media and globalisation theories and principles

MDG3 - 01MEDIA & GLOBALISATION:

KEY CONCEPTS & THEORIES

MODULE 1

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS ‘MEDIA’?1) Technological means of communication - Extension of ‘medium’: technical means

through which messages are sent & received - Technical media prominent throughout

human history: print, broadcasting, telephony & Internet

INTRODUCTION

Thompson (1995): Media is ‘the institutionalized production & generalized diffusion of symbolic goods via the fixation and transmission of information or symbolic content’;

What is symbolic content: ideas, information and ideologies

INTRODUCTION – MODULE 1

A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy;

The set of beliefs characteristic of a social group or individual.

- http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ideology

INTRODUCTION

IDEOLOGY: "The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas … The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production." The entirety or the system of ideas of the ruling class would be the Ideology of a given society. The function of ideology would be the continual reproduction of the means of production and thereby to ensure the continuous dominance of the ruling class. Ideology achieves this by distorting reality. While in fact the split in ruling and subservient social classes is artificial (i.e. man made) and serves the needs of the economic system, the ideas of ideology makes it appear natural. It makes the subordinate classes accept a state of alienation against they would otherwise revolt. This state of alienation has also been referred to as "false consciousness".

- KARL MARX & FRIEDRICH ENGELS- https://faculty.washington.edu/mlg/courses/definitions/Ideology.html

INTRODUCTION

Thompson (1995): mass communication forms have five characteristics:• Development of technical and institutional infrastructure and media

industries;• Commodification of symbolic forms (media is bought & sold and

acquires economic and symbolic value;• Structured break in space and time between production and reception

of symbolic forms;• Extension of the availability and durability of symbolic forms across

time & space;• Public circulation of symbolic forms; plays a role in ordering public

space and public culture

MEDIUM THEORIES

Media infrastructure has traditionally concerned technical aspects & engineering; focus on impact upon social relations and human interactions;

HOWEVER, technical mediums are the key starting point to understanding social impacts and implications

Meyrowitz (1994): MEDIUM THEORIES

MEDIUM THEORIES

Focuses on CHARACTERISTICS of each medium to examine whether:

• Communication is bi-directional/uni-directional;

• Learning to encode/decode in the medium is simple or complex;

• How many people can attend to the message at the same time.

MEDIUM THEORIES

What follows is that global network communications infrastructures enable INTERNATIONAL circulation of cultural commodities, texts, images and artefacts;

These are central to global commerce, global politics, global war and conflict, the globalisation of organisational communication, and the general global circulation of ideas, information and ideologies

Page 2 – “Understanding Global Media”

MEDIUM THEORIES

LET’S DISCUSS IDEOLOGY AND GLOBAL POLITICS

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS ‘MEDIA’?2) Institutional and organisational forms through which media

content is produced and distributed; the media industries CORPORATE FORM is the general form institutional

arrangement during the 20th century Range of media relationships operate in markets (variety of

forms of transactions between agents) Agents can be formal or informal and transactions can be

monetized or non-monetized.

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS ‘MEDIA’?

3) It is the “informational and symbolic content that is received and consumed by readers, audiences and users”

Content does NOT exist independently from technical infrastructures OR institutional forms through which it is produced or distributed

Media is integrally connected to culture

WHAT IS CULTURE?

Descriptive conception: ‘the varied array of values, beliefs, customs, conventions, habits and practices to a particular society or historical period’ (Thompson, 1991);

Symbolic conception: ‘the underlying system of social, cultural, linguistic, and psychological relationships through which people, in different places or at particular times, are engaged in making sense of their wider social environment and acting within it’

For instance, CHRISTMAS!

MEDIA RELATIONSHIPS 3 INTERCONNECTED ELEMENTS OF MEDIA:- Technical infrastructure;- Institutional forms; and - Socio-cultural contexts of reception Draws attention to 3 (three) further relationships:- Media & Power- Media Markets- Media & Culture

To be continued…

HOMEWORK: RESEARCH & DISCUSS AN OBSERVABLE IDEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE IN SOUTH AFRICA;

EXPLAIN ITS USE, ORIGIN, MEDIA IMPLICATIONS AND ARGUE WHETHER IT’S A DOMINANT OR FRINGE

DISCOURSE. THREE LUCKY STUDENTS WILL GET A TURN.

