Unit 3: Theoretical Approaches - Critical Social Theory
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Unit 3: Theoretical Approaches - Critical Social Theory |
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Theoretical Approaches Critical Social Theory |
Marxism Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) was a German philosopher, most famously known for writing “The Communist Manifesto” and “Capital”. His approach to culture and the media concentrates on social conflict in capitalist countries (e.g Britain, France, U.S.A etc). Marx argued that the dominant class (those in control) creates a dominant ideology (set of ideas and beliefs). The media play a major role in transmitting this ideology to us as if it were commonsense along with the education system, the government and the legal system. The basis of Marx’s arguments are the economic and political systems of capitalist societies like ours where certain people and institutions control what Marx called ‘the means of production’. When Marx was originally writing about his ideas these people were the rich, the aristocracy and the ruling classes which meant the monarchy in some countries. Nowadays, the ruling class could just be the government, big companies, organisations and institutions which still tend to be controlled by rich people, if not exactly the aristocracy or monarchy! This control of the ‘means of production’ meant that the working classes were oppressed and controlled by the ruling classes. It meant that they never got the opportunity to change their lives, have a say in how they were governed or a share in the wealth being created by the things they helped to produce. In Marx’s time this resulted in revolution in Russia and various other places in Eastern Europe which then spread to South America and parts of Africa. Communism replaced capitalism and was supposed to create a more equal society were ‘the people’ were in control of the means of production. Human nature being what it is (selfish, greedy etc!) meant that certain people gained control of the communist regimes and became the new ‘ruling classes’ or ‘aristocracy’ under a different name! However, like feminism, the ideas of Marxism were and are still used to analyse how structures like the mass media and popular culture work in our society. The Marxist perspective or approach encourages us to look at the structures and people who control the media, architecture and organisations, not just the message they are sending us. We need to look at who is exercising power, how and over whom. Althusser, a Marxist theorist, felt that people were socialised into the dominant ideology through institutions like families, education and church – he called these ‘ideological state apparatuses’. He also felt there were more coercive institutions which were also part of this process such as the police, the law and the army which he called ‘repressive state apparatuses’. You will be expected to be familiar with these terms and other ideas like ‘false class consciousness’, ‘hegemony’ and ‘dominant ideology’. Some of these terms are discussed in the notes in Appendix Three. Read page 159-160 in “Culture and Identity” by Warren Kidd To understand where Marxism stands in terms of British politics and beliefs, click here for a Political Spectrum which explains this in simple terms
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