SESSION TEN: Industry and Consumer Culture

from The Media's New Aesthetic - Adbusters

We now hit the halfway mark of our investigation into mass communications. In tonight's session, we attempt to connect the many loose ends we've untangled throughout the previous weeks by asking three key questions: 1) What is mass culture? 2) What is mass society? and 3) How is mass culture/society created? The answers to these questions arise from arranging our previous readings into a (semi) coherent argument. Ultimately, our course argument looks something like this: 1. (mass) communication is (mass) culture. 2. (mass) culture is (mass) society. 3. Thus, (mass) society is (mass) communication.

- DUE SESSION 11 (04/02) -

Writing Assignment: Journal 10
Viewing Suggestion: Why We Fight. Dir. E Jarecki, 2005. (98 min.)
Project homework: Work on blog and PSA.
Reading:

• The media and social power – Marris & Thornham (pp. 5 -16)
• The media's new aesthetic - Adbusters
  
• The reconquest of cool - Adbusters
  
• Communication theories – University of Twente

- JOURNAL 10 - Select any theory, concept or criticism from one of the articles listed above. Apply the selected idea to a mass communication you encountered this week. How does the theory you selected attempt to explain the communication process? What criticisms does it offer of your experience? Is it accurate? Why or why not?

SESSION NINE: Propaganda, Politics and Power

Tonight, we focused our lesson on a dissection of contemporary propaganda. We attempted to answer the following questions: 1) What is propaganda? 2) Who or what is responsible for propaganda? and 3) What techniques promote propaganda?

Our investigation focused upon understanding The Propaganda Model put forward by politico-cultural theorists Chomsky and Herman. Propaganda is the "deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist" (Propaganda and Persuasion). Propaganda can involve direct channels, such as poltical campaigns, or indirect channels, like movies and soft drinks. Effective mass propaganda promotes culture war by adding rhetoric and bread-and-circus rule to culture industries. The result is a society lacking critical power.

- DUE SESSION 10 (3/26) -
Writing Assignment: Journal 9
Viewing Assignment (required): The Persuaders: Frontline, 2004.
Project homework: Submit PSA script.

• Preparing Public Service Announcements
• Placing PSA's: Getting Started
  

Reading:

• The Mass Culture/Mass Society Hypothesis – A Berger (pp. 187 - 220)
  
• Unwrapping Use Value – S Willis (pp. 334 - 350)

- JOURNAL 9 - After viewing The Persuaders, select one product, idea or entertainment you purchased in the last week. React to your purchase by answering the following:

• What culture or lifestyle did the product/idea promote?
• What rhetorical strategies persuaded you to buy the product/idea?
• Who or what sold you the product/idea?
• How does the product/idea participate in propaganda?

SESSION EIGHT: The Culture Industry

Now that we have thoroughly dissected the SMCR model by applying it to mass communications, we move on to reconnect the parts into a synthetic whole we call culture. While humans have many definitions for culture, our discussion focused on understanding two key questions: 1) What is a culture industry? and 2) What is a culture war?

Culture industry is a concept developed by cultural theoriests Adorno and Horkheimer to replace outdated notions of mass and popular culture. For Adorno and Horkheimer, modern culture is intimately connected to industrialization; cultural products, like industrial products, are standardized and singular. The singularity of culture (also called cultural hegemony) serves to "ensure the obedience of the masses to the market" (Wikipedia). This Bread-and-Circus form of rule started in ancient times, when Roman lords determined that masses with enough food and entertainment would never revolt.

Culture wars rely upon cultural hegemony to abuse power.

- DUE SESSION 9 (3/19) -
Writing Assignment: Journal 8
Viewing Assignment: Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Bill Moyers, 2008.
Project homework: Complete blog design. Conduct surveys.
Reading:

• A Propaganda Model – Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky
• The Propagand Model - Edward Herman
• Propaganda Model - Wikipedia

- JOURNAL 8 - View Bill Moyer's recent interview with campaign critic Kathleen Hall Jamieson. React to the interview by explaining at least two of her campaign criticism points.

SESSION SEVEN: Public Service Campaigns

Rosie the riveter is a famous WWII public service campaign.
Celebrate International Women's Day on Saturday, March 8th.

We spent tonight's session working on our public service campaigns. We first started by defining the public service campaign and its key component, the public service announcement or PSA. The class divided into campaign groups of five or six, each with the following: 1) campaign manager; 2) public relations officer; 3) online content producer; 4) PSA director and 5) research coordinator. Groups will now create a campaign addressing one of five public issue areas: SAFETY, RIGHTS, EDUCATION, HEALTH or ECONOMICS. Completed campaign binders are due April 30th. Campaigns will be presented to the public on May 14th.

- DUE SESSION 8 (3/12) -
Writing Assignment: Journal 7
Project homework: Submit blog design & sample survey questions.
Reading: The Culture Industry – Horkheimer & Adorno
Viewing Assignments (required):

• Merchants of Cool. Frontline, 2001.

- JOURNAL 7 - React to Merchants of Cool by answering:

• What example of the culture industry does the video show?
  
• How do corporations in the video use culture to sell products?
  
• Does the video promote a culture war? How?
• Give an example of another culture industry you have encountered this week?
  
• What culture war does it promote? How?