MEDIA & POWER

MEDIA & POWER POWER = the ability to act in pursuit of one’s aims and

interests; to intervene in the course of events and to affect their outcome

Communication = purposeful action Power is NOT only relational, but STRUCTURAL (Susan

Strange); i.e. not just the relationship, but the surrounding structure of the relationship

Foucault: power relations = the strategies, networks, the mechanisms, techniques by which a decision is accepted and by which that decision could not but be taken in the way it was

FORMS OF POWER

SEE TABLE 1.1. ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, COERCIVE, SYMBOLIC MEDIA = CULTURAL & SYMBOLIC POWER Symbolic power = means by which actions can

be shaped through transformation of values, beliefs and ideas; practices & institutions of culture (Thompson, 1995)

MEDIA & POWER MEDIA CORPORATIONS HAVE RESOURCES:

fundamental leadership in the cultural sphere Mass Comms of 50s & 60s: liberal pluralism in social

sciences; power = influence, thus media impact behavioural change (media acting in a relational sense)

Media confirms a consensus (not so much the spread of ideology, but the expression of wider societal consensus); only impacts behaviour

MEDIA & POWER Hall (1982): Media operates in a STRUCTURAL

sense – defines the “rules” of the game; defines social reality and determines what is “acceptable” behaviour

Media thus powerful in CONSENSUS FORMATION Media power & ideology = dominant ideology vs.

representation, consent and social construction of reality (reality effect, Hall)

MEDIA & POWER MARXIST CRITIQUE: Structural inequality as dominant ideologies

(capitalist societies) control over subordinate social groupings; dominant Western interests maintain political & economic power over ‘less developed, 3rd World’ nations; media formed central part of capitalist economy (PAGE 7)

2 CENTRAL ISSUES:1) Media ownership and control as media are industrial and commercial

organisations producing & distributing commodities;2) Structures of economic control vs. similar patterns of cultural production

& distribution“Cultural products” and “material interests” linked; thus media linked to

political & economic interests

MEDIA & POWERRELATIONSHIP OF ECONOMIC VS. IDEOLOGICAL = THE POLITICAL ECONOMY (CHAPTER 2)

• ECONOMY SHAPES CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS, WITH VARYING DEGREES OF DIRECT DETERMINATION/RELATIVE AUTONOMY

•CULTURAL STUDIES DRAWS ATTENTION TO THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF SIGNIFIERS

•INVESTIGATE WHETHER MEDIA IS REPRESENTATIVE OF OTHER FORMS OF POWER (INSTITUTIONAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, CULTURAL) – IS MEDIA AN ENTITY IN ITS OWN RIGHT, BUT CONNECTED TO OTHER POWER SOURCES?

MEDIA MARKETS

MEDIA MARKETS THREE MARKETS:1) CREATIVE CONTENT – material for exchange2) MARKET FOR FINANCIAL RESOURCES –

finance operations, investment, profits, public vs. private

3) MARKET FOR AUDIENCES/READERS/USERS – competition for audience and attention

MEDIA MARKETS Garnham (1987): companies/industries

compete in four ways:1) For consumer expenditure;2) For advertising expenditure;3) For consumption time (‘attention

economy’);4) For talent & specialist labour

MEDIA MARKETS MEDIA INDUSTRIES OPERATE IN DUAL PRODUCT

MARKETS COMPETE FOR TIME & MONEY OF END-USERS

AND COMPETE IN ADVERTISING MARKET SELLING

ACCESS TO THOSE AUDIENCES TO ADVERTISERS

SEE FIGURE 1.1. THE NATURE OF MEDIA MARKETS

MEDIA MARKETS & FINANCING

Media orgs can finance its activities in 4 ways:

RETAINED EARNINGS (revenue & sales) DEBT FINANCING (bank loans) EQUITY INVESTMENT (sale of shares, listing) GOVERNMENT FINANCING (subsidy,

incentives)

MEDIA MARKETS & EXPANSION

FORMS OF EXPANSION: HORIZONTAL: M & A of competitors within dominant industries;

development of new products & services within that industry (Disney/Pixar/Marvel);

VERTICAL: Related acquiring in distribution/production/packaging interests: Netflix – distributor AND now producer

DIAGONAL: expansion into complimentary activities and enables synergies (AOL Time Warner)

DIVERSIFICATION: Expansion into non-media activities or vice versa

MEDIA CONTENT• Creative content becomes commoditized, yet content distinctive for three

reasons:

1) Risk – content is produced without exactly knowing customer preferences, with poor prior experience of the content, difficult to predict results;

2) Message is immaterial/intangible; for instance, a CD is tangible but the MUSIC is intangible; medium can be durable (DVD) or quickly consumed and discarded (newspaper);

3) Ongoing demand for originality and novelty = truncated (shortened) product life cycle for many cultural commodities

In other words, media has high production costs and near-zero costs of reproduction

MEDIA CONTENT Creative industries – cultural, artistic & entertainment value Caves (2000): 7 economic properties of creative activities:1. Demand uncertainty2. Creative vs. commercial skills3. Motley crew of diverse talents brought together on contract basis4. Infinite variety principle5. Vertically differentiated skills (A-list/B-list)6. Need to coordinate activities as projects7. Durability and the ability to derive economic rents over long

periods

MEDIA CONTENT CONTRACTS:- Asymmetrical information- Allocation of decision rights- Institutions integral in managing projects,

contracts, risks, rewards – high fixed costs due to overheads

- Unions

MEDIA CONTENT VIOLATILE & UNPREDICATBLE COMPETITION FOR SKILLS AND TALENTS HARD TO

INSTITUTIONALIZE/QUANTIFY/ROUTINISE CREATIVITY

MEDIA ORGS & POLICY POLICY – SYSTEM OF INSTITUIONALIZED

GOVERNANCE MECHANISMS DETERMINES STRUCTURE, CONDUCT,

PERFORMANCE HISTORIC MEDIA CONGLOMERATION &

CORPORATIZATION

5 FACTORS OF INSTITUTIONALIZATION

DISTINCTIVE LEGAL FORM OF PROPERTY – legal safeguard, only legally accountable as far as shareholding

