Marxism & Liberal PluralismMarxist & Liberal Pluralist Theory and the Media

KEYWORDS;

• Economic base• Superstructure• Proletariat• Bourgeoisie• Ideological State Apparatus• Repressive State Apparatus• False Consciousness

KEY THEORISTS

• Karl Marx• Stuart Hall• Chomksy & Herman• Antonio Gramsci

KEYWORDS;

• Liberalist• Pluralist

KEY THEORISTS

• Michael Gurevitch

What is Marxism?

At the heart of Marxism is the belief that all capitalist societies function on the same principles.

Society is formed of the ‘economic base’ and the ‘superstructure’.

A capitalist society can only work if the people within society accept that they need ‘things’. It is through the economic base that production of these ‘things’ occur. This is consumerism.

In order to make people think they want and need certain things you need the ‘superstructure’ – social and cultural institutions such as The Army, Police, Legal System, Political System, Education, Religion, the notion of family and of course the Media. These institutions control our cultural and social beliefs in a way that keep consumerism and capitalism going.

Within this you have the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. These are the people themselves –the bourgeoisie are the rich, powerful people who are in control. They want everything to stay the same because if it does they continue to have power, control and money. The proletariat are the workers, the people who form they economic base. They help the cycle of consumerism by producing and consuming these ‘things’ or ideas and beliefs.

The Economic Base & Superstructure

Marxism argues that essentially society is unfair with the majority of people working for the few and the few having all the power, control and money.

So, why don’t the proletariat just overthrow the bourgeoisie? There are more of them, if they stopped producing things for the economic base then the structure of consumerism and capitalism doesn’t work.

This is why the Superstructure is needed. The Superstructure can be split into two different parts; Repressive State Apparatus and Ideological State Apparatus.

The Superstructure is used to control the proletariat into conforming to the beliefs and ideas that keep the bourgeoisie in control and power.

SUPERSTRUCTURE• Politics• Legal

• Armed Forces• Police• Family• Media• Religion• Education

ECONOMIC BASE

RSA & ISA

The Superstructure helps keep the status quo – the bourgeoisie at the top and the proletariat at the bottom by controlling people either through repression or ideology.

THE ARMY

THE POLICE

THE LEGAL SYSTEM

Repressive State Apparatus:Those that threaten to actwith force if rules are not upheld.

Ideological State Apparatus:Those that act to construct the values and ideologies whichgovern the way people behave.

SCHOOLS

RELIGION

FAMILIES

THE POLITICAL SYSTEM MEDIA

RSA, ISA & False Consciousness

In modern society the Media is at the heart of the Superstructure because it constantly reinforces the dominant ideologies that support the bourgeoisie.

This is called the status quo or false consciousness – because the ideologies that the proletariat see and hear all the time (through the media) mostly support the norm or the status quo they simply accept that this is the way is supposed to be.

False Consciousness = the belief in ideas and values as truths when in fact they are constructed ideologies which support the power base and keep the system the way it is.

Marxism & the Media

According to Marxist theory - As part of the modern superstructure, the media plays a pivotal role in the function of maintaining the power and influence held by the bourgeoisie.

Media institutions are ruled and controlled by members of the bourgeoisie they want to stay in control and power. Therefore the viewpoints, messages and ideologies of the media products they produce try to legitimize, perpetuate and promote the ideologies that will continue this control and power.

Any opposite ideologies are either not allowed to be heard or they are presented in such as way as to convince the proletariat that they are wrong.

Chomsky & Herman (!988) are theorists who supported this idea of the media. They believed that the media manipulates populations to prevent them from rebelling against those in power.

Examples

Repressive State Apparatus – The Army, The Legal System, The Political System and the Police – they have laws to ensure that their ideologies are supported and accepted by society HOWEVER the media also play an important role in promoting these.

It was illegal in many states in American for people of black and white races to marry (up until 1950s). This was supported in law but also in the representations on TV and in film. As society started to change so did representations and then law.

Examples

Ideological State Apparatus – Media, family, education and religion – these systems control through ideas rather than law. They present ideologies to people, mainly through the media, in order to get people to accept them as normal.

Consider how the representation of women has changed over the years – from wife and mother to career woman and super mother. Consider how women who had careers might have been viewed in previous generations compared to now. Who’s interest would it have been in to keep women ‘in doors’? Why might it support a Marxist view of society?

Criticisms of Marxism

Karl Marx was writing 150 years ago during industrialisation, when society was very different. Back then most businesses were controlled by one person or a family whereas now most big businesses or institutions are controlled by shareholders – can we still use Marxism when there is a less obvious divide between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat?

