Lesson 1: Overview of Culture and
Popular Culture
Overview of Culture and Popular
Culture
What is Culture?
Culture refers to the cumulative deposit
of knowledge, experience, beliefs,
values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies,
religion, notions of time, roles, spatial
relations, concepts of the universe, and
material objects and possessions
acquired by a group of people in the
course of generations through individual
and group striving.
Culture in its broadest sense is
cultivated behavior; that is the totality of
a person's learned, accumulated
experience which is socially transmitted,
or more briefly, behavior through social
learning.
A culture is a way of life of a group of
people--the behaviors, beliefs, values,
and symbols that they accept, generally
without thinking about them, and that
are passed along by communication and
imitation from one generation to the
next.
Culture is symbolic communication.
Some of its symbols include a group's
skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and
motives. The meanings of the symbols
are learned and deliberately
perpetuated in a society through its
institutions.
Culture consists of patterns, explicit and
implicit, of and for behavior acquired
and transmitted by symbols, constituting
the distinctive achievement of human
groups, including their embodiments in
artifacts; the essential core of culture
consists of traditional ideas and
especially their attached values; culture
systems may, on the one hand, be
considered as products of action, on the
other hand, as conditioning influences
upon further action.
THEORY OF CULTURAL
DETERMINISM
The position that the ideas, meanings,
beliefs and values people learn as
members of society determines human
nature. People are what they learn.
Optimistic version of cultural
determinism place no limits on the
abilities of human beings to do or to be
whatever they want. Some
anthropologists suggest that there is no
universal "right way" of being human.
"Right way" is almost always "our way";
that "our way" in one society almost
never corresponds to "our way" in any
other society. Proper attitude of an
informed human being could only be
that of tolerance.
The optimistic version of this theory
postulates that human nature being
infinitely malleable, human being can
choose the ways of life they prefer.
The pessimistic version maintains that
people are what they are conditioned to
be; this is something over which they
have no control. Human beings are
passive creatures and do whatever their
culture tells them to do. This explanation
leads to behaviorism that locates the
causes of human behavior in a realm
that is totally beyond human control.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
Different cultural groups think, feel, and
act differently. There is no scientific
standards for considering one group as
intrinsically superior or inferior to
another. Studying differences in culture
among groups and societies
presupposes a position of cultural
relativism. It does not imply normalcy for
oneself, nor for one's society. It,
however, calls for judgment when
dealing with groups or societies different
from one's own. Information about the
nature of cultural differences between
societies, their roots, and their
consequences should precede judgment
and action. Negotiation is more likely to
succeed when the parties concerned
understand the reasons for the
differences in viewpoints.
CULTURAL ETHNOCENTRISM
Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's
own culture is superior to that of other
cultures. It is a form of reductionism that
reduces the "other way" of life to a
distorted version of one's own. This is
particularly important in case of global
dealings when a company or an
individual is imbued with the idea that
methods, materials, or ideas that
worked in the home country will also
work abroad. Environmental differences
are, therefore, ignored. Ethnocentrism,
in relation to global dealings, can be
categorized as follows:
● Important factors in business are
overlooked because of the
obsession with certain
cause-effect relationships in
one's own country. It is always a
good idea to refer to checklists of
human variables in order to be
assured that all major factors
have been at least considered
while working abroad.
● Even though one may recognize
the environmental differences
and problems associated with
change, but may focus only on
achieving objectives related to
the home-country. This may
result in the loss of effectiveness
of a company or an individual in
terms of international
competitiveness. The objectives
set for global operations should
also be global.
● The differences are recognized,
but it is assumed that associated
changes are so basic that they
can be achieved effortlessly. It is
always a good idea to perform a
cost-benefit analysis of the
changes proposed. Sometimes a
 change may upset important
values and thereby may face
resistance from being
implemented. The cost of some
changes may exceed the benefits
derived from the implementation
of such changes.
MANIFESTATIONS OF CULTURE
Cultural differences manifest themselves
in different ways and differing levels of
depth. Symbols represent the most
superficial and values the deepest
manifestations of culture, with heroes
and rituals in between.
● Symbols are words, gestures,
pictures, or objects that carry a
particular meaning which is only
recognized by those who share a
particular culture. New symbols
easily develop, old ones
disappear. Symbols from one
particular group are regularly
copied by others. This is why
symbols represent the outermost
layer of a culture.