POWERS OF CORPORATION – strategic control INCREASING COMPLEXITY – have to minimize risk, maximize

profits & manage uncertainty LEGAL CONTRACTS – managing risk & social relations (nexus of

contracts) BUREAUCRATIC ORGANISATIONAL FORM – Weber: hierarchy;

division of labour, employment & promotion, rationalized decision-making, formal rule-bound relations

BAD MIX BETWEEN ORDER & CREATIVES

ISSUES ADDRESSED BY POLICY

1) CONTROL MARKET ENTRY (PLANNING);

2) LIMITS ON CONCENTRATION OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP;

3) LIMITS ON FOREIGN OWNERSHIP (NATIONAL SECURITY);

4) PROMOTION OF LOCAL CONTENT;

5) PROMOTION OF CONTENT CATERING FOR SPECIFIC NEEDS

6) PROMOTION OF PROGRAMMING THAT REFLECTS CULTURAL, SOCIAL, LINGUISTIC FORMS, DIVERSITY

7) STANDARDS ENSURING FAIR, ACCURATE & REPSONSIBLE COVERAGE/ FREE OF HATE SPEECH OR VILIFICATION

8) PREVENTS HARMFUL MATERIAL

MEDIA & POLICY MEDIA INSTITUTIONS VERY MUCH GOVERNED BY MEDIA POLICY GOVERNMENT CONTROL OVER TELEVISION SIGNALS AND ASPECTS OF

PROGRAMMING MEDIA DEVELOPS NATIONAL CITIZENSHIP, FORMS IDENTITY THROUGH

CULTURE MODERN NATIONALISM ‘IMAGINED POLITICAL COMMUNITY’ (Anderson) Myths perpetuated by media become grounded in community, symbolic

unification (transcends divisions within nations) Cultural integration using mass media (as well as events/places/language

policy/formal education/high culture National media = communicative boundary maintenance (regulate flows

between global media & local cultural impacts

MEDIA & CULTURE CULTURAL & SYMBOLIC POWER MEDIA HAS LEADERSHIP IN CULTURAL

SPHERE MULTIDISCURSIVE – MOBILIZED IN A

NUMBER OF DISCOURSES STATUS QUO TENDS TO BE DEFAULT

MEDIA & CULTURE TENSION BETWEEN HIGH CULTURE AND

ANTHROPOLOGICAL CULTURE – what is good vs. culture as lived experience

CULTURALISM & STRUCTURALISM- READ IN CLASS- Hand outs

MEDIA & CULTURE Dominant ideology reflected by those that own & control these institutions

(Hall, Fiske, Turner) 3 KEY CONCEPTS:- Hegemony: dominant class wins WILLING consent of subordinate classes to

oppressive system using symbols of ‘unity’ (nationalism);- Negotiated readings: preferred reading = dominant ideology; contested by

subordinate sections with own social experiences;- Textual polysemy: polisemy = “MANY MEANINGS”; texts don’t just have own

authored meanings, but have wider social meanings within social structures; media is polysemic = WILLINGLY open to a range of interpretations to be popular and commercially successful

- Context, subtext, metatext- "Who says what, to whom, why, to what extent and with what effect?“ (Lasswell)

NEW MEDIA TECH RISE of new media; internet critical in revolution 6 core characteristics of ‘new media’ in digital devices:1. Convergence of ICT, networks, content & chips2. Digitization & changeable content stored in small physical spaces3. Open, flexible, adaptable sharing & expansion (with protocols)4. Reduced barriers for production & consumption (global

implications)5. Interactivity = constant re-using, remixing, repurposing, modification6. Many-to-many vs. one-to-many (20th century) = less effective

gatekeeping functions of powerful interests or ‘media workers’ (i.e. JOURNALISM)

NEW MEDIA TECH ‘OLD’ media can adapt; absorb new tech & structures into business models Lievrouw & Livingstone (2005): traditional media extends focus to include

aspects of new media namely:o Artefacts/devices;o Activities & practices;o Social arrangements New device or new way of behaviour in society (for example, cell phone vs. DVD) New media tech tends to impact HEAVILY in society For instance, computers assisted with journalism (computer-assisted reporting),

but the INTERNET with blogging and DIY media changes the entire context as old industries ‘collapse’

Ultimate question: HOW DOES NEW MEDIA TECH IMPACT ON SOCIAL ARRANGEMENTS AND ORGANISATIONS/INSTITUTIONS?