Technology has changed so radically now, although the mainstream media is still an ideological state apparatus what about e-media. The fact that I can ignore mainstream media and its ideologies and go off and find my own? Does this mean that Marxism no longer happens at all? Is it still relevant?

The other big problem with Marxism is that it assumes the audience is passive – that the people seeing and hearing these dominant ideologies through the media are going to simply accept them and not think for themselves. Stuart Hall argued in the 1980s that the dominant ideologies can be called the ‘preferred readings’ of texts but that the readers can ignore these and chose to adopt alternative readings instead. Hall suggested they could have a ‘negotiated’ reading or an ‘oppositional’ reading instead. If this is the case then the argument for Marxism is diminished massively since the superstructure has less control.

Case Study: The Apprentice (2005-present: BBC)

The Apprentice is a prolonged job interview where contestants compete against each other to be chosen for a job working for the entrepreneur Lord Alan Sugar.

The fact that Sugar has all the power reinforces the ‘superior’ position of the capitalist elite.

He has power as he has used the system to create wealth and he is shown using this power to provide a livelihood for the winner of the competition.

Case Study: The Apprentice (2005-present: BBC)

All of the contestants are dependent on him for their survival in the show (and implicitly, beyond).

• The prize for the winner is a well-paid job and the winner will need to display the qualities that identify him / her as a potentially successful businessperson.

Case Study: The Apprentice (2005-present: BBC)

Through the tasks and the judgements offered afterwards some clear values are identified:

Successful people need to be outgoing but not too extrovert. They must be adventurous in business terms but not reckless; confident but not arrogant and be both good leaders and team players.

These qualities are the ones that are rewarded by success within the show and can be seen to be part of the construction of a false consciousnessregarding the personality types of people who are valued within the capitalist system. The creative, individual or introvert are not seen as ‘acceptable’ neither are those who challenge authority or who work outside team structures. People who do not conform to these norms are ‘fired’.

Case Study: The Apprentice (2005-present: BBC)

Given the media’s position as part of the superstructure of the capitalist system, texts can be analysed in terms of how they act to construct these values in their representations.

Your Case Study

Whether you are looking at Identities in the Media or Impact of New Digital Media you can use Marxism in your arguments.

Write a paragraph explaining how/where you might use Marxism (either using a specific text to argue your point or you general argument).

What is Liberal Pluralism?

Liberal Pluralism challenges the ideas put forward in Marxism but it is also linked to us living in a capitalist world.

At the heart of Liberal Pluralism is the belief that society is made up of many different groups with competing interests whilst the media is subject to the wishes of the consumer (supply & demand).

Therefore the media present a range of ideologies, views and opinions and the audience select and reject those ideologies offered to them depending on their interests.

In Liberal Pluralism the media can sometimes be considered an agent for democracy since it can allow a range of different ideologies to be heard by lots of people.

Breaking down Liberal Pluralism;

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights

Pluralism is the acknowledgement of diversity of interests and people (plural literally means many)

Liberal Pluralism, the Media and audiences

Liberal Pluralists see the relationship between the audience and the media less about power and more evenly. The relationship is entered into voluntarily since audience chose what media to access and they can always go and looks for opposing views and ideas should they wish.

Since the media are about getting the biggest audiences possible in order to make as much money as possible if their audiences dwindle they change what they do to give the audience more of what they like. Therefore the control can be as much in the audiences hands as it is in the medias.

Liberal Pluralism functions on a number of assumptions or beliefs about this relationship:

The Media provide information necessary for citizens to act upon

The Media are independent of the power of economic and government

The Media help to give a voice to all views and provide a forum for public debate

The Media operate to furnish information rather than to re-construct society to a political agenda

The Media serve as an independent institution keeping watch over the self-serving government and excessive influence of special interest groups (eg. Religions)

Example

YouTube – liberal pluralist institution.

Anyone can upload their ideologies – it is cheap to access and use in various ways (computer, smart phone etc)

It is easy to share these ideologies through other e-media platforms – facebook, twitter etc.

HOWEVER – can we still consider YouTube to be liberal pluralist given who now owns it and the restrictions/censorship on there.

Is liberal pluralism about how the audience use a text/institution or is it about the ownership and control?

Your Case Study

Whether you are looking at Identities in the Media or Impact of New Digital Media you can use Liberal Pluralism in your arguments.

Write a paragraph explaining how/where you might use Liberal Pluralism (either using a specific text to argue your point or you general argument).