Cultural studies

Culture

Broad, hard to narrowly define

15th century culture

Cultura

Tending to crops/ animals

16th century culture

Extention

Tending of humans

→development of humans

Late 18th/ early 19th century culture

England: class association

„Cultivation“, to be cultivated

Mid 19th century culture

Culture= civilization

→ problematic, non complex view

Anthropology

Study of humans

Ethnography

Method + „result“

Description of „other“ culture

West looks at others and describes them→ circulation amongst themselves

Mimicry

Desire for reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of difference that is almost the same but not quite

Colonizer wants to still have advantage

Contact zone

Social space where cultures meet, clash and grapple

Asymmetrical power relation

Autoethnography

„Other“ writes back to ethnographer

Response to images/ ideas from western representations

Selective appropriation of „conquerer‘s idiom“

Andean, de Ayala

Fieldwork

Living among the people you study (ethnography)

→ positioned near the leader, leaving out the margins/ the whole thing

→ informant mediates, already an in-between person, not really the same as the rest of the people

Hybridity (Homi Bhabha)

Postcolonial critic

Creation of new cultural forms, meeting/ exchange of cultural forms, food, music

Creation of newness

Transculturation

Process where members of a dominated culture take elements of the dominant culture and use them for their own purpose

Assimilation

Minority cultures assimilate into a more dominant culture (similar to mimicry, in Europe „integration“)

Acculturation

Taking up another culture‘s beliefs

Cultural appropriation definition Cherid

Appropriator: not part of the group

Power imbalance: you take something and use it on your own terms → (racial) inequality

Cultural element is taken out of context

No credit, disrespect

Commodefication

Identity aspects

Gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender, religion, ethics, family, culture, …

Identity: Kevin Robins

Imagined sameness of person/group at all times+ in all circumstances

Helpful idea

We change

Personal vs group identity

Fiction

We feel we stay the same but change→ imagined sameness

→ diversity and difference not considered

„Core identity“ that is changed by different factors

Identities can be at war with each other

Define ourselves in contrast to others

Nation: three paradoxes

Objective modernity (nations as concept very young) vs. Subjective antiquity (considered ancient by themselves)

Universality vs. Particularity

Political power vs. Philosophical poverty

Concept nation (Benedict Anderson)

Imagined political community

Both inherently sovereign and limited

Imagined- sense of community even though they don‘t know every member

Limited- definite, defined boundaries

Sovereign- no entity above nations (except religious)

Nation: facts

Not natural phenomena

Constructed, invented

National qualities and characteristics

Need an „other“ against which they define themselves

Subculture definition (Haenfler)

Social network (connections between participants but diffuse borders) having a shared identity, distinctive meanings around certain ideas (music/clothing/..) and a sense of marginalization from or resistance to conventional society/ mainstream

→ part of it when actively participating, not a club

Groups that differ from subcultures

Lifestyles- mode of living, consumerist

Social movements- against authorities, organized, public

Countercultures- extra institutional formations against authorities

New religious movements- Sekten

Gangs- marginalized but criminal

Fan cultures/ fandoms- normative, deviant behavior

Subcultures: Chicago School

„Urban deviance“ → labelling can worsen

Not inherently criminal

Environment important factor, not inborn

Subcultures: Strain theory

Gap between cultural goals and opportunities to achieve them

→Underprivileged youth might turn to illegal means as a reaction, status frustration

Subcultures: Birmingham School

Active resistance to values of mainstream

(Working class was excluded from others)

Difference to mainstream is made visible (→ spectacle) through style, behavior (=subcultural values)

→ panic from others

Subculture: Zoot Suit

Expensive, extravagant suit

Public statement of outsider status

Contrast to military (WW2)

Sense of empowerment

→ panic and violence from mainstream

Subcultures: Chavs

Working/ lower classes

Seen as criminal, hooligans

Out for people who are better off

Amount to nothing (teenage pregnancy, …)

Representation definition

Using language to say sth meaningful about someone or representing the world meaningfully to others

Meaning produced and exchanged

Language (all kinds of codes and sign systems) is involved in this

Systems of representation

Recognition- link between real-world object and mental concept → socially and culturally determined conceptual map of the world, also individual

Representation- link of mental concept to appropriate sign (e.g. English word) → enables to communicate

