ENGL 3815 Survey of
Popular Culture
Fall 2013
PH 321
Dr. David Lavery
Survey of Popular Culture
Marxism
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
My students, communists, at Wa Dong Shi Dah, Shanghai,
People’s Republic of China (April, 1981)
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
7. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels—Ruling Class and Ruling
Ideas
8. Karl Marx—Base and Superstructure
9. Frederick Engels—Letter to Joseph Bloch
10. Theodor W. Adorno—On Popular Music
11. Antonio Gramsci —Hegemony, Intellectuals and the State
12. Tony Bennett—Popular Culture and the 'turn of Gramsci'
13. John Storey—Rockin' Hegemony: West Coast Rock and
Amerika's War in Vietnam (discussion led by Sherrie Michael)
14. Christine Gledhill—Pleasurable Negotiations
15. Stuart Hall—The Rediscovery of 'Ideology': Return of the
Repressed in Media Studies
16. Ernesto Laclau with Chantal Mouffe—Post-Marxism
without Apologies
Karl Marx (1818-83).
German economist,
philosopher,
sociologist
Survey of Popular Culture
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Marxism
Karl Marx (1818-83).
Survey of Popular Culture
Marxism
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“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling
ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling force in society , is at
the same time its ruling intellectual force.”—Marx and
Engels
“Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.”—
A. J. Leibling
Marxism
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Opening of The Communist Manifesto
A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism. All the powers of old
Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar,
Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.
Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as communistic by its
opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the
branding reproach of communism, against the more advanced opposition
parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?
Two things result from this fact:
I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European powers to be itself
a power.
II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole
world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this
nursery tale of the Spectre of Communism with a manifesto of the party
itself.
To this end, Communists of various nationalities have assembled in London
and sketched the following manifesto, to be published in the English,
French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish languages.
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
7. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels—Ruling Class and
Ruling Ideas
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
9. Frederick Engels—Letter to Joseph Bloch
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Alienation
The estrangement the proletariat feels from the work of his/her hands, the
products of his/her labor.
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
“All that is solid melts into air.”
“The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly
revolutionizing the instruments of production, and
thereby the relations of production, and with them the
whole relations of society. Conservation of the old
modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the
contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier
industrial classes. Constant revolutionizing of
production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social
conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation
distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones.
All fixed, fast frozen relations, with their train of ancient
and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away,
all new-formed ones become antiquated before they
can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy
is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with
sober senses his real condition of life and his relations
with his kind.”—Marx and Engels, The Communist
Manifesto
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Authenticity
In Marxism, describes a life lived according to the rational needs and
ambitions of the individual, free from the imposed “false consciousness” of
a capitalized society.
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Base-superstructure: Both terms
associated (initially) with classical
Marxist theory. The 'base' refers
to the economy and modes of
production (e.g. feudal, capitalist).
The 'superstructure' refers to the
social, cultural, legal and other
arrangements which operate in
relation to a particular economic
base. For example, compare the
social and political institutions of a
feudal economy with those
institutions which are seen to
typify late twentieth-century
Western economies. (Storey
Glossary)
[Mass]Think on
Base/Superstructure
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
8. Karl Marx—Base and Superstructure
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Co-Optation
In Neo-Marxism, the ability of a capitalist society to subsume
criticism/opposition into its media content (advertising, media texts). Todd
Gitlin famously observed that capitalism tends to transform “the desire for
real change into the availability of novel goods.”
Marxism
Co-Optation
Survey of Popular Culture
Ronald Reagan regularly used a song with the following lyrics as
entrance music at campaign stops.
I had a buddy at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a little girl in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go
I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
--Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the USA”
Marxism
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Cultural Hegemony
“Cultural hegemony is the philosophic and sociological concept, originated
by the Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, that a culturally-diverse
society can be ruled or dominated by one of its social classes. It is the
dominance of one social group over another, e.g. the ruling class over all
other classes. The theory claims that the ideas of the ruling class come to
be seen as the norm; they are seen as universal ideologies, perceived to
benefit everyone whilst only really benefiting the ruling class.”—Wikipedia.
Hegemony: Term associated with the work of Antonio Gramsci,
referring to the way in which dominant groups in society, through
processes of intellectual/moral leadership, seek to win the consent of
subordinate groups in society. Hegemony theory, especially as
deployed by neo-Gramscian cultural theorists, stresses process of
incorporation and resistance in the cultural field. Moreover, texts,
practices and commodities have to be made to mean; texts do not
mean anything outside the conflictual context in which meanings are
articulated/contested. See also articulation above; bricolage above.
