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

 

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