Charlie Hynes
English
440-Cultural Criticism
Professor:
Michelle Kells
October 1,
2012
Presentation
CULTURAL CRITICISM CHAPTER 6
· ANTHROPOLOGISTS
“see culture as the central organizing concept in their discipline.”(page
136,CC)
·
“culture
refers to the pattern of beliefs and values, reflected in artifacts, objects,
and institutions, that is passed on from generation to generation.”(page 136,
CC)
·
SOCIOLOGISTS
define “culture” with a number of variables.
Some of these variables concentrate on where you are from, your
religious beliefs, economic status within your region, and your first language.
·
Being
“cultured” is a term describing people we have all heard. Being “cultured”, or “non-cultured” is an
insinuation that one either does, or does not engage in their cultures
offerings of “fine arts”, such as the opera, or classical music, or the ballet.
QUESTION #1. Do you
see yourself as being a cultured individual as before defined?
·
POPULAR
CULTURE as we know it is all about what is happening now, and is consumed my
mass group populations. Wrap music and
cartoons, media such as magazines and talk shows, sports and fashions. In the 1970’s bell bottom pants were an
expression of pop-culture. Today “The
John Stewart Show” is a media based expression of our popular culture. His following is large, his humor is hip and
sharp, and we are engaged in his rhetoric and sense of “popular culture.”
QUESTION #2. What are
some examples we can come up with of the most
popular examples of “pop culture” today?”
·
ELITE
CULTURE as described by postmodernists, as well as our “Cultural Criticism”
text on page 138 to paraphrase refers to things like the opera or classical
comedies by Shakespeare, or paintings.
QUESTION #3. How does
our text mediate the middle ground between popular culture and elite
culture-what do you think tempers this shady ground?
By expanding our search and moving forward into a multicultural identity
we are acknowledging the diversity of a singular larger culture. This is apparent here in the United States
where “Multiculturalism” is as abundant as the diverse ethnic, religious, socioeconomic, and regionally diverse backgrounds we all stem from. We have gay communities, exclusive clubs,
political diversity, generally a large group of people who do have strong
differences in their beliefs on a large scale.
It is no wonder our universities have expanded with their
“Cultural-Multicultural” studies programs.
To live in the United States, and elsewhere, although, I would argue to
lesser degrees than here, is to be immersed in a “multicultural” field study on
a daily basis. There are strong bias’
that are constantly being tugged at in our cultures efforts to move forward,
and I believe that of itself is the definition of multiculturalism.
·
DWEMS=DEAD
WHITE EUROPEAN MALES
·
LWEMS=LIVIND,
OR RECENTLY DECEASED WHITE EUROPEAN MALES
QUESTION #3. What is
the significance of these two groups in relationship to “Political
Correctness?”
·
POLITICAL
CORRECTNESS according to our “Cultural Criticism” text is a term under
“contention”, and possibly being used to stereotype certain professors as
Marxist, or left wing. To paraphrase a
section of the text; it seems conservatives are using the term “political
correctness” in an attempt to keep collegiate curriculum s from becoming anymore multicultural in nature. There is a
discrepancy in ideological thought and the usage of the term “political
correctness” is being used as ammunition from the conservative right against
the liberal left.
QUESTION #4. In the past “anomic
behavior” could be tied to the gay and lesbian movement. Today, how would we define “anomic behavior?
·
FUNCTIONALISM
is the glue that holds our society together; “the institutions, entities and
practices of our society.” (page 146, CC)
Sociologists use functionalism to determine whether institutions are benefiting our society or not. It has
been criticized as being a conservative practice of sociologists but,
sociologists contend its practice is useful in its approach to learning the
value of certain institutions.
Question #5. From a functionalist perspective can we evaluate how two antagonistic religious
factions might come into contention with each other and cause social unrest?
·
SACRED/PROFANE
Durkheim “explains how religious thought divided the world into two distinctive
spheres.” (page 148, CC)
·
“Utopian
movements such as Marxism are tied to the eschatological myth of the redeeming
few.”(page 149, CC)
·
“Nudism
and sexual freedom movements are connected to the notion of human innocence
before the Fall and a nostalgia for Eden.” (page 149, CC)
·
THEORIES
OF MASS MEDIA TERMS “1. USES AND
GRATIFICATION THEORY. 2. DEPENDENCY THEORY. 3. AGENDA
SETTING THEORY. 3. CULTIVATION THEORY. 4. GATE-KEEPING
THEORY. 5. TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY. 6.
HYPODERMIC THEORY. 7. SPIRAL OF SILENCE THEORY.”(pages 151-152, CC)
I had no real interest in this section above so I just listed the key
terms and not their definitions. If we
wish to discuss them we can go back to the book.
·
MASS
SOCIETY. The metaphor in the book sums
this theory up well. To paraphrase and
pose as a question; Have you ever felt like you were just a grain of sand on an
endless beach?
The influence from mass media onto mass society has become a way to get
large groups of people in an otherwise alienating setting to have a commonality
with their emotions and feelings in response to the mass medias entertainment
value; true, or false? If it is true,
then I feel like a puppet.
Is the medium more important than the message as Mcluhan from our text
argues? How may our media intake be
affecting the way we learn as we evolve as a species?
The media loves to stereotype, by this I mean the advertisers who are
trying to sell their product during our favorite t.v. shows. Is it working? Do they know what you want by knowing what
you watch?
As we consider this
chapter in “Cultural Criticism” it is easy to see how the world just keeps
growing. It is a little off topic, but
in 1970 there were just under 3 billion people on the planet. That is the year I was born. As we are closing in on 7 billion people on
the planet isn’t it more apparent today that we keep a liberal view toward
curriculum, like a growing interest in the study of multiculturalism, and allow
it to grow just as our population has been.
“We” should be trying to understand each other even more as our
population grows and we move closer to each other, literally, closer to each
other. There is nowhere to hide in this
world anymore, no more hidden island tribes or Amazon tribes, people are
integrated, for the most part in western cultures, and integrating more and more every day.
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