Media Culture
SAMENVATTING B-KUL-S0N78A
,Inhoudsopgave
Hoorcollege 1 - Introduction...........................................................................................................4
What is culture?...........................................................................................................................4
Sociological roots....................................................................................................................4
High culture versus popular culture...........................................................................................4
A short cultural history............................................................................................................4
High culture versus ‘mass (media) culture’............................................................................5
The relevance of studying media culture...................................................................................5
The societal relevance of studying media culture.................................................................6
Hoorcollege 2 - Ideology and hegemony.......................................................................................7
Media text and cultural meaning................................................................................................7
Analysis relation media text and society...............................................................................7
Ideology and media text..........................................................................................................7
The ideology of (neo)liberalism..............................................................................................8
The ideology of neo-liberalism in media texts.......................................................................8
Advertising: iconic brands as ideological parasites..............................................................9
Conclusion: ideology and hegemony.......................................................................................10
Hoorcollege 3 - Fantasy fiction.....................................................................................................11
The popularity of the fantasy genre.........................................................................................11
The cultural roots of fantasy fiction.........................................................................................11
Romanticism in 18th/19th century Europe.............................................................................11
Modernity and romantic discontent in 18th/19th century Europe........................................11
Romanticism and the fantasy genre....................................................................................12
The fantasy genre..................................................................................................................12
Explaining the (global) cultural appeal of the fantasy genre..............................................13
Hoorcollege 4 – Science fiction...................................................................................................14
Science fiction...........................................................................................................................14
Societal function of science fiction......................................................................................14
Evolution.................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................18
Hoorcollege 5 – Paranoia fiction.................................................................................................19
Conspiracy theories..................................................................................................................19
What are conspiracy theories?.............................................................................................19
Studying conspiracy theories as a cultural phenomenon...................................................19
Why more conspiracy theories in media texts over the last decades?..............................20
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................21
,Hoorcollege 6 – Horror (gastcollege Matthias De Bondt)..........................................................22
Horror.........................................................................................................................................22
Horror as a genre...................................................................................................................22
The appeal of horror..............................................................................................................22
Hoorcollege 7 – Postmodern texts..............................................................................................25
What is postmodernism?..........................................................................................................25
Modernity: progress in art and culture.................................................................................25
Postmodernity: the end of (innovative) art?........................................................................25
Postmodernism and media texts.........................................................................................26
Hoorcollege 8 - Consumption and cultural inequality.................................................................28
What is cultural consumption?.................................................................................................28
The divide between high-brow and low-brow..........................................................................28
Social class and consumption.................................................................................................28
Cultural capital, taste and consumption..................................................................................29
Cultural capital: distinction and inequality...............................................................................29
The end of high versus low culture?........................................................................................30
Hoorcollege 9 – Consumption and subculture...........................................................................31
From ‘cultural capital’ to ‘subcultural capital’..........................................................................31
Youth culture and the rise of subcultures................................................................................31
Studying subcultures.............................................................................................................31
Beyond subcultures...............................................................................................................32
Conclusion consumption and subculture................................................................................33
Hoorcollege 10 – Consumption and counterculture..................................................................34
Authenticity in contemporary consumer culture....................................................................34
Authenticity stands out in two ways....................................................................................34
Counterculture 1960s: Frankfurter Schule, critiques of capitalist manipulation...................35
Conclusion: consumption and counterculture........................................................................35
Hoorcollege 11 – Celebrity culture..............................................................................................36
Audience and cultural consumption........................................................................................36
What is a celebrity?...................................................................................................................36
A sociological perspective on ‘celebrities’ – A new ‘status group’.........................................36
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................38
Hoorcollege 12 – Social media & post-truth...............................................................................39
Postmodernism: the end of objective truth.............................................................................39
Modern enlightenment: the imperative of objectivism...........................................................39
From modernism to postmodernism.......................................................................................39
Postmodernism: the social construction of truth...................................................................39
, Postmodernism and post-truth society...................................................................................40
Explanation 1: internet and democratization of knowledge...............................................40
Explanation 2: socialization: the formation of online ‘echo chambers’.............................40
Explanation 3: algorithmic filter bubbles..............................................................................41
Conclusion post-truth................................................................................................................41
Internet: from modern to postmodern knowledge..............................................................41
Hoorcollege 13 – Games and post-reality...................................................................................42
Games and post-reality.............................................................................................................42
Ontological insecurity: what is real?.........................................................................................42
Postmodernist Jean Baudrillard (1929 – 2007)......................................................................42
Theory: Media, Simulations and ‘hyper-reality’....................................................................42
Simulation and Simulacra (1981).........................................................................................42
Media and hyper-reality.............................................................................................................43
Games: a paradigm example of hyper-reality......................................................................43
From virtual reality to deep fakes: what makes the difference?.............................................43
Hoorcollege 14 – AI and post-humanism....................................................................................45
Bruno Latour (1947 – 2022): Beyond the modern distinction object-subject.......................45
Actor-Network Theory:..........................................................................................................45
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................46
,Hoorcollege 1 - Introduction
What is culture?
