Lecture 5 - Ideology & the mass media
Messages in media products --> nike commercial.
Guy in commercial didn't stand up during national anthem --> protest against racial injustice (Collin
Capernic).
How can we understand the relationship between media content and society?
1. Ideological analysis of media provides a window onto broader debates in society.
2. The taken-for-granted, the realm of commonsense, and our definitions of the 'natural' are the
terrain of ideological analysis.
3. Media are a battlefield for ideas, but not an even battlefield.
1. What is ideology?
Ideology: a system of cultural beliefs, meanings and values that defines and explains the social world
and that makes judgements about it. It's about ways of seeing the world.
Socialisation: the process whereby we learn and internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of our
culture and, in so doing, develop a sense of self. We have all sorts of evaluations about people and
places.
The media is not a reflection of reality. Media would be boring if it was. We watch movies to escape
from reality sometimes.
Media represent --> taking an ideological approach to media contents.
Who or what is normalised or naturalised and what is deviant when talking and thinking about the
world and social arrangements? Each country has it's own particular values and way of looking at the
world.
Normalised: often we don't have to think about ideologies. It's just part of our lives. For example how
we think the world looks like (own place in the centre).
Ideology as normalisation: media suggest what is 'normal' and what is 'deviant'. News article about
crime: that article is ideological because it defines it as crime. It defines what is accepted behaviour
and what is crime. Many items make it to the news because they deviate from the norms.
Gender roles: process of normalisation. We have an image about what boys and girls should do.
People accept this as a norm.
Culture wars: issues of morality are negotiated in the media.
Advertising, news YouTube videos, films etc. As forms of public discourse.
Polarised views on for example abortion, sexuality, immigration.
The significance of content: ideology and media content.
1. The link between content and producers --> start looking at media content, is it produced by white
males? Possible that the content reflects their interests.
2. The link between content and audience preferences --> when producers get criticized, they say
they just make what the audience wants to see.
3. The link between content and society in general --> media content can give you an image about
what society thinks, by reading articles for example.
4. Influence on audiences
, 5. Media content as self-enclosed texts --> text can be a film, a song, etc. You look at individual media
products (one movie), look at the story and what is tells us about society.
Uncovering ideologies (not in the book):
Denotation: the identification of something by pointing it out. Describing the facts (laptop is
grey, white apple).
Connotation: refers to the overtones, additional meanings, and implications associated with
a word or an object. This is how ideology works. We're not talking about the facts, but about
the different values (apple has a good image, well design, stands for creativity).
Example: connotation --> open bag refers to just coming back from the market, where unique
products are being sold, etc. We start evaluating and interpreting.
Commercial suggest that if we buy the right products, it can make us more successful/attractive for
example. Relation lifestyle + particular products.
Also climate crisis. Media are a battlefield for ideas.
Ideology has an impact on how we deal with media. Conservatives say the government shouldn't
interfere to much in how companies operate. Difference between liberals and conservatives =
ideology.
Also music is ideological. Particular values are being represent. Hip hop --> give a voice to struggles,
challenges other ideologies. Can be contradictory. Hip hop might challenge racism, but some hip hop
is also very homophobic/stereotypical. There can be different views.
Talent shows: it's about the American dream. They suggest that everyone can be successful.
2. Theoretical approaches to ideology
Karl Marx 1818-1883
Capitalist ideology
Class conflict
False consciousness: aspects of the social world that serve the interests of the few, while wrongly
considered as serving the interests of the many.
Marxists: workers don't own the factories, they just work there. The owners get all of the benefits.
They can get class consciousness: solidarity with people in own class.
False consciousness is contradictory to this. Workers can't see their exploitation. This can be
promoted in workers by controllers.
Neo-Marxist approaches: Antonio Gramsci.
Transition rom coercion to consent. He was interested in how power works in society. He
said rulers can maintain their position by using force, but also by consent. This means that
people accept the dominant ideas. If you are a ruler and you want to impose your opinion to
other people you can do it by --> (you don't agree, i will kill you). By consent people accept it as
normal.
Class struggle = struggle of meanings.
Hegemony: widely shared beliefs about what is right or wrong that empower specific groups in
society, based on the consent of the led. What we accept as natural in society. Women used to stay
at home, later this was being questioned, because it was not a natural way.
Why do we talk English? Why not Chinese? The English language has a hegemonic position.
