MediaSpace Wiki

Critical Analysis S2010 S11

Mini-Lecture: Ideological Theory

Ideological Analysis of Media

• Ideological analysis is concerned, fundamentally, with power and its distribution
  • The "normalization" of some ideas and beliefs in preference to others.
  • We will focus on Marxist criticism today
    • Not because it is necessarily right or wrong
    • Because it is well documented
    • And in many ways the ideological program in which ideological theory becomes systematic
  • The ideas behind ideological theory can be applied anywhere
  • There is potentially an infinite variety of oppressive ideologies to be identified and countered
• Ideological analysis of media is concerned the power inherent to message making
  • Who is privileged by media content and how?
    • Economically
    • Politically
    • Ideologically
      • Religion
      • Philosophy
      • Ethics
• Core questions in ideological analysis
  • Who is "oppressed" by media content and how? Do media provide
    • "Harmless entertainment"
    • A pacifier that instills and reinforces "bourgeois aspirations and values"
    • The linchpin that interconnects entertainment and commerce
    • A way to win hearts and minds to a point of view
  • Who is "privileged by media content and how?
    • Do media grant power to elites?
    • If so, who and how?
  • What belief systems are reinforced by media content and how?
    • Media content provides a “normative frame of reference”
  • What social structures and practices are granted hegemony via media content?
    • What seems “common sense” or “normal” based on our television viewing?
  • How do we "normalize" a particular set of ideas or beliefs
    • what representations work
    • how can we manipulate language in the service of power
    • how can we coopt the medium to support a particular point of view
  • How effective is the medium in doing these things?
    • Does the "ideological" content do what it appears to do?
  • To what extent can we say that "the ideology is the message"?

Discuss think assignment 11. Who has power. Who doesn't. What does that reflect in the reality of our social system.

• Ideological theories can often be usefully viewed as perspective-based cultural theories
  • The issue isn't how a culture creates itself through its use of media
  • But how a cultural elite force their view of the world on everyone else
  • Ideology is rarely neutral. It assumes:
    • Superiority
    • Ethnocentrism
    • Universality
    • Manufactured Consent ("I'm just doing my job")
  • And often justifies its bias by claiming bias in the opposing "ideology"
    • Marxists attack bourgeois aspirations and values
    • Feminists attack institutions and practices that are rooted in male values
    • Fundamentalist Christianity attack scientific method for presuming objectivity and empiricism
    • Conservatives assert a "liberal" bias in the media
  • To be clear: the clearest sign of an ideological perspective is the creation of an "enemy" ideology
    • In this sense, ideological theory is very much about narrative:
      • A heroic good ideology fighting
      • A villainous bad ideology
      • Equilibrium has been disrupted
      • The end of the world is at hand
      • The battle must be joined
    • that is reinforced by semiotics
      • Semiotic association of the enemy with evil
      • Semiotic association of the heroes with good
  • The dangers here are in any such analysis is in
    • Presuming a particular result and selectively attending to data that supports your view
    • Starting with the solution and then finding the problem
    • Promoting an ideology of "victimhood"
• These dangers are inherent to Marxist perspectives
  • Classical Marxist perspectives presume that
    • The primary ideological division is based on the economic base or "mode of production"
    • A cultures practices and institutions, including the media, necessarily
      • Privilege an upper class of "owners"
      • Oppress a lower class of "workers"
    • Create a "false consciousness" such that the oppressed feel privileged
    • Cultural artifacts reflect the interests of the dominant class
      • Political and legal institutions and practices
      • Cultural institutions and practices
        • Media and media content
        • Educational systems
        • Libraries, museums, art, and music
      • Ideological institutions and practices
        • Religious institutions and practice
        • Ethical practice
        • Science
  • Its hard to do real discovery when you already know the answer
    • And Marxist analysis has more than its share of failures
  • Hence more recent Marxist theory takes a more nuanced view
    • Louis Althusser's treatment of
    • Economic, political, and ideological practices
    • As "relatively autonomous" "social formations"
  • And ?McGee's Ideographic Analysis
    • Which looks at how representative terms can create false realities
      • "Family Values"
      • "Compassionate Conservatism"
      • "War on Terror"
• But the fundamentals of ideological analysis remain useful
  • We are a product of our media and media content
  • Media content does express perspectives that privilege some groups at the expense of others
  • Television really does treat its audience as both consumer and commodity
  • Groups really do try to gain advantage by manipulating media content
  • Social and cultural conflict (e.g. a struggle for hegemony) really is enacted through media content