CONCEPTS CULTURAL MEDIA STUDIES
H1
Ideology = Crucial concept in the study of popular culture.
Five different definitions:
1. Ideology can refer to a systematic body of ideas articulated by a
particular group of people.
2. Ideology can be seen as a masking or distortion (vervorming) the
reality of domination of those with power. It’s a reflection of power
relations of the economic structure of society (classical Marxism). It
presents a distorted image of reality, it produce ‘false
consciousness’.
3. This definition uses the term ‘ideological form’ to draw attention to
the way in which texts always present a particular image of the
world. Society is seen conflictual instead of consensual. All texts are
ultimately political.
4. Ideology operates on the level of connotations, the secondary
meaning that texts and practices carry (sometimes unconscious).
The attempt to make universal what is in fact particular.
5. Ideology is not simply a body of ideas, but a material practice.
Ideology is encountered in the practices of everyday life and not
simply in in certain ideas about everyday life (it’s about certain
rituals and customs). Ideology works to reproduce the social
conditions and social relations necessary for the economic
conditions and relations of capitalism to continue.
‘Popular’ WILLIAMS –
1. 'Well-liked by many people'
2. 'Inferior kinds of work
3. 'Work deliberately setting out to win favor with the people';
4. Culture actually made by the people for themselves'
Popular culture Six definitions:
1. Culture that is widely favored by many people.
2. Culture that is not high culture, but inferior culture.
3. As mass culture and commercial culture (Americanization) .
4. Cultures that originates from ‘the people’. This definition sees
popular culture as folk culture: a culture of the people for the
people.
5. Popular culture as a site of struggle between ‘resistance’ (verzet) of
subordinate groups and the forces of ‘incorporation’ operating in
the interests of dominant groups.
6. Culture that is related with Postmodernism. There is no longer a
distinction between high and popular culture.
Popular culture is mass-produced commercial culture
1
CONCEPTS CULTURAL MEDIA STUDIES
, High culture The result of a usual act of creation.
Americanization The claim that popular culture is imported American culture. Popular
culture has been socially and institutionally central in America for longer
and in a more significant way than in Europe.
Compromise This is a balance that is mostly weighted in the interest of the powerful.
equilibrium
Cultivated inaction ARNOLD – Culture is the seeking of culture.
Co-texts of a text The text we join to particular text, it’s an extension of the text.
In het voorbeeld van “it is a difficult book” Marx’ Capital is a co-text that
completes the meaning of what the student is telling.
Inter-texts Brought to the text by a reader in order to fully understand the text, it helps
to construct a new understanding of the text.
In het voorbeeld van “it is a difficult book” feminism is a body of inter-
texts that can be used as a frame for producing a particular understanding
of the text (hier Dracula).
H2
Leavisism Argues that the status of the minority / cultural elite is changed by the
decline of authority. Society will end in chaos and anarchy because of the
mass civilization / democracy and his mass culture.
Mass culture makes people passive, it’s a threat to democracy and it
appeals to the ‘cheapest emotional appeals’.
Solution = training people through education so that they can resist the
mass culture.
Biggest problem = advertisement damage to language! Decline!!
Organic community The best of English culture tradition. It’s destroyed by the arrival of the
Industrial Revolution. The organic community was still present in some rural
communities in the 19th century in England.
Folk art MacDonald – One of the 3 forms of culture.
Comes from below. It’s spontaneous and autochthonous (native). Can be
seen as an expression of the people? It’s useful and participators are active.
It’s by and for people.
High art MacDonald – One of the 3 forms of culture.
Is created by an individual artist, it’s authentic. We can make a distinction
between academic high art and avant-garde high art.
Academic: sterile / clean pseudo-art, exploited by mass culture, kitsch
Avant-garde: rebellious art
Mass culture MacDonald – One of the 3 forms of culture.
Comes from above, it’s made by technicians (‘hired by business’). It has a
passive audience. It exploit the need for culture and has a homogenizing
way of working. It’s economy driven, leads to infantilization & can be seen
as a parasite culture on high and folk culture. It’s a tool for politics
(propaganda).
Americanization A dominant flow of cultural products coming from the United States.