MEDIA IN SPACE SEE FIGURE 1.2: RELATIONS OF ‘OLD’ MEDIA VS. NEW MEDIA ‘Developments in media technologies and forms have impacts upon

wider political-economic and socio-cultural environments’ Media in globalization NOT just spatial, but largely cultural, economic,

historical, geographic & political NOT just an immediate transition because of global networks/technical

grounds (orthodox view) Durability of new media = ability to ‘travel’ across borders and influence

sovereignty/maintain centralized rule Empires linked to rapid distribution of messages (and RULE) via

primary communication systems Focus is on media development from national to global scale

KEY QUESTIONS SHIFT OF POWER FROM NATIONAL FRAMES OF REFERENCE TO GLOBAL

MEDIASCAPES? IS IMPACT OF MEDIA POWER REFLECTED IN OTHER FORMS OF POWER? DO MEDIA MARKETS OPERATE ON A GLOBAL RATHER THAN NATIONAL

SCALE? DO MEDIA ORGS. OPERATE ACCORDING TO GLOBAL LOGIC OF EXPANSION

(COLONIZATION?) HAVE NATIONAL FORMS OF LAW, REGULATION & GOVERNANCE BECOME

INEFFECTUAL IN THE FACE OF GLOBALIZING FORCES? IS THERE A RISE OF A GLOBAL CULTURE WITH MEDIA-INFLUENCED

IDENTITIES AND SUBJECTIVITIES? WILL NEW MEDIA USURP THE ROLE & SIGNIFICANCE OF TRADITIONAL

MEDIA (PRINT, BROADCAST, CINEMA)?

MDG3 FA1 FA1 ASSIGNMENT BASED ON CHAPTER 1:INTRODUCTION TO GLOBAL MEDIA: KEY CONCEPTS

BRIEF TO BE HANDED OUT IN CLASS: WEEK 6 (16/18 MARCH)

THEORIES OF GLOBAL MEDIA


CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY:

- ECO. STRUCTURES OF DOMINANCE IN MEDIA- PROMOTES HEGEMONIC SET OF IDEAS, I.E.

DOMINANT IDEOLOGY- CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM = BASES OF SOCIAL

ORDERS IN CLASS-DIVIDED SOCIETIES- MARX: UNCONNECTED, DISCIPLINE-BASED

APPROACHES COULD BE INTEGRATED INTO INTER-DISCIPLINARY FORMS OF SCHOLARSHIP


Garnham (1995): ‘political economy sees class – namely, the structure of access to the means of production and the structure of the distribution of the economic surplus – as the key to the structure of domination’.


5 PRINCIPAL PRACTICES RE. CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH TO MEDIA:

1. SOCIAL TOTALITY – ALL POWER CONNECTED TO WIDER FORCES;

2. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE – HISTORY OF ECONOMIC FORMATION (AND RULE) UNFOLDS OVER TIME;

3. CHANGING BALANCE BETWEEN COMMERCIAL MEDIA INDUSTRIES & GOVERNMENT SECTOR – HAS DEREGULATION DECREASED & PRIVATE OWNERSHIP INCREASED?

4. PRAXIS - INFLUENCE OF RESEARCH IN PRACTICE & MANNER IN WHICH IT SEEKS INFLUENCE; SEEKS TO INVOLVE PUBLIC IN MEASURING PERFORMANCE OF EXISTING POLITICAL ECONOMY

5. GLOBAL - GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE IS CENTRAL TO CRITICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH (REFER HERBERT SCHILLER)


Herbert Schiller 1:

• INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIALIZATION OF BROADCASTING DRIVEN BY RISE OF US ECI

• ECI = Entertainment, Communications and Information industries

• RISE OF US ECI NEED TO BE VIEWED ALONG WITH POLITICAL, MILITARY, FOREIGN & ECONOMIC POLICY


Herbert Schiller 2:

• US ECI HAS DIRECT IMPACT ON HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS;

• US ECI HAS CAPACITY TO DEFINE AND PRESENT OWN ROLE TO THE PUBLIC.

= ‘AMERICAN POP CULTURE PRODUCT’: cultural ideal to which people globally aspire to & expanding commercialization


Herbert Schiller 3:

• ECONOMIC POWER OF ECI SECTOR + GLOBAL REACH OF CULTURAL COMMODITIES = CULTURAL IMPERIALISM!!


“The concept of cultural imperialism…describes the sum of processes by which a society is brought into the modern world system and how its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominant centre of the system” – Herbert Schiller

INTRODUCTION

IDEOLOGY: "The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas … The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production." The entirety or the system of ideas of the ruling class would be the Ideology of a given society. The function of ideology would be the continual reproduction of the means of production and thereby to ensure the continuous dominance of the ruling class. Ideology achieves this by distorting reality. While in fact the split in ruling and subservient social classes is artificial (i.e. man made) and serves the needs of the economic system, the ideas of ideology makes it appear natural. It makes the subordinate classes accept a state of alienation against they would otherwise revolt. This state of alienation has also been referred to as "false consciousness".