● Heroes are persons, past or
present, real or fictitious, who
possess characteristics that are
highly prized in a culture. They
also serve as models for
behavior.
● Rituals are collective activities,
sometimes superfluous in
reaching desired objectives, but
are considered as socially
essential. They are therefore
carried out most of the times for
their own sake (ways of
greetings, paying respect to
others, religious and social
ceremonies, etc.).
● The core of a culture is formed by
values. They are broad
tendencies for preferences of
certain state of affairs to others
(good-evil, right-wrong,
natural-unnatural). Many values
remain unconscious to those who
hold them. Therefore they often
cannot be discussed, nor they
can be directly observed by
others. Values can only be
inferred from the way people act
under different circumstances.
● Symbols, heroes, and rituals are
the tangible or visual aspects of
the practices of a culture. The
true cultural meaning of the
practices is intangible; this is
revealed only when the practices
are interpreted by the insiders.
LAYERS OF CULTURE
People even within the same culture
carry several layers of mental
programming within themselves.
Different layers of culture exist at the
following levels:
● The national level: Associated
with the nation as a whole.
● The regional level: Associated
with ethnic, linguistic, or religious
differences that exist within a
nation.
● The gender level: Associated
with gender differences (female
vs. male)
● The generation level:
Associated with the differences
between grandparents and
parents, parents and children.
● The social class level:
Associated with educational
opportunities and differences in
occupation.
● The corporate level: Associated
with the particular culture of an
organization. Applicable to those
who are employed.
The Culture in the Philippines
The Philippines is a culture in which
East meets West. The Filipino people
have a distinct Asian background, with a
strong Western tradition.
The modern Filipino culture developed
through influence from Chinese traders,
Spanish conquistadors, and American
rulers. Filipino people tend to be very
hospitable, especially to Western visitors
(1). Because of their strong ties to
Spanish culture, Filipinos are emotional
and passionate about life in a way that
seems more Latin than Asian (1). This is
easily seen in the works of
contemporary artists such as Rody
Herrera in his painting Unahan Sa
Duluhan.
The family is the basic and most
important aspect of Filipino culture.
Divorce is prohibited and annulments
are rare (2). The family is the safety net
for indivuduals, especially older people,
during difficult economic times. Children
will often stay with their parents into
adulthood, only leaving when they get
married (2). Political and business ties
are often influenced by family
relationships (2).
Two traits that many foreign visitors
often have a difficult time understanding
are Pakikisama and Utang na Loob.
Pakikisama roughly means "getting
along" and requires individuals overlook
slight improprieties or indiscretions for
the sake of preserving peace within the
family, personal, or business
relationship. Utang na Loob refers to the
custom of paying back one favor with
another (2). These traits emphasize the
importance that Filipino people place on
maintaining pleasant interpersonal
relationships and puting the needs of
the group ahead of the individual.
More than 80% of the population of the
Philippines is Roman Catholic. Fiestas
in honor of the patron saint of a town are
quite common. Criticism of the Catholic
church is not taken lightly - and should
be avoided (2).
In the Philippines, people greet each
other with a handshake. A smile or
raised eyebrows can mean "Hello" or
"Yes". Someone can be summoned with
a downward wave of the hand (3).
What is Pop Culture?
pop culture refers to cultural products
such as music, art, literature, fashion,
dance, film, cyberculture, television, and
radio that are consumed by the majority
of a society's population. Popular culture
is those types of media that have mass
accessibility and appeal.
The term "popular culture" was coined in
the mid-19th century, and it referred to
the cultural traditions of the people, in
contrast to the "official culture" of the
state or governing classes. In broad use
today, it is defined in qualitative
terms—pop culture is often considered a
more superficial or lesser type of artistic
expression.
The Rise of Popular Culture
Scholars trace the origins of the rise of
popular culture to the creation of the
middle class generated by the Industrial
Revolution. People who were configured
into working classes and moved into
urban environments far from their
traditional farming life began creating
their own culture to share with their
co-workers, as a part of separating from
their parents and bosses.
After the end of World War II,
innovations in mass media led to
significant cultural and social changes in
the west. At the same time, capitalism,
specifically the need to generate profits,
took on the role of marketing: newly
invented goods were being marketed to
different classes. The meaning of
popular culture then began to merge
with that of mass culture, consumer
culture, image culture, media culture,
and culture created by manufacturers
for mass consumption.