Messages in media products --> nike commercial.
Guy in commercial didn't stand up during national anthem --> protest against racial injustice (Collin
Capernic).
How can we understand the relationship between media content and society?
1. Ideological analysis of media provides a window onto broader debates in society.
2. The taken-for-granted, the realm of commonsense, and our definitions of the 'natural' are the
terrain of ideological analysis.
3. Media are a battlefield for ideas, but not an even battlefield.
1. What is ideology?
Ideology: a system of cultural beliefs, meanings and values that defines and explains the social world
and that makes judgements about it. It's about ways of seeing the world.
Socialisation: the process whereby we learn and internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of our
culture and, in so doing, develop a sense of self. We have all sorts of evaluations about people and
places.
The media is not a reflection of reality. Media would be boring if it was. We watch movies to escape
from reality sometimes.
Media represent --> taking an ideological approach to media contents.
Who or what is normalised or naturalised and what is deviant when talking and thinking about the
world and social arrangements? Each country has it's own particular values and way of looking at the
world.
Normalised: often we don't have to think about ideologies. It's just part of our lives. For example how
we think the world looks like (own place in the centre).
Ideology as normalisation: media suggest what is 'normal' and what is 'deviant'. News article about
crime: that article is ideological because it defines it as crime. It defines what is accepted behaviour
and what is crime. Many items make it to the news because they deviate from the norms.
Gender roles: process of normalisation. We have an image about what boys and girls should do.
People accept this as a norm.
Culture wars: issues of morality are negotiated in the media.
Advertising, news YouTube videos, films etc. As forms of public discourse.
Polarised views on for example abortion, sexuality, immigration.
The significance of content: ideology and media content.
1. The link between content and producers --> start looking at media content, is it produced by white
males? Possible that the content reflects their interests.
2. The link between content and audience preferences --> when producers get criticized, they say
they just make what the audience wants to see.
3. The link between content and society in general --> media content can give you an image about
what society thinks, by reading articles for example.
4. Influence on audiences
, 5. Media content as self-enclosed texts --> text can be a film, a song, etc. You look at individual media
products (one movie), look at the story and what is tells us about society.
Uncovering ideologies (not in the book):
Denotation: the identification of something by pointing it out. Describing the facts (laptop is
grey, white apple).
Connotation: refers to the overtones, additional meanings, and implications associated with
a word or an object. This is how ideology works. We're not talking about the facts, but about
the different values (apple has a good image, well design, stands for creativity).
Example: connotation --> open bag refers to just coming back from the market, where unique
products are being sold, etc. We start evaluating and interpreting.
Commercial suggest that if we buy the right products, it can make us more successful/attractive for
example. Relation lifestyle + particular products.
Also climate crisis. Media are a battlefield for ideas.
Ideology has an impact on how we deal with media. Conservatives say the government shouldn't
interfere to much in how companies operate. Difference between liberals and conservatives =
ideology.
Also music is ideological. Particular values are being represent. Hip hop --> give a voice to struggles,
challenges other ideologies. Can be contradictory. Hip hop might challenge racism, but some hip hop
is also very homophobic/stereotypical. There can be different views.
Talent shows: it's about the American dream. They suggest that everyone can be successful.
2. Theoretical approaches to ideology
Karl Marx 1818-1883
Capitalist ideology
Class conflict
False consciousness: aspects of the social world that serve the interests of the few, while wrongly
considered as serving the interests of the many.
Marxists: workers don't own the factories, they just work there. The owners get all of the benefits.
They can get class consciousness: solidarity with people in own class.
False consciousness is contradictory to this. Workers can't see their exploitation. This can be
promoted in workers by controllers.
Neo-Marxist approaches: Antonio Gramsci.
Transition rom coercion to consent. He was interested in how power works in society. He
said rulers can maintain their position by using force, but also by consent. This means that
people accept the dominant ideas. If you are a ruler and you want to impose your opinion to
other people you can do it by --> (you don't agree, i will kill you). By consent people accept it as
normal.
Class struggle = struggle of meanings.
Hegemony: widely shared beliefs about what is right or wrong that empower specific groups in
society, based on the consent of the led. What we accept as natural in society. Women used to stay
at home, later this was being questioned, because it was not a natural way.
Why do we talk English? Why not Chinese? The English language has a hegemonic position.
