COMM/WGSS 205 Jo Dumas, Penn State, EXAM 1

Kimberle Crenshaw

Coined the term intersectionality; examines "problematic consequence of the tendency to treat race and gender as mutually exclusive categories of experience and analysis"

Unchained Memories

Dramatic reenactments of experiences of African Americans who had lived under the system of forced enslavement in the US. Stories were recorded by Federal workers in the 1930's and collected in volumes for the Library of Congress.

D. Kellner

Three Research Methods:
1. Production Process & Political Economy of Culture
2. Textual analysis of Media as Cultural Products
3. Audience reception study

Communications Research

Communication Science and Qualitative Communications Research

Communication Science and Qualitative Communications Research

Independent Variable = Media

Dependent Variable = Human Behavioral Response

Amartya Sen

Two Types of Reductionist Assumptions to AVOID:

1. Identity Disregard

2. Singular Affiliation

Identity Disregard (Sen)

ignores important cultural factors in people's identity, "without critical reflection on broader evolutionary influences of decisions on identity & behavior " (Sen).

Singular Affiliation (Sen)

denies the plural identities of people and the importance of relevant identity within each person

Two Different Approaches to Multicultural Environment (Sen)

1. Multicultural Engagement (Recommends)

2. Plural Monocultural Parallel Non-Engagement (Does not Recommend)

Multicultural Engagement (Sen)

Interaction among different cultures, and can produce valuable knowledge, familiarity across cultural difference

Plural Monocultural Parallel Non-Engagement (Sen)

involves isolation among cultures, which can accentuate difference, fear of the unfamiliar and cognitive dissonance or psychological discomfort

Cognitive Processes (Sen)

1. Cognitive Consistency (Comfort)

2. Cognitive Dissonance (Discomfort)

Cognitive Consistency (Sen)

Psychological COMFORT people work to attain or preserve by selection of familiar information consistent with existing views

Cognitive Dissonance (Sen)

Psychological DISCOMFORT experienced with exposure to information unfamiliar or inconsistent with existing views

Active Audience uses Three Selective Processes:

EXPOSURE, RENTENTION, PERCEPTION

Exposure (Sen)

We choose media and tend toward messages consistent with attitudes and beliefs

Retention (Sen)

We remember messages most meaningful to us

Perception (Sen)

We perceive messages distinctively based on our experiences which shape understanding

White Denial of Privilege (Tim Wise)

Denial of privilege is common among members of dominant group

"White do not know Black or Brown Truths"

Tim Wise

"Today there are more African American in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the civil war began"

Michelle Alexander

Color Blindness: "The goal in my view isn't to be blind to one another, but to see each other as we are, with our full range of experience"

Imani Perry

Hegemony (Stuart Hall's definition)

"Power or dominance that one social group holds over others"; Process of maintaining this power

Ideology (Stuart Hall's definition)

"Media's main sphere of operations isthe production and transformation of ideology"; All media has codes of ideology and audiences decode these

Hall's three decoding positions

1. dominant/hegemonic: accepts preferred meaning of the producer, this is how ideology spreads

2. negotiated: partially accepts preferred meaning, this model shows that audiences are active in producing meaning

3. oppositional/counter hegemonic: rejects preferred meaning in favor of alternate one, recognizes the message being imparted but challenges that message

Politically responsive constructionist theory of communication (PRCT)

J.L. Simpson

"White racism creates blinders that significantly and perhaps irreparably inhibit the possibility of meaningful dialogue about race"

J. L. Simpson

The ColorBlind Double Bind

Discourse of "color blindness" hindered dialogue about race

social cognitive theory

How people learn through observation of others in their environments and can base behavior on symbolic representations

social responsibility theory

Media are responsible to truthfully inform the public in a democracy- developed from 1948 Hutchins Commission Report findings.