Different Definitions of Popular
Culture
In his wildly successful textbook
"Cultural Theory and Popular Culture"
(now in its 8th edition), British media
specialist John Storey offers six different
definitions of popular culture.
1. Popular culture is simply culture
that is widely favored or well-liked
by many people: it has no
negative connotations.
2. Popular culture is whatever is left
after you've identified what "high
culture" is: in this definition, pop
culture is considered inferior, and
it functions as a marker of status
and class.
3. Pop culture can be defined as
commercial objects that are
produced for mass consumption
by non-discriminating consumers.
In this definition, popular culture
is a tool used by the elites to
suppress or take advantage of
the masses.
4. Popular culture is folk culture,
something that arises from the
people rather than imposed upon
them: pop culture is authentic
(created by the people) as
opposed to commercial (thrust
upon them by commercial
enterprises).
5. Pop culture is negotiated: partly
imposed on by the dominant
classes, and partly resisted or
changed by the subordinate
classes. Dominants can create
culture but the subordinates
decide what they keep or discard.
6. The last definition of pop culture
discussed by Storey is that in the
postmodern world, in today's
world, the distinction between
"authentic" versus "commercial"
is blurred. In pop culture today,
users are free to embrace some
manufactured content, alter it for
their own use, or reject it entirely
and create their own.
Lesson 2: Overview of Cultural
Development in the Philippines
Introduction
The Philippines is the only country in
Southeast Asia that was subjected to
Western colonization before it had the
opportunity to develop either a
centralized government ruling over a
large territory or a dominant culture. In
ancient times the inhabitants of the
Philippines were a diverse
agglomeration of people who arrived in
various waves of immigration from the
Asian mainland and who maintained
little contact with each other. The people
of the Philippine archipelago, unlike
most of the other people of Southeast
Asia, never adopted Hinduism or
Buddhism.
Pre-Colonial Period
The following are the notable
achievements of the natives of the
pre-colonial archipelago between the
16th century to the 19th century, and
most likely even farther. Many of the
achievements have been lost or
retrofitted due to more than three
centuries of colonial rule beginning in
the middle of the 16th century and
ending in the middle of the 20th century.
● Development of indigenous equal suitability of any work for
culinary and healing arts, any gender
including medicinal practices and
its associated objects and ● Development and expertise in
ingredients that were indigenous martial arts and
sustainably-sourced due to warfare
respectful cultures directed to the
natural world ● High respect for the natural
world, including the spiritual
● Enhancement of the fine arts realms and its beings, which are
focusing on folk literature, all seen as part of all the affairs of
calligraphy, performing arts, and every life on earth, thus
craft arts, among many other envisioned as an interconnected
forms web, where one action affects the
other, whether directly or
● Widespread literacy in the indirectly
indigenous Baybayin writing
system, by both men and women. ● Development of an organized
system of communities, with laws
● Sociable culture based on peace enacted to promote social welfare
pacts, maritime and land and to protect nature, the spirits,
journeys, communal gatherings, and the people
and respect towards ethnic
differences ● Expansion of indigenous
educational systems and writing
● Solving problems and wars systems through focusing on
through a variety of mediums belief systems, epics, and other
such as divine intervention, mediums that exhibit good values
sacred peace pacts, public of an egalitarian society
consultations, and community
interference ● Development of craft innovations
used for non-agricultural and
● High respect for equal rights, non-martial tasks such as
notable in the matriarchal textiles, pottery and ornaments,
societies of pre-colonial ethnic with respect to the sustainability
groups, which includes the of sources and the environment
legality of divorce, equal stand on and its wildlife
decision-making from any
gender, retention of names after
marriage whether women or men,
Lesson 3 Framing the Popular
Framing Theory
“The action, method, or process, of
constructing making or shaping anything
whether material or immaterial”.
⊳ In the 1930s, the media was viewed
as having the ability to directly persuade
and influence audiences.
⊳ The audience was viewed as passive,
simply allowing the media to inject it with
ideas. As time passed and research
grew, scholars took a more view of the
media. Agenda-setting research began
to be studied.