Sociological roots
Cultural sociology of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber.
General definition of culture:
The shared beliefs, values, norms and social actions that provide meaning in an
(otherwise) meaningless world.
The human condition: in contrast with other animals (instinct) Homo Sapiens a
culture-creating animal.
The social function: create order, meaning in/to the contingent/meaningless world.
o E.g. religion
Durkheim: being ‘outside’ culture in anomie/madness.
Culture is a social construction (e.g. religion).
o We shape culture/culture shapes us.
o Culture liberates/culture limits us.
Culture differs in time, place and varies per social group.
Culture provides in-group cohesion and out-group conflict.
Study of cultural meaning is not about taking sides or determining what is ‘really true’.
Researcher is neutral/value-free/agnostic.
High culture versus popular culture
A short cultural history
Norbert Elias – The Civilizing Process (1939)
Analysis: how the cultural elite/aristocracy in Western Europe has defined the
standard of culture.
o E.g. values, manners, taste and style since the Middle Ages.
Looking down on ‘popular culture’ as ‘uncivilized, simplistic, vulgar, uncontrolled and
potentially anarchistic (and non-western cultures!).
o Norbert Elias focuses on the process of civilizing.
Distinction through high art, refined manners and controlling emotions (sexual
impulses/violence) is regime of civilization.
o Trickling down: over time ordinary people take over the cultural standards of
elite.
o Spiraling up: over time civilization level increases.
E.g. control over emotions, refined taste, etc.
, High culture versus ‘mass (media) culture’
20th century: the rise, popularity and influence of mass media.
1920: ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’.
Mass consumption film, radio, advertising, celebrities.
Cultural elite: moral concerns about the influence on Culture and culture, high values,
norms, socialization and lifestyle.
Critical theory about the ‘culture industry’ (Horkheimer and Adorno, 1944)
Elitist theory:
o The standardization and commodification of culture?
o Passive consuming audiences?
o The decline of high culture and civilization?
E.g. classical music, art, literature and philosophy.
In academia ‘mass (media) culture’ has been neglected (trivial/not serious topic) or explicitly
considered as indicating a decline of (high) culture.
Walter Benjamin – ‘The work of Art in the age of mechanical reproduction’ (1935)
o The loss of authenticity, originality and aura.
Hebert Marcuse – ‘One-Dimensional Man’ (1968)
o Capitalism and media entertainment reduce humans in a pattern of one-
dimensional thought and behavior.
Neal Postman – ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ (1984)
o ‘When cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when
serious public conversation become a form of baby talk (…) then a nation
finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.
Neal Gabler – Life: The movie: How entertainment conquered reality (1998).
The relevance of studying media culture
Elitist exclusion of popular culture/mass media culture in academia and culture.
E.g. Bourdieu on cultural capital, cultural distinction and cultural inequality.
Studying media and popular culture since the 1970s/1980s
Text- and audience studies
o What is the cultural meaning of mass media for individuals, groups and
society?
Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (1924 – 2002)
o Critique on passive audience in behaviorism, psychology (media-effects) and
neo Marxism (culture industry).
o Most famous ‘encoding-decoding model’ from Stuart Hall (1980).