- KARL MARX & FRIEDRICH ENGELS- https://faculty.washington.edu/mlg/courses/definitions/Ideology.html

- ‘THE MODE OF PRODUCTION OF MATERIAL LIFE CONDITIONS THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE PROCESS IN GENERAL’

https://faculty.washington.edu/mlg/courses/definitions/Ideology.html


CONTEMPORARY: ‘WAR ON TERROR’ REPLACES ‘ANTI-COMMUNISM’

RULING CLASS = RULING IDEOLOGY Golding & Murdock (2000): ‘people’s

consumption choices are structured by their position in a wider economic formation’

Also applies to cultural consumption; media


NOAM CHOMSKY & EDWARD S. HERMAN – THE PROPAGANDA MODEL (1988)“Money and power are able to filter out the news fit to print, marginalize dissent, and allow the government and dominant interests to get their messages across to the public”

5 FILTERS THAT CONTROL FLOW OF IDEAS:1. Size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth and profit

orientation of the dominant media firms;2. Advertising as primary income source of the mass media;3. Reliance of media on info provided by government, business and

‘experts’ funded and approved by agents of power;4. ‘Flak’ as a means of disciplining the media;5. ‘Anti-communism’ as a national religion and control mechanism


Golding & Murdock (2000):

3 FACTORS-STRUCTURAL LIMITS TO DIVERSITY:• Power relations between corporations & nation-states =

regulation of ‘public interest’• Dominant economic forces determine range and diversity

of textual forms available = structural and rhetorical limits to polysemy of media texts

• Income-based barriers to access to cultural and communications goods and services constitute a reiteration of class divides (‘digital divide’)


Polysemy (/p l s mi/ or / p l si mi/; from əˈ ɪ ɨ ˈ ɒ ɨ ːGreek: -, poly-, "many" and , sêma, πολυ σῆμα"sign") is the capacity for a sign (such as a word, phrase, or symbol) to have multiple meanings (that is, multiple semes or sememes and thus multiple senses), usually related by contiguity of meaning within a semantic field.


Schiller (1999): “digital capitalism” – ‘powerful pan-corporate attempt to subject worldwide telecommunications policy to US-originated, neo-liberal regulatory norms’ (commercialization, pro-market, ‘anti-collectivism’)

From early 1980s to present: ‘a dramatic restructuring on national media industries, along with the emergence of a genuinely global commercial media market’ (Herman & McChesney, 1997) = concentration of media power on a global scale in the hands of a small number of MNCs


Miller (2001): Global Hollywood US global media industries structurally separating ‘activities

of hand’ from ‘activities of mind’ Hand – production, material artefacts Mind – ideas, concepts, genres Production processes being globalized in search of lower

labour costs/costs of production Intellectual property ownership remain highly centralized Hollywood coordinates and defends its authority over

cultural labour markets


CULTURAL STUDIES• Also founded in critical theory of Marxism• Cultural power = the ways in which a multitude of

cultural forms are produced, distributed, interpreted and contested through technical means of communication in an era of widespread access

• Study of entire range of society’s arts, beliefs, institutions, and communicative practices

• Colonization of capitalism of cultural + ideological sphere


MORE COMPLEX THAN MARXIST POWER OF DOMINANT CLASS OVER SUBORDINATE

CONSTANT SHIFTING OF POWER BETWEEN IDEAS; NOT RESTRICTED TO CLASS; SEPARATE INTERMEDIATE CLASSES+PROFESSIONAL IDEOLOGIES; RESIDUAL AND EMERGENT FORMS OF CULTURAL PRACTICE;

IDEOLOGY IS NEVER SIMPLY A TOOL FOR CLASS DOMINANCE THROUGH THE PROMOTION OF ERRONEOUS/INACCURATE IDEAS;

NOT SIMPLE CONNECTION BETWEEN ECONOMICS AND CULTURE

‘THERE IS NO PERMANENT HEGEMONY’- HALL, 1977


‘HEGEMONY’- ROLE OF IDEOLOGY:

COMPETING VERSIONS OF SOCIAL REALITY MEET TO ATTEMPT TO ‘WIN OVER’ POPULAR CONSCIOUSNESS IN A CONTINUOUS STRUGGLE TO DEFINE THE WORLD IN A PARTICULAR WAY

- Antonio Gramsci


HALL (1986) – ARTICULATIONHAVE TO ARTICULATE IDEAS BY:• REVALUE CULTURE OF ORDINARY (SUBORDINATE) CLASSES (VALUE

FOR ITS OWN SAKE);• TOGETHER WITH STRUCTURALIST TRADITION (ALL ASPECTS ARE

INFLUENCED BY SOCIAL STRUCTURES E.G. CLASS, LANGUAGE, SIGNIFYING SYSTEMS

• TOGETHER WITH PERSPECTIVE IN A PARTICULAR HISTORICAL CONJECTURE

• RELIGION VS STATE EXAMPLE: AT ONE TIME, PART OF RULING CLASS IN ONE SOCIETY, OPPOSITIONAL IN THE NEXT

• ‘DEMOCRACY’ – WHAT DOES IT MEAN IN THIS SOCIETY?


