12/2/20221. The Media’s role1. It reinforces the naturalness of the heterosexual matrix2. It polices the margins3. It teaches us how to perform gender2. D3. D4. D5. D6. D2/7/20221. Ideology1. Superstition1. Widely held belief2. Overly credulous3. Incorrectly attributes causation4. Ex) horoscopes, ghosts, “bad luck”, tarot cards2. In all superstition, wise men follow fools; and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reversed order.” Sir Fraces Bacon3. Its an inversion of logic and reality, people lay aside their suspicion to follow people of whom they should be suspicious4. Rather than examine our world and thinking critically about our condi-tions5. People form their arguments to better rationalize their world, what they already do, the way you already see the world.6. Ideology in politics is superstition that serves a particular function7. Managing ideas (some true, some false, some distorted, some irrele-vant), that when taken together help sustain and legitimate a domi-nant political paradigm.8. We are socialized to accept beliefs about our world that are widely held, overly credulous, and incorrectly attribute causation (critical the-ory is centered on teaching us to challenge2. Marx and Engel’s THeory Historical Materialism21. Humans distinguish themselves from animals by changing their envi-ronment, consciously, to satisfy basic needs: food, shelter, safety.2. The satisfaction of these needs leads to the creation of new needs, that must bow be met.3. The method by which we satisfy these needs is the “mode of reduc-tion”, snd contains certain ways of organizing class.4. They way these needs are satisfied determine our consciousness.3. The Frankfurt school1. Sought to understand the politics of culture2. Formed in response to raising Fascism in Europe4. Critical theory1. “One cannot determine what good, a free society would like from within the society which we now live in. We lack the means. But in our work we can bring up the negative aspects of this society, which we want to change.” Marx Horkheimer2. Sought to explain the means by which ideology kept working people from experiencing true freedom.3. Expose and challenge the myths and super5. Standardization.1. Art succumbs to formula, genre2. Plotlines follow predictable paths3. Time and “look” of artistic works must conform to various standards and fulfill expectations4. All driven by commercial imperatives to maximize profit6. “Pseudo-Indivudalization”1. Capitalism conveys myth of the individual and of the rebel2. People want to express themselves as being different from the “crowd”3. Desire to stand out from the crowd creates new market opportunities.4. For Adorno and Horkheimer, all culture is “predigested” with32/97. Antonio Gramsci1. Italian Marxist imprisoned in Mussolimin’s fascist Italy2. Wrote the Prison Notebooks, filled with musings about capital, ideologyand American industrial labor3. His most well-known contribution is on the topic of hegemony4. Why do the powerless consent to be dominated by those in position of power?8. What is hegemony?1. It is the dominance of one section of society over another2. Through the use of consent, not coercion or outright force3. In which the ruling class ideas are sustained and perpetuated through language, culture, and media4. And the ideas circulate as “common sense”5. Marx said that lived experience produces ideology, and that is how people made sense of new information.6. But hegemony says people look to “common sense” to understand new information.9. Through consent1. According to Gramsci, we will consent to domination if enough people can derive enough material benefits from the arrangement. (Middle class)2. In other words, we consent to be dominated if we believe it is tempo-rary, or that the benefits will soon increase.3. The Deserving Poor vs The Underserving Poor10.Southern Strategy1. Southern Whites: staunch Democrats (Hated Republicans), favored theNew Deal, deeply racist.2. Robert Novak, conservative journalist, after 1963 Republican National Conversation3. “A good many, perhaps a majority if the party’s leadership, envision substantial political gold to bee mined in the racial crisis by becoming in fact, though not in name, the White Man’s Party4. Nixon in 1968 and 1974 11.Effectiveness of “Southern Strategy”412.Nixon’s Dog-Whistles1. John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s advisor on domestic affairs, when asked about the War on Drugs.13.The ruling ideas1. According to Gramsci, the ruling class is able to regularly introduce their ideas through the media.2. Which popularizes their own ideas, and discredits counter ideas.14.Common Sense is Produced1. Oppositional voices are marginalized, critiques of the system are dis-credited2. Media focuses own aesthetics, so they do not have to engage the mes-sage15.Hegemony happens1. When we see problems through the eyes if the ruling class/elites.2. When we allow corporations/powerful interests to co-opt social move-ments and ideas for their own ends.3. Redirection vs action.5Week 42/1416.Liberal feminism (LVZ, p.27)17.Liberal feminist media criticism1. Sex role stereotypes - “A women’s place is in the…”2. Prescriptive sex-appropriate behavior - Slut/prude, no sex before mar-riage, abortion regulation3. Appearance - dress codes4. Limited demonstration of interests and skills18.Radical Feminism (LVZ, p.27)1. Patriarchy - a social system in which all men are assumed to dominate and impress all women2. Pornography and Rape Culture - departure from liberal feminism3. Media technology - E.g. Assumed male gaze of film conventions4. Lack of alternative perspectives 5. The media strategy of radical feminism are straightforward: women should create their own means of communication - p. 2819.Socialist feminism1. In socialist feminist discourse, capitalism’s need for a group of people to perform domestic and care about labor without wages, his responsi-ble for women’s subordinated place in society.2. Capitalism benefits from creating or exacerbating differences in iden-tify and class.3. Critiques1. Reproduction of labor power2. Economic value of domestic labor3. Equal pay for equal work4. Reduced work time5. Reform the mainstream media so that its messaging no longer nor-malizes the patriarchal capital order620.All these perspectives offer us ways too continue to critique the media / all contain limitations/problems21.D2/1622.Post-feminism1. A therm used to describe the ways I