Hegemony explained on the Theory.org Gramsci page.
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
11. Antonio Gramsci —Hegemony, Intellectuals and the
State
Marxism
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937).
Italian cultural theorist and
philosopher.
Survey of Popular Culture
Watch a Lecture About Gramsci | Watch a
Documentary in Italian on Gramsci (nice
visuals) | Theory.org’s Gramsci Page
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
11. Antonio Gramsci —Hegemony, Intellectuals and the
State
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
12. Tony Bennett—Popular Culture and the 'turn of
Gramsci'
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Dialectic [Hegelian]
The engagement of thesis and antithesis, yielding synthesis, which,
according to the German philosopher Hegel, governs both intellectual and
material history. Marx applied such a principle in his own conception of
history, with capitalist society playing the role of thesis, the proletariat as
antithesis, and the new communist society that would result as the
synthesis
 Thesis
 Antithesis
 Synthesis
Marxism
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Dominant Culture
“The dominant culture is the culture of the dominant social grouping. It is
not necessarily the culture of the majority (though it often is) but rather the
culture of those who have the resources, assets, and means by which to
control the cultural mileaux of a society. The dominant social groupings
sphere of influence affects language, fashion, norms, values, behaving, and
thinking
Dominant cultures always contain scripts and programs which support the
economic and political interests of the dominant social groupings, and ensure
uninterrupted operation of The System. For example, in western societies the
dominant cultures emphasize hard work and achievement (i.e., wage
slavery), respect for property owners, and individual responsibility for the
manifestation of individual reality. These cultural/ideological prescriptions
ensure people accept wage slavery and, more importantly for those who
benefit from the exploitation and callous disregard for human life, dignity, and
right, blame themselves when they are unable to find an acceptable niche
within which to jack themselves into The System.” (Spirit Wiki)
Survey of Popular Culture
Bricolage
Term often associated with youth and subcultures. Products
are combined and transformed in ways not intended by their
producers; commodities are rearticulated to produce
'oppositional' meanings. See the work of Dick Hebdige and his
readings of punk and other subcultures. (Storey’s Glossary)
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
14. Christine Gledhill—Pleasurable Negotiations
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
False Consciousness
“Marxist theory that people are unable to see things, esp. exploitation,
oppression, and social relations, as they really are; the hypothesized
inability of the human mind to develop a sophisticated awareness of how it
is developed and shaped by circumstances” (Dictionary.com)
Marxism
Todd Gitlin (1943- ). Americn
sociologist and media critic.
Survey of Popular Culture
“The genius of consumer society
is its ability to convert the desire
for change into a desire for novel
goods.”—Todd Gitlin, Inside
Prime Time
Survey of Popular Culture
Fetishism
To deify or give unnatural significance or meaning to objects. Marx argued
that capitalism fetishizes commodities/objects.
More on Commodity Festishism.
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
The Frankfurt School
“The “Frankfurt School” refers to a group of German-American theorists who
developed powerful analyses of the changes in Western capitalist societies that
occurred since the classical theory of Marx. Working at the Institut fur
Sozialforschung in Frankfurt, Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s, theorists
such as Max Horkheimer, T.W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Leo Lowenthal, and Erich
Fromm produced some of the first accounts within critical social theory of the
importance of mass culture and communication in social reproduction and
domination. The Frankfurt School also generated one of the first models of a critical
cultural studies that analyzes the processes of cultural production and political
economy, the politics of cultural texts, and audience reception and use of cultural
artifacts (Kellner 1989 and 1995).”—Douglas Kellner
“Where Arnold and Leavis saw ‘anarchy,’ the Frankfurt School see only ‘conformity’: a
situation in which ‘the deceived masses’ (133) are caught in a ‘circle of manipulation
and retroactive need in wich the unity of the system grows ever strong” (Storey 62).
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Walter Benjamin
(1892-1940)
Read “The Work of Art in the Age
of Mechanical Reproduction”
Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979).
German/American philosopher and
Marxist.
Survey of Popular Culture
Theodore Adorno (1903-1969).
German sociologist and critic.
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According to the Frankfurt School . . .
