Thursday, October 1, 2015
Blog Post #4
Marxism, named after the infamous Karl Marx, is a concept that concerns itself with the notion that material conditions and economic practices shape the dominant ideology about who ought to have power. Taking on a Marxist point-of-view on the media would mean to expose how popular culture texts reinforce the status quo power structures so as to have the masses perceive them as normal and based on common sense. One way in critiquing a piece of media through a Marxist analysis involves the question of "who is in charge". This leads us, under the light of materialism, to the idea of the base (economic system) and the superstructure (institutions and values of a society), in which Marxism both emphasizes and criticizes the two and are both linked to each other through the media. In Marxist terms, ideology is a concept that refers to the collective beliefs, attitudes, and values of a certain people from small groups, tribes, and small communities to an audience or an entire nation. One of the major concepts of Marxism involves placing each person into one of four main ideology groups: hierarchal elitist, competitive individualist, fatalist, and egalitarian. The hierarchal elitist (ex. Zachary Comstock from Bioshock Infinite) is one who believes in stratification and in the responsibility of those of the top to rule over the masses. The competitive individualist maintains interest in one's self and desires the freedom to compete fairly and be protected by the government. The egalitarian (ex. the Amish) detest social differences between people as unnatural stress that people are equal in terms of their needs. The fatalists (ex. Calvinism) believe only in luck and opt out of the political system. With the use of the grip-group theory made by Aaron Wildavsky, one can see that group boundaries in elitists and egalitarians are strong whereas those in individualists and fatalists tend to be weak. The number and kinds of prescriptions in elitists and fatalists are numerous and varied while the number and kinds of prescriptions in individualists and egalitarians tend to be few. Then there is the concept of hegemony, which is the privileging of a dominant group's ideology over all other groups. According to Marxism, it comes in the form of class struggle, which divides society into the empowering, wealthy Bourgeoise and the more populous Proletariat, who are the working class. Due to a wealth gap and differences in terms of status between them, Marxism contends that the Bourgeoise exploits the Proletariat as the "ruling class" and engage in deception in order to manipulate the masses and prevent any conflict to preserve the status quo. It also suggests that an empowered group would use the media to spread false consciousness as a means of leading people into thinking, whatever it is, is right while perceiving challenges against it as abnormal, undesirable, and wrong (ex. Gay Rights, Women's Rights, obesity). People who use a Marxist analysis evaluate the message offered by the media in terms of potential implications it may have on individuals or society, one example being Will and Grace showing gay couples as normal people instead of mere stereotypes, which therefore inspire the Gay Rights movement. Another example is when one sees violence in a movie or TV show, he/she would rarely see the implications after people are killed such as family members mourning. However, much debate over using Marxist criticism to analyze the world exists and it is clear that such an approach would create a dangerous polarization of perception, which would then cause social disunity and discrimination.
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Corey Burgiel
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