2
CONCEPTS CULTURAL MEDIA STUDIES
H1
Ideology = Crucial concept in the study of popular culture.
Five different definitions:
1. Ideology can refer to a systematic body of ideas articulated by a
particular group of people.
2. Ideology can be seen as a masking or distortion (vervorming) the
reality of domination of those with power. It’s a reflection of power
relations of the economic structure of society (classical Marxism). It
presents a distorted image of reality, it produce ‘false
consciousness’.
3. This definition uses the term ‘ideological form’ to draw attention to
the way in which texts always present a particular image of the
world. Society is seen conflictual instead of consensual. All texts are
ultimately political.
4. Ideology operates on the level of connotations, the secondary
meaning that texts and practices carry (sometimes unconscious).
The attempt to make universal what is in fact particular.
5. Ideology is not simply a body of ideas, but a material practice.
Ideology is encountered in the practices of everyday life and not
simply in in certain ideas about everyday life (it’s about certain
rituals and customs). Ideology works to reproduce the social
conditions and social relations necessary for the economic
conditions and relations of capitalism to continue.
‘Popular’ WILLIAMS –
1. 'Well-liked by many people'
2. 'Inferior kinds of work
3. 'Work deliberately setting out to win favor with the people';
4. Culture actually made by the people for themselves'
Popular culture Six definitions:
1. Culture that is widely favored by many people.
2. Culture that is not high culture, but inferior culture.
3. As mass culture and commercial culture (Americanization) .
4. Cultures that originates from ‘the people’. This definition sees
popular culture as folk culture: a culture of the people for the
people.
5. Popular culture as a site of struggle between ‘resistance’ (verzet) of
subordinate groups and the forces of ‘incorporation’ operating in
the interests of dominant groups.
6. Culture that is related with Postmodernism. There is no longer a
distinction between high and popular culture.
Popular culture is mass-produced commercial culture
1
CONCEPTS CULTURAL MEDIA STUDIES
, High culture The result of a usual act of creation.
Americanization The claim that popular culture is imported American culture. Popular
culture has been socially and institutionally central in America for longer
and in a more significant way than in Europe.
Compromise This is a balance that is mostly weighted in the interest of the powerful.
equilibrium
Cultivated inaction ARNOLD – Culture is the seeking of culture.
Co-texts of a text The text we join to particular text, it’s an extension of the text.
In het voorbeeld van “it is a difficult book” Marx’ Capital is a co-text that
completes the meaning of what the student is telling.
Inter-texts Brought to the text by a reader in order to fully understand the text, it helps
to construct a new understanding of the text.
In het voorbeeld van “it is a difficult book” feminism is a body of inter-
texts that can be used as a frame for producing a particular understanding
of the text (hier Dracula).
H2
Leavisism Argues that the status of the minority / cultural elite is changed by the
decline of authority. Society will end in chaos and anarchy because of the
mass civilization / democracy and his mass culture.
Mass culture makes people passive, it’s a threat to democracy and it
appeals to the ‘cheapest emotional appeals’.
Solution = training people through education so that they can resist the
mass culture.
Biggest problem = advertisement damage to language! Decline!!
Organic community The best of English culture tradition. It’s destroyed by the arrival of the
Industrial Revolution. The organic community was still present in some rural
communities in the 19th century in England.
Folk art MacDonald – One of the 3 forms of culture.
Comes from below. It’s spontaneous and autochthonous (native). Can be
seen as an expression of the people? It’s useful and participators are active.
It’s by and for people.
High art MacDonald – One of the 3 forms of culture.
Is created by an individual artist, it’s authentic. We can make a distinction
between academic high art and avant-garde high art.
Academic: sterile / clean pseudo-art, exploited by mass culture, kitsch
Avant-garde: rebellious art
Mass culture MacDonald – One of the 3 forms of culture.
Comes from above, it’s made by technicians (‘hired by business’). It has a
passive audience. It exploit the need for culture and has a homogenizing
way of working. It’s economy driven, leads to infantilization & can be seen
as a parasite culture on high and folk culture. It’s a tool for politics
(propaganda).
Americanization A dominant flow of cultural products coming from the United States.
2
CONCEPTS CULTURAL MEDIA STUDIES
