Core Concepts in Media Theory: Frankfurt School, PEC, and Cultural Studies
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Key Concepts of Critical Theory
The Culture Industry
- Homogenization of content and audiences.
- Fragmentation of values and promotion of consumerism.
- Advertising acts as an ideological pillar reinforcing the capitalist system.
- *Impact:* Instead of encouraging critical thinking, culture promotes rigid mindsets and conformity.
Pseudoculture
Trivial culture that helps preserve the bourgeois system through specific values (e.g., success, latent authoritarianism).
One-Dimensional Society
- Integrates individuals into the productive system through false needs.
- Suppresses social conflict and the possibility of cultural emancipation.
- Both high and low culture are controlled by market rules.
Technical Reproducibility of Art (Walter Benjamin)
- Loss of Aura: Art loses its unique value in the age of mass reproduction.
- Impact of Cinema: While it can be used for manipulation, it can also critically question reality.
Criticism of Positivism
The Frankfurt School criticizes empiricism and functionalism for ignoring the ideological role of media in maintaining power structures.
Political Economy of Communication (PEC)
Main Focus
Examines how economic interests determine the functioning of media systems.
- Investigates the relationship between media ownership, cultural policies, and the global economy.
PEC Traditions
- North America (N.A.): Analyzes the size and power of transnational media companies.
- Europe (EU): Incorporates Marxist perspectives and defends public media against neoliberal practices.
- Third World: Criticizes modernization theory, linking media to economic and cultural dependency.
Cultural Studies (CS)
- Founded in 1964 at the University of Birmingham (Richard Hoggart).
- Focuses on how cultural meanings are created and spread in relation to power and social class.
Key Concepts
- Culture: Includes meanings, values, and practices expressed by different social groups.
- Media: Central elements in the creation of these cultural relationships.
- Interdisciplinarity: Combines political economy, communication studies, sociology, and history.
Main Contributions
- Cultural Resistance: Studies how the working class responds to cultural changes influenced by media.
- Interest in Popular Culture: Values mass culture and how audiences interpret it.
Differences from Critical Theory (CT)
- Media Manipulation: CS views manipulation as limited; CT views it as total domination.
- Audiences: CS views them as active and diverse; CT views them as passive and homogeneous.
- Popular Culture: CS emphasizes the value of popular culture as a tool for expression and resistance.