feminist theory

explains social inequalities that exist on the basis of gender

cultivation theory

mass media exposure cultivates a view of the world that is consistent with mediated "reality"

economics theory

Explains society in terms of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services

political economy theory

struggle between social classes, the owners of means of production & the production workers, underlies all political issues

market economy system theory

decisions on resource allocation are left to the independent decisions of individual producers and consumers acting in their own best interests without central direction

Marketplace of Ideas Theory

all ideas are put before the public and a democratic public will choose the best ideas

social identity theory

explains "the inherent use of group comparisons in managing identity needs and recognizes the important role that media images play in this process

priming theory

explains how media images can stimulate related thoughts in the minds of the audience.

agenda setting theory

explains how media help determine what is important, because though they don't tell us what to think, media does tell us what to think about

gatekeeping theory

explains the media power to decide what to present to the public and what to withhold from public.

bell hooks

critical thinking and cultural criticism as essential to transformation

Rap: Authentic expression or market construct?

Hooks says it is important to examine distinctions between authentic cultural expression or "voice" and economically constructed "media products" that use gender and race based hegemony.

Consuming Commodified Blackness

possible to consume culturally distinctive products, without ever building deeper cultural understanding

"Americans are obsessed with transgression"

Hooks; content that grabs our attention but does not really challenge race, gender, and other hegemonic systems

market advocates see the business structural trends as the normal evolution of a growing and maturing industry." to produce profits without regard to political economists challenge that the trends reduce citizens First Amendment rights.

Croteau & Hoynes

Four common Business Structural Trends in the Media Industry

1. Growth

2. Integration

3. Globalization

4. Concentration of Ownership

GROWTH

Media and Information Communications Technology (ICT) companies have grown through mergers and acquisitions

INTEGRATION

Horizontal: owns diversified media forms

Vertical: owns companies at all stages of production, distribution, and exhibition

GLOBALIZATION

global expansion of markets and market economy ideas and practice to all regional, national, and local economies and societies

CONCENTRATION OF OWNERSHIP

Power, control & decision making in few hands.

Telecommunications Act of 1996

the sweeping update of telecommunications law that led to a wave of media consolidation;

Trends supported by 1996 Act include:

1. Liberalization: opens market to competition

2. Deregulation: reduction of government rules

3. Privatization: government operations restructured into private operations

consumption is "social" and more individual choice; our consumer decisions have an impact on others

Juliet Schor

Media Commons

Democracy and town square is nowhere in the privatized public sphere; subject to corporate censorship

Brand identity divorces consumers from real production relations which often include:

injustice, deception, sweat shops, youth labor, low wages

"It is about democracy and the right to have a say in and control of "our shared public resources"

Naomi Klein's Commons

Dr. Elizabeth Hadley

"Disney is dangerous because it is sublime form of education. It is absorbed by our young people's minds as entertainment"

Four stages of media representation:

1. Non-Recognition/Invisibility: not represented

2. Ridicule: represented as clown or villain, victims

3. Regulation/Assimilation: minor characters, not central

4. Respect/Humanity: Full complex human beings

intergroup contact theory

contact between members of different groups can reduce prejudice and improve intergroup relations

Daphne Valerius

"I think this piece resonates across race and gender because it... is the voice of the victim, not voice of the victimizer"

Regina King

"self image disorder is probably the best way to describe it in three words...attempts to obtain a white standard of beauty"

Dr. Lez Edmunds

"before institution of slavery, women of color were treated with respect and dignity... with great honor"

Tough Guise 2

MOST VICTIMS OF MALE VIOLENCE ARE MEN

After Bianca and Lena share same-sex kiss in "All my Children", fans made videos constructing new narratives between the characters

Ng - these videos "provide more satisfying narratives than the show's episodes; illustrates how fans invested in LGBTQ characters renegotiate texts of pop. media

Eve Ng's "Fan Culture"

"A site of counter-hegemonic energy for queer presentation"

Two Explanations for increase of attitudinal shifts of support for queer rights since the 1990s

1. Increase of interpersonal contact

2. Increases in exposure through media