⊳ Framing comes from the word frame,
two main ways- frame-building and
frame-setting.
Frame-Building
⊳ The term frame-building refers to “the
factors that influence the structural
qualities of news frames”. Framing is
applied to how journalists select stories,
facts, etc.
⊳ News frames are formed through
internal factors like occupational
constraints of journalists, particularly
editorial policies and news values and
also through external factors like
interactions between journalists and
elites.
⊳ Frames inevitably highlight some
issues but downplay others.
⊳ Journalists frame stories in particular
ways in order to get people to either
read or view.
⊳ These important factors influence how
a frame is built.
Frame-Setting
⊳ “The interaction between Media
frames and individuals’ prior knowledge
and dispositions.
⊳ What scholars are concerned with
studying, focusing most on the
consequences of framing.
⊳ Research has shown that frames do
affect how viewers view stories.
⊳ In particular, the way a story is framed
can affect what appears as most
important, who the victim appears to
who is to blame, etc.
⊳ Research has shown that political and
election stories are framed in an
episodic way, focusing on winning and
losing, using a game or competition
schema, emphasizing candidates’ style,
and highlighting polls.
How the Internet Change Framing
⊳ With the advent of the internet, people
can be exposed to many different
frames because of the infinite amount of
information available online.
⊳ These frames may compete with each
other giving a more holistic view of a
story or issue.
⊳ The audience also plays a greater role
in selecting media and which frames
they are exposed to when using the
internet which could result in exposure
to similar frames and attitude
reinforcement.
⊳ More research is needed on this issue.
George Lakoff About Framing Theory
George Lakoff, a professor at
UCBerkeley makes the following points
about frames and framing:
⊳ “Communication itself comes with a
frame.
⊳ The elements of the Communication
Frame include: A message, an
audience, a messenger, a medium,
images, a context, and especially,
higher-level moral and conceptual
frames.
⊳ The choice of language is, of course,
vital, but it is vital because
language evokes frames — moral and
conceptual frames.
For Example
⊳ When a journalist selects a topic that
he or she is going to write about, they
are inevitability drawing the audience’s
attention to a particular topic, which is
the original concept behind the agenda
setting theory.
⊳ However, the way or the frame in
which the information is presented to the
audience is also decided by the media
practitioners or the gatekeepers.
⊳ The framing theory refers to not only
how the audience is influenced and
interprets what is presented to them by
the media, but also refers to the media’s
ability to persuade its audiences to
accept one meaning of a concept over
another.
Erving Goffman
(11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982),
a Canadian-born sociologist and writer,
was considered "the most influential
American sociologist of the twentieth
century". In 2007 he was listed by The
Times Higher Education Guide as the
sixth most-cited author in the humanities
and social sciences, behind Anthony
Giddens.
Goffman was the 73rd president of the
American Sociological Association. His
best-known contribution to social theory
is his study of symbolic interaction. This
took the form of dramaturgical analysis,
beginning with his 1959 book, The
Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
Goffman's other major works include
Asylums (1961), Stigma (1963),
Interaction Ritual (1967), Frame
Analysis (1974), and Forms of Talk
(1981). His major areas of study
included the sociology of everyday life,
social interaction, the social construction
of self, social organization (framing) of
experience, and particular elements of
social life such as total institutions and
stigmas.
Framing
Definition:
“ A theory which explains the set of
Expectations used to make sense of a
Social situation at a point in time called
Framing theory.”
⊳ Sociological - Outcome of news work
(The process of news production)
⊳ Psychological - Categories of the mind
(The process of audience consumption)
Framing deals with Expectations
1. Expectations based on previous
experiences, whether derived from
media messages or direct personal
experience.
2. Expectations can be quite resistant to
change, even when they are
contradicted by readily factual
information.
3. Expectations can arouse strong
emotions such as hate, fear or love.
4. Expectations often get applied by us
without our conscious awareness, when
strong emotions are aroused that
interfere with our ability to consciously
interoperate new information available in
the situation.
Social Cues
According to Goffman we are always
monitoring the social environment like;
When you view a play in a theater , you
rely on many conventional cues to
determine when a shift on scenes takes
place , one of the oldest and most
obvious cues
⊳ Involves the curtains , it rises when a
scenes begins and falls when a scene
ends.
