Stuart Hall

By Khushboo Surana Maithili Joshi Nancy Nigam Priyanka M.P. Srinidhi P.V. Varsha Rao Yatisha Raul

THEORIES OF STUART HALL2011C6PS573G2012B1A7502G2012B1A3646G2012B5A7483G2012A7PS095G2012C6PS317G2012A7PS108G

Stuart Hall was a cultural theorist born in Jamaica in 1932.Birmingham School of Cultural Studies.Instrumental in removing racial prejudice in media. Mixed racial ancestryIntroductionCritical role in opposing racial discrimination against non-whites in the mediaBlack men-white mediaTheories-representation, encoding-decoding, power relations.

Racial prejudice and mediaConnects meaning and language to culture

Systems of Representation- mental representation and language

Mental representation shared concepts culture

Language signs words are arbitraryRepresentationConcepts about material world

Societal influence

Abstract concepts angels, mermaids, friendship, love or even fictional characters

Principles of similarity and differences to understand the concepts

Culture shared conceptual map

Mental RepresentationConcepts to language

Words, sounds, visual images signs

Language is used to communicate concepts

Words are arbitrary

Culture shared language systems

Meanings / words keep changing

LanguageHow Representation of meanings through language works?Theories of RepresentationReflective approach Intentional approach

Constructionist approachThree approachesPOWER, DISCOURSE AND KNOWLEDGEDiscourse as a linguistic concept : passages of connected writing or speech

Foucaults meaning : group of statements that provide a language for talking about a particular topic at a particular historical moment

Production of knowledge through language

Never consists of one statement, one action, one text or one sourceDISCOURSEDiscursive events referring to the same object, sharing the same style and supporting a strategy, a common institutional administrative or political drift pattern

Nothing which is meaningful exists outside discourse

Nothing has any meaning outside discourseDiscourse formationKnowledge , Power and Truth

Regime of truth : general politics of truth

New conception of power : Power circulatesKnowledge and Power

Female Hysteria : an exampleAndre Broillet (painter), Jean-Martin Charcot, French psychiatrist and neurologistHow does this theory understand the cultural power of media?

The constructionist approach of the representation theory helps us understand the cultural power of media by helping us understand the images we are seeing and how the meanings of objects are social constructions and do not have fixed meaning.

For example, if women are always portrayed in the media as subservient, objectified objects, than those characteristics will always be assigned to what it means to be a woman; however, through the shift in definition of females, those meanings can alter and change.In Racist Ideologies and the Media, Hall uses the example of race and the representation of race within society. According to Hall, the media constructs for us a definition of what race is, what meaning the imagery carries, and what the problem race is understood to be.

The media constructs the identity of a race by its representation , therefore, incorporating an ideology and a set of meanings about a race into society.

The media is bias in its representations of different groups of people As a society our maps of reality are dictated by what we see through the media and what those images represent, if they are distorted than we do not receive the true meaning (Hall).

As a society, we become immersed in a set of cultural beliefs that are a reflection of what is instilled in us by a shared culture.

The media is an outlet where those ideologies get distributed. The media controls what content we are allowed to invite into our reality, and into our shared cultural and social perception.

Halls Theory of Encoding and Decoding

The Encoding/decoding model of communication

Offers a theoretical approach of how media messages are produced , propagated and interpreted.

Speaking is encoding, as are writing, printing, and filming a TV program. Once received, the message is decoded; that is, the signs and symbols are interpreted. Decoding occurs through listening, reading, or watching that TV show.

Decoded depending on an individual's cultural background, economic standing and personal experiences.

Hall has had a major influence on media studies.

The Encoding/decoding model of communicationFour-stage model of communication that takes into account the production, circulation, use and reproduction of media messages . Each stage will affect the messageand the sender can never be sure that it will be perceived by the target audience in the way that was intended, because of the chain.

The four stages are:Production This is where the encoding of a message takes placeCirculation How individuals perceive things: visual vs. written.Use(distribution/consumption) This is the decoding/interpreting of a message which requires active recipients.Reproduction This is the stage after audience members have interpreted the message and individuals take action after they have been exposed to a specific message The model of communicationWe never actually convey a message rather we always convey are interpretation.21

Dominant

Negotiated

Oppositional3 decoding positionsDominant positionAccepts the preferred message

Shares the same cultural biases as the senderNegotiated positionMixture of accepting and rejectingInvolves modification based on personal experiences

Crucial in implementing changes in the product, books (revised editions); help in improvizing the product

Oppositional positionUnderstands the literal meaning of the messageRejects the message due to cultural/ economic/ social backgroundHighly influenced by post-structuralists Barthes and Derrida

No ultimate way to decode the message

Post-modernism: Reader-response theory

Significant role to the decoder as well as t the encoder

Criticism: Based on the assumption that the latent meaning of the text is encoded in the dominant code.Downplays conflicting tendencies within textsMay be applied more easily to news and current affairs than to other mass media genres. Difficult to pick a preferred meaning.

Conclusion