WELCOME

TO THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA


Hall’s MODEL OF ENCODING/DECODING (1980)- Media text ENCODED with dominant meaning- Reaches audience by being MEANINGFUL to it- OR aligns itself with audience expectation- Audience DECODES message, makes a ‘reading’ that can be:

I. Operate WITHIN dominant code; ‘preferred’ readings; ‘common sense’

II. ‘NEGOTIATE’ the dominant code;

III. Make OPPOSITIONAL readings (‘aberrant decoding’)

See HALL’S MODEL


“THE KEY TO POLITICAL POWER LIES IN THE ABILITY…TO MAKE

CONTESTABLE SIGNIFIER/SIGNIFIED RELATIONS

SEEM LIKE COMMON SENSE.”- Ruddock


- Institutional structures of media- Organisational cultures- Production practices


HALL’S ENCODING/DECODING MODEL (cont.)- Cultural differences imbedded within structure of society determine

readings:- POLITICAL ORIENTATION- FRAME OF REFERENCE- SOCIAL STRUCTURES- CAPACITY TO RESIST DOMINANT IDEOLOGY Resulting in two economies:- Financial economy: who can consume which symbolic messages based

on economic structures and economic means- Cultural economy: popularity of texts based on exchange of meanings,

pleasures and social identities- Mass media: Site of resistance vs. reinforcement


CULTURAL STUDIES (contd.)- Stratton and Ang (1996): a problem arises as societies are context specific; - Governing set of principles not universal, but developed along

Western sociological narrative- Nation-state becomes determining context in ‘master narrative’; - What about ‘global’ state? Nations operating outside national

forms = hegemonic mass culture?- Strong localization and indigenizing tendencies still remain that

puts brake on globalisation


APPADURAI (1990): CULTURAL HYBRIDIZATION

GLOBAL CULTURAL ECONOMY = TENSION BETWEEN A COMMON GLOBAL CULTURE AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCE

HOMOGENIZATION VS. HETEROGENIZATION GLOBALISATION VS. GLOCALIZATION


APPADURAI (1990): GLOBAL CULTURAL FLOWS ACROSS 5 PLANES:

• Ethnoscapes – movement of people • Technoscapes – movement of complex technologies and

associated capital and skilled labour• Finanscapes – movement of financial capital (currency, stock,

commodities exchange)• Mediascapes – movement of images, narratives, media content on

multiple platforms• Ideoscapes – movement of ideas, concepts, values and ‘keywords’

such as democracy, human rights, climate change, etc.


APPADURAI (1990): central to newest wave of globalisation is CULTURALLY DISTINCTIVE due to effects of mass migration and electronic media

APPADURAI definition of ‘culture’: “situated difference that can constitute the basis for group identity that can be mobilized as an articulation of that group identity in other arenas”. = activism in favour of one’s uniqueness of identity (“globalisation from below”)


INSTITUNIONALISM, MEDIA CORPS & PUBLIC POLICY

• Hesmondhalgh (2002): critical political economy of media ORGANISATIONS

• ‘How issues of market structure affect the organization of cultural production and the making of texts at an ordinary, everyday level’ (p. 43)


• Scott (1995): institutions = ‘cognitive, normative and regulative structures and activities that provide stability and meaning to social behaviour.’

• Cognitive: identity, shared discourse• Regulative: rules, routines, sanction/reward• Normative: acceptance of broad values Institution responds to environment, shape ideas of key

individuals and disseminated throughout organisation HODGSON (1989): Firm is ‘institution of power’ that protects

itself from market speculation; economy is imbedded in institutional processes


“Over the years, Mr. Murdoch and his lieutenants have raised hackles for their involvement in the company's news operations. Former top editors at two of his London papers, for example, say he ignored an independent board set up to

protect them from his interference, and got involved directly in firings in the 1980s. In Australia, the former editor of one of his top papers complains that a News Corp. executive pushed him for critical coverage of pilots in a strike that was hurting a News Corp. airline investment. In China, former employees say Mr. Murdoch's

representatives occasionally pushed reporters to do more upbeat stories, at a time when News Corp. was seeking government help to expand its reach there. The reporters there didn't listen and kept up their often critical coverage.”