Understanding Popular Culture (2010)
SAMENVATTING B-KUL-S0N78A
,Inhoudsopgave
Hoorcollege 1 - Introduction...........................................................................................................4
What is culture?...........................................................................................................................4
Sociological roots....................................................................................................................4
High culture versus popular culture...........................................................................................4
A short cultural history............................................................................................................4
High culture versus ‘mass (media) culture’............................................................................5
The relevance of studying media culture...................................................................................5
The societal relevance of studying media culture.................................................................6
Hoorcollege 2 - Ideology and hegemony.......................................................................................7
Media text and cultural meaning................................................................................................7
Analysis relation media text and society...............................................................................7
Ideology and media text..........................................................................................................7
The ideology of (neo)liberalism..............................................................................................8
The ideology of neo-liberalism in media texts.......................................................................8
Advertising: iconic brands as ideological parasites..............................................................9
Conclusion: ideology and hegemony.......................................................................................10
Hoorcollege 3 - Fantasy fiction.....................................................................................................11
The popularity of the fantasy genre.........................................................................................11
The cultural roots of fantasy fiction.........................................................................................11
Romanticism in 18th/19th century Europe.............................................................................11
Modernity and romantic discontent in 18th/19th century Europe........................................11
Romanticism and the fantasy genre....................................................................................12
The fantasy genre..................................................................................................................12
Explaining the (global) cultural appeal of the fantasy genre..............................................13
Hoorcollege 4 – Science fiction...................................................................................................14
Science fiction...........................................................................................................................14
Societal function of science fiction......................................................................................14
Evolution.................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................18
Hoorcollege 5 – Paranoia fiction.................................................................................................19
Conspiracy theories..................................................................................................................19
What are conspiracy theories?.............................................................................................19
Studying conspiracy theories as a cultural phenomenon...................................................19
Why more conspiracy theories in media texts over the last decades?..............................20
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................21
,Hoorcollege 6 – Horror (gastcollege Matthias De Bondt)..........................................................22
Horror.........................................................................................................................................22
Horror as a genre...................................................................................................................22
The appeal of horror..............................................................................................................22
Hoorcollege 7 – Postmodern texts..............................................................................................25
What is postmodernism?..........................................................................................................25
Modernity: progress in art and culture.................................................................................25
Postmodernity: the end of (innovative) art?........................................................................25
Postmodernism and media texts.........................................................................................26
Hoorcollege 8 - Consumption and cultural inequality.................................................................28
What is cultural consumption?.................................................................................................28
The divide between high-brow and low-brow..........................................................................28
Social class and consumption.................................................................................................28
Cultural capital, taste and consumption..................................................................................29
Cultural capital: distinction and inequality...............................................................................29
The end of high versus low culture?........................................................................................30
Hoorcollege 9 – Consumption and subculture...........................................................................31
From ‘cultural capital’ to ‘subcultural capital’..........................................................................31
Youth culture and the rise of subcultures................................................................................31
Studying subcultures.............................................................................................................31
Beyond subcultures...............................................................................................................32
Conclusion consumption and subculture................................................................................33
Hoorcollege 10 – Consumption and counterculture..................................................................34
Authenticity in contemporary consumer culture....................................................................34
Authenticity stands out in two ways....................................................................................34
Counterculture 1960s: Frankfurter Schule, critiques of capitalist manipulation...................35
Conclusion: consumption and counterculture........................................................................35
Hoorcollege 11 – Celebrity culture..............................................................................................36
Audience and cultural consumption........................................................................................36
What is a celebrity?...................................................................................................................36
A sociological perspective on ‘celebrities’ – A new ‘status group’.........................................36
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................38
Hoorcollege 12 – Social media & post-truth...............................................................................39
Postmodernism: the end of objective truth.............................................................................39
Modern enlightenment: the imperative of objectivism...........................................................39
From modernism to postmodernism.......................................................................................39
Postmodernism: the social construction of truth...................................................................39
, Postmodernism and post-truth society...................................................................................40
Explanation 1: internet and democratization of knowledge...............................................40
Explanation 2: socialization: the formation of online ‘echo chambers’.............................40
Explanation 3: algorithmic filter bubbles..............................................................................41
Conclusion post-truth................................................................................................................41
Internet: from modern to postmodern knowledge..............................................................41
Hoorcollege 13 – Games and post-reality...................................................................................42
Games and post-reality.............................................................................................................42
Ontological insecurity: what is real?.........................................................................................42
Postmodernist Jean Baudrillard (1929 – 2007)......................................................................42
Theory: Media, Simulations and ‘hyper-reality’....................................................................42
Simulation and Simulacra (1981).........................................................................................42
Media and hyper-reality.............................................................................................................43
Games: a paradigm example of hyper-reality......................................................................43
From virtual reality to deep fakes: what makes the difference?.............................................43
Hoorcollege 14 – AI and post-humanism....................................................................................45
Bruno Latour (1947 – 2022): Beyond the modern distinction object-subject.......................45
Actor-Network Theory:..........................................................................................................45
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................46
,Hoorcollege 1 - Introduction
What is culture?