⊳ Other cues are more subtle shifts in
lighting and music tempo often signal
changes as lights dim and music
becomes ominous , we know danger
threatens.
⊳ Movies employ many similar
conventions Goffman believed we use
the same cognitive skills to make sense
of daily life as we do to make sense of
plays or movies.
⊳ His theory implies that we learn social
cues through everyday interaction and
from observing how they are used in
media content.
Upshift and Downshift
When we moved from one set of frames
to another. We downshift or upshift, we
reframe situations so we experience
them as more or less serious.
Remember!
⊳ When you were pretended to fight with
a friend but one of got hurt and the
fight turned serious?
⊳ You both downshifted---------- suddenly
you no longer pulled punches but tried
to make them inflict as much pain as
possible.
⊳ Many of the fighting skills learned
during play were used but with a
different frame you were trying to hurt
your friend. Perhaps as u both tired of
you told a joke and cued the other that
you wanted to upshift and go back a
more playful frame.
According to Goffman daily life involves
countless shift frames and these shifts
are negotiated using social cues , some
cues are conventional and universal like
the curtain on a stage.
For example, Couples often develop a
very complex set of cues to signal when
to upshift or downshift their interaction
during the course of a conversation
many upshifts and downshifts can occur
based on subtle changes in voice tone
or body movement.
Representation of Women in Ads
How do media come into his theory?
⊳ According to Goffman ads are hyper
ritualized representation of social
actions, they are edited to highlight only
the meaningful actions
⊳ Advertising using the sex appeal to
women to attract the attention of man to
teach or reinforce social cues that could
have serious consequences.
⊳ Goffman showed how women in many
ads are presented are less serious
and more playful than man
⊳ They smile place their bodies in non
serious positions where playful clothing
and in various ways signal differences
and a willingness to take direction from
a man.
. conventional and widely accepted rules
⊳ They signal their desire for them.
⊳ No wonder these ads attract that
attention of man.
⊳ No wonder they are useful in positions
product but could these representations
of women be teaching or reinforcing
social cues that have problematic
consequences.
Hyperritualization
⊳ Goffman’s theory provides an
intriguing way of assessing how media
can elaborate and reinforce a dominant
public culture. Advertisers didn’t create
sex-role stereotypes, but, Goffman
argued, they have homogenized how
women are publicly depicted.
⊳ Marketers routinely use powerful
visual imagery to associate products
with women who explicitly and implicitly
signal their willingness to be playful
sexual partners. There are many subtle
and not-so-subtle messages in these
ads. “Consume the product and get the
girl”.
Primary, Dominant or Reality
⊳ In frame analysis, the real world in
which people and events obey certain
(sometimes referred to as the dominant
reality)
⊳ We have the capacity to constantly
reframe our experience from
⊳ Moment to moment, most of us can
maintain the impression that our
experiences are
⊳ Quite consistent and routine.
⊳ According to Goffman, we do this by
firmly committing ourselves to live in
what we experience as the primary, or
dominant, reality—a real world in which
people and events obey certain
conventional and widely accepted rules.
⊳ In frame analysis, the real world in
which people and events obey certain
conventional and widely accepted rules
(sometimes referred to as the dominant
reality)
⊳ We have the capacity to constantly
reframe our experience from
⊳ Moment to moment, most of us can
maintain the impression that our
experiences are
⊳ Quite consistent and routine.
⊳ According to Goffman, we do this by
firmly committing ourselves to live in
what we experience as the primary, or
dominant, reality—a real world in which
people and events obey certain
conventional and widely accepted rules.
People Make Framing Mistakes
⊳ Now-a-days, if we watch TV we will
see that our main-stream media shows
us that suicide bombings and terrorism
is being done by Muslims but in reality
that number is far less. The viewers
than perceive that all the Muslims are
violent psychopaths but reality is very
different than that.
⊳ The social constructionist view that
social institutions and the elites who
lead them are able to dominate the
social world by propagating frames
serving their interests.
Frame Violations
⊳ This says that if a newscaster tells us
that the dog ha bitten a man that is not a
news but if man bit the dog than that is
the news.
⊳ We see the news daily and what we
see are most of the news about murder,
rape etc. If something out of ordinary
happens in the world like if some meteor
strikes the earth or aliens invade us than
that is the
news that will be worth watching. That
one of the most important things news
does for average readers or viewers is
to offer them ritualized messages
providing reassurance that the world will
go on as it always has.