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2011/07/18/flashback-wsj-published-4000-word-report-on-mur/152905





‘WEAK’ INSTITUTIONALISM = individuals agree to rules systems to maximize personal benefit by working together (individualism)

‘STRONG’ INSTITUTIONALISM = regime of ACCUMULATION based on six sets of institutional arrangements:

• Wage-labour nexus• Forms of competition• Financial markets• Norms of consumption• Forms of state intervention• Organisation of system of international exchange


REGIME OF ACCUMULATION Domestic mass production with a range of institutions and policies

supporting mass consumption Stabilizing economic policies and Keynesian demand management that

generated national demand and social stability Class compromise or social contract entailing family-supporting wages,

job stability and internal labour markets leading to broadly shared prosperity

Keynesian = economist Keynes = advocate of mixed economy; economy requires public sector involvement to rectify inefficiencies;

Keynes method = reduce interest rates; government investment in infrastructure


DISTINCTIVE LEGAL FORM OF PROPERTY – legal safeguard, only legally accountable as far as shareholding

POWERS OF CORPORATION – strategic control INCREASING COMPLEXITY – have to minimize risk,

maximize profits & manage uncertainty LEGAL CONTRACTS – managing risk & social relations

(nexus of contracts) BUREAUCRATIC ORGANISATIONAL FORM – Weber:

hierarchy; division of labour, employment & promotion, rationalized decision-making, formal rule-bound relations


DUNLEAVY AND O’LEARY (1987): ‘CIPHER IMAGE’ OF PUBLIC POLICY

• Policy is simply reflection of outcome between bargaining between powerful government and corporate interests;

• State is thought to ‘create’ policy, but in fact policy is determined by existing structures outside the policy making process

• PEARCE (2000): broadcasting policy makers paid no attention to what they thought was in their interest at the time…but assigned ‘interests’ based on its own external, ideological understandings of “public interest” and “business interest”


Biggest debate in cultural studies and policy:

• Policy makers need to think more sensitively about policy; requires activism

• Remains national and not transnational


CULTURAL & ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY• FIRST MAJOR IMPACT ON CULTURAL

GEOGRAPHY: Marxist political economy theory = spatial relations under capitalism; space serves as a site for capital to ‘renew’ itself

• SECOND MAJOR IMPACT: SINCE 1990s: Post-structuralism = spatial relations are relations of POWER and is symbolic of social relations and ideology


HARVEY (1989): GEOGRAPHY = MOVES AWAY FROM FORDIST PARADIGM OF MASS ACCUMULATION AND CONSUMPTION (DOMINANT MODES OF PRODUCTION) TO ‘FLEXIBLE ACCUMULATION’ AND ‘DISORGANISED CAPITALISM’

THANKS IN LARGE PART TO GLOBALISATION THUS NEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPACE,

TIME AND POWER


New kind of worker: skilled, knowledge-based, geographically mobile (time-less, a-spatial)

This worker identifies with global cosmopolitanism

Capital again accumulates in different spaces and capitalism benefits from this mobility


Culture leads the way in dictating forms of production especially since:

• Organisational cultures have become more aware of the impact of ‘social’ management on performance;

• Knowledge economy is embedded in learning, and learning is embedded in specific geographical areas

• Cumulative advantage of ‘first-movers’ and institutional lock-in


Du Gay and Pryke (2002): Cultural economy is:• Management of culture + self-realization leads to greater

org. performance• Deeper relationship between economic processes and

cultural dimension; interpersonal relations and communication

• Greater role of cultural and creative agencies in design of production to meet the desires and values of consumers ; role of networks in time-based and project-based forms of production


Amin (2002): questions power shifts between national, regional and global scales of space: no true dominance of global networks over local place, or global capitalism over nation-states, or global versus local identities

RATHER there exists a combination of multiple spatialities of organisation, as rules of time and space collapse


STRONG GLOBALISATION- Strong theories of qualitative and quantitative change- Castells: New economy = global, networked,

informational- Information networks are pervasive throughout global

societies- Impacts on all other aspects of society – economy,

culture, politics- Networking is in direct contrast with Fordism


New economy based on 3 characteristics:1) Informational – capacity to generate knowledge

and learning that influences production and productivity in economic units

2) Global – activities have the capacity to work in a unit or on a global scale in real time OR in chosen time

3) Networked – based on information networks; short term strategic allegiances (space of flows)


Castells: ‘Network society disembodies social relationships’ Leads to virtual cultures; Industrial Age – spatial configurations created meaning of culture

and evolution; NOW – Network Age – VIRTUAL spatial configurations;

New class divides based on information Divide between specialised and ‘generic’ labour Castells: Networks signal the end of ‘mass media’ and the

development of national cultures Identity and culture based less on locally grounded culture (sense of

PLACE), but within institutions that desire a place in global networks


EMPIRE - Hardt and Negri (2000)- ‘Empire’ is imperialism in globalisation- Global capitalist system- Network of entities (outside nation-states)

united under a single form of rule- Large corporations surpass the jurisdiction

and authority of nation-states- Power over various populations


MULTITUDE – Hardt and Negri (2005)- Can there be effective resistance?- Empire = global democracy- Power of nation-states weakened and territorial sovereignty

weakened;- No longer just economic production, but ‘social production of

communications, relationships and forms of life’- Global society – infinitely diverse, but can still act collectively;

collaborative networks can act politically- ‘When the multitude is finally able to rule itself, democracy

becomes possible’