Sociological roots
Cultural sociology of Emile Durkheim and Max Weber.
General definition of culture:
The shared beliefs, values, norms and social actions that provide meaning in an
(otherwise) meaningless world.
The human condition: in contrast with other animals (instinct) Homo Sapiens a
culture-creating animal.
The social function: create order, meaning in/to the contingent/meaningless world.
o E.g. religion
Durkheim: being ‘outside’ culture in anomie/madness.
Culture is a social construction (e.g. religion).
o We shape culture/culture shapes us.
o Culture liberates/culture limits us.
Culture differs in time, place and varies per social group.
Culture provides in-group cohesion and out-group conflict.
Study of cultural meaning is not about taking sides or determining what is ‘really true’.
Researcher is neutral/value-free/agnostic.
High culture versus popular culture
A short cultural history
Norbert Elias – The Civilizing Process (1939)
Analysis: how the cultural elite/aristocracy in Western Europe has defined the
standard of culture.
o E.g. values, manners, taste and style since the Middle Ages.
Looking down on ‘popular culture’ as ‘uncivilized, simplistic, vulgar, uncontrolled and
potentially anarchistic (and non-western cultures!).
o Norbert Elias focuses on the process of civilizing.
Distinction through high art, refined manners and controlling emotions (sexual
impulses/violence) is regime of civilization.
o Trickling down: over time ordinary people take over the cultural standards of
elite.
o Spiraling up: over time civilization level increases.
E.g. control over emotions, refined taste, etc.
, High culture versus ‘mass (media) culture’
20th century: the rise, popularity and influence of mass media.
1920: ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’.
Mass consumption film, radio, advertising, celebrities.
Cultural elite: moral concerns about the influence on Culture and culture, high values,
norms, socialization and lifestyle.
Critical theory about the ‘culture industry’ (Horkheimer and Adorno, 1944)
Elitist theory:
o The standardization and commodification of culture?
o Passive consuming audiences?
o The decline of high culture and civilization?
E.g. classical music, art, literature and philosophy.
In academia ‘mass (media) culture’ has been neglected (trivial/not serious topic) or explicitly
considered as indicating a decline of (high) culture.
Walter Benjamin – ‘The work of Art in the age of mechanical reproduction’ (1935)
o The loss of authenticity, originality and aura.
Hebert Marcuse – ‘One-Dimensional Man’ (1968)
o Capitalism and media entertainment reduce humans in a pattern of one-
dimensional thought and behavior.
Neal Postman – ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ (1984)
o ‘When cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when
serious public conversation become a form of baby talk (…) then a nation
finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.
Neal Gabler – Life: The movie: How entertainment conquered reality (1998).
The relevance of studying media culture
Elitist exclusion of popular culture/mass media culture in academia and culture.
E.g. Bourdieu on cultural capital, cultural distinction and cultural inequality.
Studying media and popular culture since the 1970s/1980s
Text- and audience studies
o What is the cultural meaning of mass media for individuals, groups and
society?
Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (1924 – 2002)
o Critique on passive audience in behaviorism, psychology (media-effects) and
neo Marxism (culture industry).
o Most famous ‘encoding-decoding model’ from Stuart Hall (1980).
Understanding Popular Culture (2010)