Reflective approach

Language reflects meaning, which already exists

→ language neutral, transparent

—> much too simple

Intentional approach

Meaning lies with the speaker

→ words mean what speakerintends them to mean

—> misunderstandings

Constructionist approach

We construct meaning and use sign systems to do so

→ language used to communicate meaning in socially/ culturally determined ways

→ language part of meaning-making process

→ difference between world and sign systems

Power (Hall)

Not just at the top of society

Circulates, is everywhere

Persuades and seduces us → resistance possible

Power (Michel Foucault)

Productive

Influence over how discourses are formed

Discipilne

Surveillance (Prison example)

Forms of Power (Hall)

Direct physical coercion/ constraint

Economic power

Symbolic power (representation, classification, stereotyping, …)

Typing (Types)

Not bad, are needed

Larger, general categories, help us understand the world

Simple characterization, few traits foregrounded

New things with their help categorized and understood

Stereotyping

Extreme form of typing

1 reduce everything to few exaggerated+simpified traits

\-fixed into sth unchangeable

\-naturalizes them

2 entails process of splitting

\-divides normal us from abnormal other

\-clear boundaries, used to exclude those outside

3 situation of power imbalance/ inequality

\-power directed against the other

→ ethnocentrism: own culture is central

Language and Power

Disadvantage of people who speak non-standard varieties

GB: all ethnic varieties are inferior

Race

Earlier meaning: group/ category

Now: used to classify humans into distinct groups

Aim: to create hierarchies and justify colonization/ slavery/..

Race: underlying assumptions

(Are racist)

Humans can be divided into unchanging types

Identifieable by physical features, transmitted through genetic markers

Mental, moral behavior, capabilities can be connected to racial origins (know race → know capabilities)

Colonialism

Invasion/ conquest of land for oneself (exploitation resources,…)

Dominance established

Assumed superiority

No need for justification

Racial hierarchy

Binary distinctions

Discriminatory practices

Racism

Reason for existence of race

Way of thinking that links group‘s physical features to mental, intellectual characteristics

Not logical, not objective

Fact of Blackness (Franz Fanon)

Racism lack objective reality

Social construction that poses as objective/ scientific fact

BUT have psychological force, influence self image/ self perception

Ethnicity

1960s alternative to „race“

Categorizes in terms of culture, ..

Belonging is matter of choice

Positive self-perception

Criteria used to describe ethnic group are open to discussion

Ethnicity (Schermerhorn)

Group within larger group (minority)

Common ancestry (memories of shared past)

Shared consciuosness of group identity

Some symbolic elements → epitome of the ethnicity

Definition will change

Visualization of discrimination

Visible/ invisible

Subtle/ obvious

Purposeful/ inadvertent

Systemic/ individual

Examples racist imagery in movies

Star wars- Jar Jar Binks

- Wattoo (Jewish stereotype)

- Nut Gunray (Asian stereotype)

Zootopia- discrimination against smaller, prey animal shown

Definition sex

Biological formation of body

Encompasses „natural“ characteristics of men and women (anatomy, physiology; also problematic notion)

Definition gender

Ways in which men/ masculinity and women/ femininity are socially and culturally constructed

Men and women are made in the sense that it is socially and culturally regulated how they should behave

Sex and Gender (Barker), purpose of two concepts

Disrupting biological determinism used to justify gender inequality

Showing that „natural“ inequality was constructed

Biological determinism

Women/ men behave in certain ways because its in their nature → hierarchies are natural

(Example 19th century: women‘s heads smaller → dumber → should not be able to vote)

BUT actually socially constructed (also just behavior)

Problem in distinction sex and gender (Barker)

Humans cultural beings → experience and perception of world always culturally determined, no neutral way of looking at the world

Notion of sex also a construction, normative discourse (prescriptive, not descriptive, ideal) that regulates and produces ideas (about) the body

Performative Acts and Gender Constitution (Butler)

Both gender and sex are social constructs

Cultural norms, values are embodied

Body made to mean different things in different historical contexts

! One „does“ one‘s body in a culturally and historically specific way ! →e.g beauty ideals

Is performative → enactment of socially constructed norm

Performance creates that which it is actually supposed to be an expression of (like with race and racism)

Conceals its genesis (hides that it‘s a construction)

Speech act (Searle)

Describes constitutive, declarative speech act

Theatrical notion of act and performance

Acts are shared experience

Repetition of sth already established (convention/ code whose meaning audience knows)

Body (Marleau-Ponty)

=historical idea

Not just natural fact, embodies cultural norms

Woman (de Beauvoir)

