Blog Post 4 - Lindsay Rance

Marxism is a theory on society that originated in the mind of Carl Marx and this week, we learned how his original ideology is evident in popular media.
First, there's the idea that that knowledge is shared within the community. One person's idea is not their own, it belongs to everyone that is a member of the same society. However, if knowledge is shared as well values, who decides what's right or what's wrong? Marxism would tell you that the ruling class of the society are the ones who tell us what's right, what's wrong, what's important? So in today's modern society, the ruling class would be the ones who control the media, such as Disney or Time Warner. Another great example would be Rupert Murdoch, who has been accused of forcing his news stations to take conservative stances on political matters. This leads to some Marxists taking an extremely negative view on the media and the "control" that they have over our lives. The Fankfurt School, which became popular in the 1940s, has stated that the media is responsible for the working class being ignorant to the fact that they were being controlled by the ruling class. They also claimed that because of this "false consciousness," history did not play out correctly.
Marxism also plays out in advertising. John Berger, an English Marxists, proposed that we derive value of a person by the things they own. He states that advertising companies know this and they manipulate this to their favor. The modern advertisement doesn't necessarily promote the product but the lifestyle that comes with the purchase.
Hegemony is also an idea that derived from Marxism. It is where social values or commonplace practices serve one purpose, to keep the ruling class in power. If you watch any political show, it depicts the "American people" as a dimwitted society ignorant to the world around them. It also highlights the government as extremely powerful people who will do anything to get their way, even if it means killing people. This makes the viewer think that the government controls more than what they let on, and that we should be scared of them if we question their power.
However, this idea that the government is the ruling power is in a state of constant shift. The American people are using social media to put pressure on leaders to fix injustice and inequality, which means the government are slowly using their control. Whenever there is a shift in power, there is sure to be a shift in the common ideology.