A CRITIQUE OF STRONG GLOBALISATION THEORIES• Castells: 7 claims of strong globalisation (page 58-59)1. Global scale of TNCs operations (Schiller; Hardt & Negri)2. Less regulated by nation-states (Hardt & Negri)3. Nation-state in decline (Hardt & Negri)4. Reforms outside national framework; power resides outside of territorial boundaries5. Global cultural experience; less bound by geography and nation-state; more by

relationship to global flows (Harvey; Castells; Appadurai)6. Capitalism now fully fledged global system thanks to ICT (Herman & McChesney;

Schiller)7. Globalisation = race to the bottom (Miller; Global Hollywood)

These claims to be addressed going forward


Globalisation sceptics have counter-claims to each previously made STRONG claim:

1. TNCs actually less transnational (chapter3)2. Organisational culture in TNCs not completely homogenized; still adherent to “local

ecosystems”; political systems MATTER3. Nation-state still more influential in terms of value-added contribution; should consider

overall economic outputs in relation to national inputs4. WTO, IMF, World Bank member states don’t always have consensus around developmental

directions, and often strengthens domestic policy (see China copyright regime)5. Earlier cycles of globalisation have seen more trade; evidence of regionalisation, not

necessarily globalisation (expansion into regional spaces)6. Nation-states have the capacity to resist globalisation; its influence is overestimated7. ‘Race to the bottom’ argument can be challenged; only really true for manufacturing, but

global industries are largely service industries; which are far more dependent on context and quality, as opposed to a purely price-driven globalisation (see ‘tendencies of globalisation of products and services’)


‘Two tendencies of globalisation of products and services’ (Storper, 1997)

Table 2.1 (page 63) Basic differences = cost-driven economy has more

generic factors, low-context, non-specific, BUT more sensitivity to price factors;

Quality-driven economy has LESS standardisation, more skilled and specialist, more specific to certain clusters of regions, rising expectations around quality


Castells, Amin – network society that extends beyond geographical space; simultaneous experience of local, regional and global

Castells: “culture of real virtuality” – tension between the Net and Self; global products and local distribution; mass media still has great ability to centralize media consumers (not as democratized we would imagine)

Miller and Slater (2000): Internet is not just a disconnected ‘virtual world’, but is embedded in other social spaces in the ‘here and now’

SUMMARY

THEORY DESCRIPTIONMarxist critical political economy / Garnham (1995) False consciousness as consent for ruling class over

subordinate classes

Schiller Rise of American ECI = cultural imperialism

Golding & Murdock (2000) Patterns of consumption influenced by economic position

Chomsky & Herman (1988): Propaganda Model Dominant interest marginalize popular dissent through media filters

Schiller (1999): digital capitalism Concentration of media power in consolidated MNCs that influence populations

Miller (2001): Global Hollywood US global media industries structurally separating ‘activities of hand’ from ‘activities of mind’

Culture studies Founded on Marxist theory; allows for intermediate readings


SUMMARYTHEORIES OF GLOBAL MEDIA

THEORY DESCRIPTIONHall’s articulation (1986) Social structures + point in history + cultural relevance

Hall’s model of encoding and decoding (1980) Different readings based on encoding + decoding media texts

Appadurai (1990) Culture hybridization (globalisation vs. localization)

Appadurai (1990) Global flows (-scapes)

Hesmondhalgh (2002) Critical political theory in organisations as reflection of external environment

Scott (1995) Activities and behaviours in organisations based on cognitive, regulative and normative structures

Hodgson (1989) Firm is an institution of power that protects itself from true free-market forces

Dunleavy and O’Leary (1987) Media policy reflection of arrangements already made that reflect the interests of government and corporations

SUMMARY

THEORIES OF GLOBAL MEDIATHEORY DESCRIPTIONPearce (2000) Media policy-making based on ideological idea of ‘public interest’

and not necessarily true interest

Harvey (1989) Geography: new form of flexible capitalism/disorganised capitalism that is globally mobile; new relationships between space, time and power

Du Gay and Pryke (2002) Greater role between cultural production and economic processes in globalisation phase; greater role of creative agencies; social and interpersonal relationships more important than ever

Amin (2002) There exists a combination of multiple spatialities of organisation, as rules of time and space collapse; no differentiation between local, regional and global

Hardt and Negri (2000) Empire: Global capitalist system and global corporate imperialism

Hardt and Negri (2005) Multitude: Political reisistance through global collectivism; global democracy

SUMMARY

THEORIES OF GLOBAL MEDIATHEORY DESCRIPTIONCastells 7 claims of strong globalisation

Storper (1997) New divisions of labour (cost-driven vs. quality driven)

***PLEASE NOTE: MEDIA & GLOBALISATION THEORIES DO NOT BEGIN AND END WITH THESE LISTED THEORIES AND AUTHORS; NEW PATHS OF THINKING ARE BEING ESTABLISHED EVERY DAY. THERE IS NO CONSTANT. YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO RESEARCH THESE THEORISTS AND STUDY THEIR VIEWS, WHICH MAY HAVE EVOLVED; BUT ALSO THEIR CRITICS’ VIEWS. ALWAYS BE DISCOVERING.

media and globalisation theories and principles

Education