Culture and Commodities by John
Fiske
Formations of the People
⊳ Culture is a living, active process: it
can be developed only from within, it
cannot be imposed from without or
above.
⊳ - Popular culture is made by the
people
⊳ - "The people" is not a stable
sociological category; it cannot be
identified and subjected to empirical
study, for it does not exist in objective
reality.
⊳ - A shifting set of social allegiance, felt
connectivity rather than external
sociological factors

People-social allegiances cont’d
⊳ Such allegiance may coincide with
classes or other social categories, but
not necessarily.
⊳ - People realign their social allegiance
according to their best interest or
convenience of the moment.
⊳ - The various formations of the people
move as active agents, and are capable
adopting apparently contradictory
positions alternately or simultaneously
without any sense of strain.
⊳ - Very difficult to study, as they are
made from within by the people in
specific context and time.
⊳ - All allegiances have not only a sense
of with whom, but also against whom.
- In pop culture, there must be a
dominant ideology and the opportunity
to speak against them.
- evade from subordinated, but not
totally disempowered position.
Two Economies of Television
The Consumer Society:
⊳ We need to extend the idea of an
economy to include a cultural economy
where the circulation is not one of
money, but of meanings and pleasures.
⊳ Here the audience, from being a
commodity, now becomes a producer, a
producer of meanings and pleasures
within the capitalist society.
⊳ The original commodity (television
program) is, in the cultural economy, a
text (symbol), and a loose structure of
potential meanings and pleasures that
constitutes a major resource of popular
culture.
⊳ In this economy there are no
consumers, only circulators of
meanings, for meanings are the only
elements in the process that can be
neither commodified nor consumed:
meanings can be produced, reproduced
and circulated only in that constant
process that we call culture.
The Production Studios:
⊳ The production studios produce a
commodity, a program and sell it to the
distributors, the broadcasting or cable
networks, for profit.
⊳ Simple financial exchange common to
all commodities.
⊳ The economic function of a television
program is not complete once it has
been sold, for in its moment of
consumption it changes to become a
producer, and what it produces is an
audience, which is then sold to
advertisers.
⊳ The audience “the producers” in the
cultural economy produces cultural
industries.
Television & Advertising
⊳ - The audience is known as the mode
of production, they are the producers of
popular culture, such as television
programs and advertisements
(commercials).
Examples of Cancelled Television
Programs
⊳ Turn On (1969) – Comedy series, the
show alarmed broadcast officials and
sponsors who immediately perceived
the show as offensive due to its strong
sexual and political humor.
⊳ Proving Ground (2011) – Popular
science reality show, in which stunts
from video games, films and comic
books are tested in the real world.
⊳ Ford Nation (2013) – Talk show
hosted by Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto
and his brother, Doug Ford. The Ford
brothers had been in the news at that
time, due to an ongoing scandal
involving a video allegedly showing the
mayor smoking crack cocaine.
Television & Advertising
⊳ Different advertisements of products
are aired during commercials, because
they are set up by the cultural industries
from the television programs that the
audiences consume, while watching
certain television programs that are
found interesting by the viewers.
Example of Commercials:
⊳ After watching the World Cup or the
Super Bowl, during the halftime, all the
commercials the audience get to
observer are the Chevy, Dodge/Ram
Truck commercials, different beer
brands, other sports, etc. The
commercials are focused on the male
consumers.
⊳ While watching a soap opera for
example, the commercials are focused
on the female consumers, because
everything in the commercials are home
based commodities like; food,
detergents, cleaning supplies, makeup,
shampoos, etc.
Everyday Life, Commodities and
Culture
⊳ In the consumer society of capitalism,
everyone is a consumer. Consumption
is the only way of obtaining the
resources for life, whether these
resources be material-function or
semiotic-cultural.
⊳ All material-functional resources are
imbricated with the semiotic-cultural.
⊳ Example: a car is not just a form of
transportation; it is also a speech act.
Cooking a meal is not just providing
food, but a way of communicating.
⊳ All commodities of capitalism are
“goods to speak with”
⊳ The basis of the theory of everyday life
is not the products, the system that
distributes them, or the consumer
information, but the concrete specific
uses they are put to, the individual acts
of consumption-production, the
creativities produced from commodities.