Culture
Mass Culture
Real
False
European
American
Multi-dimensional
One-dimensional
Active consumption
Passive consumption
Individual creation
Mass production
Imagination
Distraction
Negation
Social cement
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
10. Theodor W. Adorno—On Popular Music
The Two Spheres of Music
Standardization
Pseudo-Individualization
Popular Music and “Leisure Time”
The Social Cement
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
13. John Storey—Rockin' Hegemony: West Coast Rock
and Amerika's War in Vietnam
Shellie Michael
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Ideology
(a) Views, beliefs, values and opinions of a particular
group or class; systematised body of ideas; (b) material
practices (e.g. holidays; the celebration of Christmas); (c)
ideological forms (as in the way texts offer a particular
view or (distorted) perspective of the world. (Storey’s
Glossary)
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
15. Stuart Hall—The Rediscovery of 'Ideology': Return of
the Repressed in Media Studies
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Interpellation
“Taken from the work of Althusser and refers to the ways in which
texts and institutions seem to 'speak to', 'hail' or 'address' subjects as
unique individuals. Adverts, for example, seem to interpellate/address
subjects in specific ways (especially the direct address 'You!').
Interpellation also operates alongside ideology (e.g. the capitalist
notion of the unique individual). See the work of Judith Williamson.”—
Storey’s Glossary
Marxism
John Berger (1926- ). British art
critic, Marxist, novelist.
Watch Ways
of Seeing
Clips)
Survey of Popular Culture
Survey of Popular Culture
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John Berger (1926- ). British art
critic, Marxist, novelist.
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Neo-Marxism/Post-Marxism
“Neo-Marxism is a loose term for various twentieth-century approaches
that amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory, usually by incorporating
elements from other intellectual traditions, such as: critical theory,
psychoanalysis or Existentialism (in the case of Sartre). . . .
As with many uses of the prefix neo-, many theorists and groups designated
as neo-Marxist have attempted to supplement the perceived deficiencies of
orthodox Marxism or dialectical materialism. Many prominent neoMarxists, such as Herbert Marcuse and other members of the Frankfurt
School, were sociologists and psychologists.
Neo-Marxism comes under the broader framework of the New Left. NeoMarxism is also used frequently to describe opposition to inequalities
experienced by Lesser Developed Countries in a globalized world.”
(Wikipedia)
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Part Three: Marxism
16. Ernesto Laclau with Chantal Mouffe—Post-Marxism
without Apologies
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Repressive State Apparatus (RSA)
“Althusser suggests that ideology is institutional, informing and structuring
the operations of political administrations, media, art, etc. When such
ideological state apparatuses fail to win the consent of subjects, then states
will use repressive measures - where RSA refers to police force, army, prison
system, etc.”—Storey’s Glossary
Marxism
Louis Althusser (1918-1990).
French Marxist philosopher.
“On 16 November 1980, Althusser strangled his wife
Hélène to death, following a period of mental
instability. There were no witnesses, and the exact
circumstances are debated with some claiming it was
deliberate, others accidental. Althusser himself
claimed not to have a clear memory of the event,
saying that, while he was massaging his wife's neck,
he discovered he had strangled her. Althusser was
diagnosed as suffering from diminished responsibility,
and he was not tried, but instead committed to the
Sainte-Anne psychiatric hospital. Althusser remained
in hospital until 1983. Upon release, he moved to
Northern Paris and lived reclusively, seeing few
people. He continued to work and write, but published
little. A notable exception is his autobiography, L'Avenir
dure longtemps, in which Althusser describes the
killing (among other topics). He died of a heart
attack on 22 October 1990 at the age of 72. Much of
his post-1980 work has been published
posthumously.”
--Wikipedia
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Survey of Popular Culture
Surplus Value
“In Marxist economics, the amount by which the value of the worker's
product exceeds the wage the worker is paid, viewed as the source of
capitalist profit.”—Webster’s Dictionary
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Wants/Needs
According to Ivan Illich (Toward a Theory of Needs), capitalism confuses
needs—food, housing, clothing, etc.—with “wants”--longed-for material
acquisitions, whose desirability is instilled via advertising and other mass
media instruments.
Marxism
Survey of Popular Culture
Koyaanisqatsi
(Godfrey Reggio,
1982. Music by
Philip Glass.
koyaanisqatsi (Hopi): life
out of balance, crazy life,
life about to change into
something else.
Marxism