Gans illustrated the ways in which the mainstream American values journalists had internalized biased the finished product—the news. The media are produced by humans who are biased and who come from a certain social class, upper middle class and upper class.
6. Media Effects
a. An example of a short-term, deliberate media effect is advertising.
b. A long-term effect is a public service announcement—usually broadcast by not-for-profit organizations to educate the public.
c. Long-term, unintended effects of the media include desensitization to violence, sexual imagery, and other content that some people consider inappropriate for mass audiences.
You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

14. Where Do Stereotypes Come From?
Intentionally or unintentionally, subtly or overtly, the media can create or reinforce ethnic, racial, gender, religious, and other stereotypes.
Shows like Cops, Queer Eyes for the Straight Guy, Rosanne and movies like Bringing Down The House help to perpetuate stereo types.
7. Mommy, Where Do Stereotypes Come From?
a. Racism in the Media
i. “How to Tell Your Friends from the Japs” was a Time article detailing physical and cultural differences thought to exist between Japanese and Chinese immigrants.
ii. The media continue to reflect and perpetuate racist ideologies such as slanted coverage of Hurricane Katrina, in which white residents were said to have “found” groceries and black residents to have “looted” them. My example: the news story about gangs moving out of neighborhoods in the center of the city. While they were telling this story, they had a video running in the background of two young boys walking down the street. What race do you think they were? What are they saying? If you see two black boys together, they must be gang members, lock your doors.
b. Sexism in the Media
American media are charged with glamorizing and perpetuating unrealistic ideals of feminine beauty; we now desire something that has never existed in nature, the cup shaped breast, surreal.
8. Political Economy of the Media—is the press free? Most broadcasting companies are privately owned, are supported financially by advertising, and therefore, are likely to reflect the bias of their owners and advertisers. In the US, six major companies own 90 percent of the media, making it easy for them to suppress messages that they do not like? Did anyone see the protests at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in 2008? Would our police use firehouses on innocent citizens today as they did during the Civil Rights movement? In Minneapolis, they did, against families of homeless and poor, protesting class warfare, the rich getting richer at the expense of the rest of the population. (Bring Rage Against the Machine, Democratic National Convention protests of 2006.)
You May Ask Yourself
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

15. Political Economy of the Media
Culture jamming is the act of turning media against itself. It’s based on the notion that advertisements are basically propaganda.
Adbusters – a magazine that creates spoofs of ads as shown on your left
a. Consumer Culture
i. Consumerism refers to more than just buying merchandise; it refers to the belief that happiness and fulfillment can be achieved through the acquisition of material possessions.
b. Advertising and Children
i. Pepsi and Coca-Cola bargain for rights to sell their products within schools, and brand name foods are often sold in school cafeterias.
ii. Channel One: In exchange for TV sets, video equipment, and satellite dishes, schools are required to show 12 minutes of prepackaged programming everyday. The programming also includes 2 minutes of commercials per each 12-minute segment. Low income children watch more TV than middle class or upper class children.
c. Culture Jams: Hey Calvin, How ’Bout Giving That Girl a Sandwich?
i. Culture jamming is the act of turning media against itself. It’s based on the notion that advertisements are basically propaganda.
(a). Adbusters is a magazine that creates spoofs of popular advertising campaigns.
Big Mac Attack
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Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

16. Political Economy of the Media
With the global reach of media today, American culture can be found in the farthest corners of the world. This soft power—the effects of culture, values, and ideas on others' behavior—has experienced a backlash recently, in part due to negative reactions to certain American foreign policy measures.
Thai Village example
9. Policy: Globalization, Culture, and the Media
a. Soft power is the cultural and diplomatic dominance that persuades, rather than forces, others to do one’s bidding. Example: Coca Cola being sold in a village in northern Thailand.
b. As anti-American sentiment increases, however, soft power decreases and American brands such as Coca-Cola are replaced with Mecca-Cola.

17. READER: Peter Berger Why is sociology exciting to Peter Berger?
The excitement is in the finding the familiar becoming transformed in its meaning. The fascination of sociology lies in the fact that its perspective makes us see in a new light the very world in which we have lived all of our lives, believing it to be natural and finding out that it is not but socially constructed.
Reader: Peter Berger “Sociology as an Individual Pastime”
Why is sociology to exciting to Peter Berger?
It not the excitement of coming upon the totally unfamiliar, but rather the excitement of finding the familiar becoming transformed in its meaning. The fascination of sociology lies in the fact that its perspective makes us see in a new light the very world in which we have lived all of our lives.
This also constitutes a transformation of consciousness. Moreover, this transformation is more relevant existentially than that of many other intellectual disciplines, because it is more difficult to segregate in some special compartment of the mind. The sociologist lives in society, on the job and off it. Her own life, inevitably, is part of her subject matter.
The Real World
Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

18. What Is Sociology?
C. Wright Mills: Using our sociological imagination allows us to “make the familiar strange,” or to question habits or customs that seem “natural” to us.
Peter Berger: Sociological Perspective – seeing the general in the particular, society in your personal life, decisions, beliefs, values, etc.
10. Conclusion
Lecture Idea
Students seem to have difficulty understanding how their customs and traditions could be viewed any way other than as right. In that regard, cultural relativism is an important issue to emphasize. Discuss customs from other societies that U.S. students would find disdainful, such as female genital mutilation (FGM), and ask them to try to view the custom from the other culture’s perspective. Since young people in the United States are used to the circumcised phallus, questions such as “How is FGM different from male circumcision?” are useful to help move the discussion along. It’s important to emphasize that if students want to change a tradition, such as FGM, then they need to approach it in a gentle manner and not just attack that culture. Also, discuss customs from the United States and explain how others view them as just as heinous. For example, the Chinese, who some would say eat “pets,” find our practice of drinking milk just as repulsive.

19. Figure 3.2 | Number of U.S. Households with Televisions, 1950-78
CLASSROOM RESOURCES
Discussion Ideas
If there are no students from a culture outside of the United States in my class I will find at least one and invite them to come and discuss the differences between the United States and their country of origin. I will ask them to mention words or phrases as well as behaviors that they don’t have in their culture. For example, some cultures view people who smile as unintelligent, whereas those who don’t smile appear unfriendly in cultures who do smile. I will also ask someone whose parents are from a different place to explain the pull they feel between their home and school lives.

20. Figure 3.4 | The Increasing Concentration of Media Outlets