=historical situation

Traditional idea: gender

Stable identity

Born as male/ female

In my nature to behave in masculine/ feminine ways

Expression of essential identity as a man/ woman

Doing Gender (West and Zimmerman)

Distinctions between sex, sex category, gender

Gender is done in everyday activities as part of our attempt to fulfill expectations; at the same time this reinforces ideas about „natural“ differences

→ sustain, reproduce and render legitimate the institutional arrangements that are based on sex category, if we fail we are „punished“

Sex (West and Zimmerman)

Application socially agreed upon biological criteria for classifying people as men or women

Criteria= genitalia, chromosomal typing

Sex category (West and Zimmerman)

Placement through application of sex criteria

In everyday life categorization by socially required identificatory displays of masculinity/ femininity

Gender (West and Zimmerman)

Activity (!) of managing situated conduct based on one‘s sex category, depending on the situation

→ emerge from and support claims to membership in a sex category

„Throwing like a Girl“ (Young)

Link gendered difference in body movement, comportment, spatiality and patriarchy

Rejects theories that it is because of the feminine essence → historical, cultural situation (way we are raised) must be cause

Girls do not use whole body, tend to shield body, do not move confidently, more afraid of hurting themselves, do not want to appear too strong or awkward (→ unfeminine)

→ assigned limited/ limiting role

Objectified

Inhibitation/ Limitation factors of cultural inscription factors for women

Comportment- way you behave

Motility- way you move

Spatiality- the room you take up with your body

„Boys will be boys“

Excuses/ explains certain supposedly male forms of behavior

Hegemonic masculinity (Kareithi)

To role over others

Traits cultures ascribe to real men

Justify male dominion over women

Constantly changing

Ideology: general definition (Pramaggiore and Wallis)

Systems of beliefs, values and opinions“

About what world is like/ should be like

Abt ourselves/ others

…

Shape the world in concrete ways (e.g. marriage for one group but not another)

Ideology definition (Longhurst)

Attempt to understand ideas in terms of power

Ideology

Intertwined with power structures

Can divide people (us vs. them)

Are intertwined with issues of truth, good and bad, right and wrong

Are everywhere

Ideology (Marx)

False consciousness (almost a lie)

Upper class (bourgeoisie) exploits the working class (proletariat)

Ideas of ruling class are ruling ideas, have resources to spread ideologies, appearance of equality hide exploitation

Distortion of reality- refers only to ideas maintaining power of ruling class

Ideology (Gramsci)

Seem universally true, yet support interest of particular social group

Part of people‘s everyday lives

Fragmented (can be incoherent), common sense (hard to say no to), popular culture (spreading)

Ideology (Althusser)

System of representations (images, myths, ideas or concepts)

Functions: constitution of subjects, power relations, reproduction of social formations

2 institutions: - the state: violence, repression

\- ideological state apparatus (ISA): ideology; family, church, educational system

Interpellation (Fiske)

Texts and their implied ideologies hail their readers:

Address in a certain way

Implicitly assume/ suggest certain things about them

Suggest appropriate subject position which reader is invited to take

E.g. ads that ascribe a certain identity to us

Film & Ideology

Ideologies conveyed and spread though media, film

Films convey ideas and values about certain issues (identity, gender, sexuality, ..)

Present attitude towards certain issues, reflect a particular perspective

Do so invisibly/ apparently neutral/ apolitical

Class stratification, Production model (Marx)

Single factor approach: position in production process important for place in society

Owner (bourgeoisie) vs. Non-owner (proletariat)

Class stratification, Functionalist model (Weber)

More complex than one factor to describe

Occupation and prestige of it (also income, .. ) determine social position)

Cake-like image of class structures, one can move up in it

Class analysis, Distributional Model (Perrucci and Wysong)

Definition class: comparable total resources over time

Large organizations involved in distributional processes of resources

Division in two broad classes, no middle class

Structure intergenerationally permanent

Classes have conflicting interests

Capital (Distributional Model)

Consumption capital: income

Investment capital: surplus consumption capital

Skill capital: specialized knowledge, exchanged in labor market for wages/ fees)

Social capitals: network of social ties (family, friends, ..), can provide emotional or financial support, work connections, …

„The Nature of the Gaze“ (Mulvey)

Use of psychoanalytic approach to film (Freud, Lacan)

„Unconscious of patriarchal society“ structures film form/ how films are made

Classical Hollywood cinema privileges male viewer (films assume straight male spectator)

