J399: April 04
Key terms: context, cultural literacy, process model, hegemony, ideology
Discussed last class:
-Traditional linear/process approach to communication
-How does communication studies differ?
o CS Focuses on the text
Status of the receiver considered. Readers versus audiences
o Process model:
&endash; Little to no attention to the text.
Characteristics of Communication Studies:
Examines cultural practices in relation to power
Analyzes the social/political/cultural context
Intellectual and pragmatic
Reconciles divisions of knowledge
Committed to moral evaluation and radical line of political action
o Take home point from Tuesday
&endash; Communication studies research evaluates media texts that impact daily lives.
o Today: Overview of the field
Studying the media
o Process model
&endash; Linear, traditional
o CS method
o Cultural literacy: knowledge of meaning systems & ability to negotiate within different cultural contexts
What is culture?
o Learned behavior of a society or subgroup. Mead
o The ensemble of stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Geertz
o Constantly created & re-created
Cultures are the maps of place (rules & conventions) and the journeys that take place there (actual practices)
Hegemony
o Marx, Gramsci, Hall
o Defined: cultural structure helps maintain power
o Ideology:body of ideas reflecting social needs & aspirations of groups & individuals
Ideology
1. Naturalizes
2. Historicizes
3. Eternalizes
Take home point:
Mass media serve as a conduit for flow of information that supports system of dominant values.
Short paper #1
o Advertisement
o Analyze according to 9 questions on handout