⊳ John Fiske writes, “We construct our
space within and against their place, of
speaking our meanings with their
language.”
⊳ An example: The Shopping Center.
What is this place within society?
⊳ The Shopping Center is a place of
commerce, a place where merchants
sell their products to consumers. Is this
space assigned other meanings in our
culture, outside of what it was originally
intended for?
Defining the Popular
⊳ Everyday life is constituted by the
practices of popular culture, and is
characterized by the creativity of the
consumer in using the resources
provided by the cultural industry while
refusing to submit to that power.
⊳ - “The Popular", then is determined by
the forces of the domination to the
extent that is always formed in reaction
to them; but the dominate cannot control
totally the meanings that the people may
construct and the social allegiances that
may form.
Conclusion
⊳ Pleasure is what keeps the consumer
entertained and not money.
⊳ Commodification in television
programs is in cultural economy
⊳ Culture can be produced, reproduced
and circulated
⊳ Profits are made by the production
studio
⊳ Once television becomes
consumption, it changes to a producer,
producing the audience, eventually sold
to advertisers
⊳ The audience is the producer, we
decide what becomes popular and not.
⊳ Audiences decide what becomes
popular culture
⊳ During commercials different products
are advertised which are geared
towards the type of viewer that is
interested in the show
⊳ Everyone is a consumer in our culture
of capitalism
⊳ Culture and commodity are intertwined
Ruling class and ruling ideas by
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Ruling class and ruling ideas
⊳ In “The Ruling Class and the Ruling
Ideas “(1970), Marx and Engels argue
that the prevailing ideas of a particular
society are formed by the ruling class to
express and justify their position. This
contrasts the view that ideas and values
within a society exist separately from
political or economical leadership. Marx
and Engels propose that the class in
control of the material production also
controls the “mental production”. While
regular citizens are busy with their
day-to-day tasks, part of the ruling class
take on the function of the “thinkers”,
those whom we see as subject matter
experts, and actively develop and
promote those values and messages.
The ruling class also has some control
over the dissemination of these ideas.
⊳ In modern times for example, by
financing blockbuster films that to a
larger or lesser extent reinforce the
ruling ideas. Marx and Engels also
argue that these “illusions” about society
are upheld by detaching them from the
ruling class, as
if they exist independently in a particular
time (mainly because the ruling class
itself believes these ideas are relevant
to all their contemporaries). The ideas
are then presented as universal truths
and as serving the general public
interest. As a result, ideas that reinforce
and justify the ruling class’s positions
appear as though they have naturally
developed within the society.
⊳ Marx (1976) stresses that it is not the
dominant ideas of a particular time that
determine its social system, but the
economic production (or the “base”) that
shapes the prevailing ideas (or the
“superstructure”) which in turn reinforce
this system and give it meaning. For
example, in the feudal medieval society
in Europe a theological worldview
asserted by aristocracy and
disseminated by the church gave
meaning to feudalism. The peasants
came to believe one’s place in the class
system was God’s will and obeying
authority would be rewarded after death.
According to Marx, as the economy
develops, the superstructure needs to
be adjusted and as the economic base
changes, social revolution occurs (either
gradually through reform or quickly as
an uprising). For example, the growing
industrialisation and international trade
in England resulted in the middle-class
playing a more important part in the
economy and thus becoming more
powerful. With that a new ideology of
liberty and self-profit started to develop,
eventually leading to a revolution and
propagation of new ruling ideas by a
new ruling class.
⊳ Marxist theory about the economic
base as the key driving force of society
is particularly fascinating in explaining
how the ruling class ideas work. It also
emphasizes the importance of
considering popular culture in relation to
its context. However, Marx’s writing has
several key limitations. Firstly, it
presents the public as passively
accepting the ruling ideas. In reality
people are active participants in popular
culture, and individuals may choose to
accept or reject these ideas and some
may also promote or contest them.
Secondly, Marx’s writing does not
acknowledge the existence of
alternative ideas, which may not
dominate, but are still present in most
societies. Gramsci’s reflections on
hegemony (1971) and its dependence
on consent help to fill these gaps in the
study of popular culture – a contested
area shaped by “contradictory pressures
and tendencies” (Bennett, 1986) arising
from competing interests of different
groups within society.