→ privilege him in terms of narrative- he is in power (hero), active spectator, the bearers of the look

→ privilege him in terms of spectatorship- women are presented as (erotic) objects, passive spectacle

=> does not account for female/ homosexual viewers

Scopophilia

Looking=source of pleasure

(Freud)

Narcissism: pleasure of looking at oneself

Voyeurism: pleasure of looking at others

→ two forms have been split

Active/ male: (male) spectator looks at hero (himself=narcissism)

at women (others= voyeurism)

Passive/ female: women are looked at/ are objects to be looked at (voyeurism)

3 levels of the „male gaze“

1. Camera looks at hero and women
2. Hero looks at women
3. Audience looks at hero and women

Ways of Seeing (Berger)

A bit older

Overview of art history → how are paintings presented

Patriarchy confines women to a limited space

→ important for them to be appreciated, control their own behavior, survey themselves to determine (and control) how men see them

→ „split identity“: do sth and watch themselves doing it, turn themselves into „sights“

Theory of the Sign (de Saussure)

Consists of

\-signifier (that which signifies)

Material form that triggers

Letters, images, sounds

\-signified (that which is signified)

Mental concept/ idea that is triggered by the signifier

Meaning (de Saussure)

Language system of independent terms

→ meaning is rational (not essential or natural)

Content is fixed by the occurrence of everything that exists outside it

→ difference creates meaning

\-meaning is arbitrary

→ connection is conventional (agreed upon by convention, no natural connection)

→ result of „signifying practice“

Myth (Barthes)

Uses de Saussure‘s model to explain how more complex forms of meaning can arise

1\./2./3. = first-order signification - level of denotation →literal message

|., ||., |||. = second-order signification - level of connotation → myth, refers to a society‘s hidden ideologies

Syringe model, old model of communication

Sender → message → receiver

Too simple and linear

Does not account for „misunderstanding“ (difference meaning intended by sender and meaning the receiver comes up with)

Assumes meaning lies with the sender

Posits the receiver as rather passive

Theory of mass communication (Hall)

Audience active rather than passive

Based on Marx‘s theory of consumption and production

Several „moments“ (phases) in circuit of communication

1. Production (encoding of message), meaning structure 1 (insertion of intended/ preferred meaning, by person/ institution
2. Circulation (dissemination of message/ program), has been produced→ is sent, meaningful discourse
3. Distribution/ consumption or use (decoding of message), audience receives


1. (Re)production (effect of message), decoding, meaning structure 2, three reading positions: dominant-hegemonic (= meaning 1), negotiated (in between), oppositional (opposite of meaning 1), who watches? What resources do they have?

Message (Hall)

Message not transparent (obvious, definite) however, sender has certain control over meaning

Polysemy but not pluralism= several meanings, which are not random

Preferred/ intended meaning

Meaning that producer wants to convey

Received/ perceived meaning

Meaning that viewer takes away from image

Dominant meaning

Meaning that tends to predominate in a given culture

→ how do we know about it?

Appropriation

To borrow sth and change its meaning by using it in a new way, e.g. trans coding: to re-use derogatory term and invest it with new meaning (like „queer“)

Bricolage

One example for appropriation, „piecing together“ (DIY) with whatever is available; reusing, recycling, and style blending (e.g. punk culture)

Reappropriation & counter-bricolage

Both refer to the ways in which mainstream industry reappropriates resistant practices of sub-cultures

Textual poaching (de Certeau)

„Inhabiting“ a text, fans taking over the text (e.g. fan fiction), reconfigure the medium

Aesthetics

Has to do with the perception of beauty

Beauty as universal (Kant) that which is really beautiful will be recognized as such by everybody (problematic: assumes someone lacks sth if they don‘t)

OTHER VIEW

Beauty as culturally specific and constructed ideal

Taste

Person with taste can recognize art

Bourdieu: taste is not innate but trained, culture-specific

Taste functions as class marker (distinction) within society

„Good taste“= middle-/ upper-class taste

Lower classes= vulgar, tasteless

Habitus

Lifestyle, taste, values of particular social group, „cultural framework“ of everyday thoughts, practices

Individual habitus shaped by class environment, shows in body posture, clothes, way we speak, decoration of our apartment

Taste becomes embodied in habitus- we betray class membership through our body and our taste- „distinction“

Taste/ habitus of dominant classes becomes „preferred“ (Longhurst)