REPRESENTATION

KARL MARX

The philosopher, social scientist, historian and revolutionary, Karl Marx, is without a doubt the most influential socialist thinker to emerge in the 19th century. Although he was very much ignored by scholars in his own lifetime, his social, economic and political ideas gained rapid acceptance in the socialist movement after his death in 1883. Until quite recently almost half the population of the world lived under regimes that claim to be Marxist. This very success, however, has meant that the original ideas of Marx have often been modified and his meanings adapted to a great variety of political circumstances. In addition, the fact that Marx delayed publication of many of his writings meant that is been only recently that scholars had the opportunity to appreciate Marx's intellectual stature.

TRADITIONAL, AND NEO MARXISM

Marxism is an economic and socio-political worldview

and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a

materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of

social change, and an analysis and critique of the

development of capitalism

Neo Marxism is seeking to incorporate principles of

Marxist thought into modern political and economic

systems.

MARXISM AND IDEOLOGY

Marxism- is an economic and socio-political

worldview and method of socio-economic inquiry

that center's upon a materialist interpretation of

history, view of social change, and an analysis and

critique of the development of capitalism. was

pioneered in the early to mid 19th century by two

German philosophers, Karl Marx and Friedrich

Engels.

MARXISM AND IDEOLOGY

Ideology- In the Marxist economic base and superstructure

model of society, base denotes the relations of production,

and superstructure denotes the dominant ideology

(religious, legal, political systems). The economic base of

production determines the political superstructure of a

society. Ruling class-interests determine the superstructure

and the nature of the justifying ideology-actions feasible

because the ruling class control the means of production.

STUART HALL

Stuart Hall, now Professor of Sociology at the Open

University, was a major figure in the revival of the British

political Left in the 1960s and '70s. Following Louis

Althusser, he argues that the media appear to reflect reality

whilst in fact they construct it.

http

://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism11.

html

PLURALISM

Predictably enough, the pluralist idea is the exact opposite of a

hegemonic one. A pluralist model argues that there is diversity in society

(everyone is different) and therefore there is also choice. So in media

terms, because the audience (society) is diverse, with different points of

view, the media is influenced by society. Because the media need to

please the audience they will try to reflect the values and beliefs that are

predominant in society. In other words, they give us what we say we want

rather than telling us what to think and believe, in order to make us stay

‘in our place’. The hegemonic and pluralist perspectives are most clearly

seen in all kinds of media representation, but the main area is in politics.

HEGEMONY

A hegemony is a system where one group is dominated by another. The

dominating group achieves its domination by ‘winning’ popular consent through

everyday cultural life.In media studies terms, this model works by achieving

dominance through media representations of the world. The media  ‘tell us’ what

to think, what to believe and how our world ‘should be’.This works through

ideology – a set of ideas which gives a partial or selective view of reality. For

example, the ‘powerful’ rule over the ‘poor’ by promoting the idea (the ideology)

of privilege and wealth belonging exclusively to a select group of people.There is

an argument that all belief systems or world views are ideological. Beliefs

become ‘truthful’ or ‘natural’ and this leads to power inequalities. The media can

circulate or reinforce ideologies OR it can undermine and challenge them 

CAPITALISM

An economic system characterized by private or

corporate ownership of capital goods, by

investments that are determined by private decision,

and by prices, production, and the distribution of

goods that are determined mainly by competition in

a free market.

LOUIS ALTHUSSER

Louis Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher. He was a member of

the French communist party. His arguments were set against threats

attacking the theoretical foundations of Marxism. He developed Marxist

ideas. He was commonly referred to as a structural Marxist. He focused

on the role played by ideology. He believes we are controlled by the

ruling classes, and being some what brainwashed to believing their

ideologies.

http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/general/

bldef_althusserlouis.htm

REPRESSION

Repression involves placing uncomfortable thoughts in relatively inaccessible areas of the

subconscious mind. Thus when things occur that we are unable to cope with now, we push

them away, either planning to deal with them at another time or hoping that they will fade

away on their own accord.

The level of 'forgetting' in repression can vary from a temporary abolition of uncomfortable

thoughts to a high level of amnesia, where events that caused the anxiety are buried very

deep.

Repressed memories do not disappear. They can have an accumulative effect and reappear as

unattributable anxiety or dysfunctional behavior. A high level of repression can cause a high

level of anxiety or dysfunction, although this may also be caused by the repression of one

particularly traumatic incident.

Repressed memories may appear through subconscious means and in altered forms, such as

dreams or slips of the tongue ('Freudian slips').

LAURA MULVEY

Laura Mulvey (born August 15, 1941) is a British

feminist film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda's

College, Oxford. She is currently professor of film

and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London.

She worked at the British Film Institute for many

years before taking up her current position.

TUCHMAN

Gaye Tuchman (1978) divided the concept of

symbolic annihilation into three aspects: omission,

trivialization and condemnation. Symbolic

annihilation is the absence of representation, or

underrepresentation, of some group of people in the

media (often based on their race, sex, status, etc.),

understood in the social sciences to be a means of

maintaining social

inequality.

DAVID GAUNTLET

David guantlett suggests that we use the media as

a navigation point for developing identity. He

suggests that the audience develop their identity

based on characters in the media that the audience

watch.

NOAM CHOMSKY

Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American

linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. His social

criticism has included Manufacturing Consent: The Political

Economy of the Mass Media (1988), co-written with Edward S.

Herman, an analysis articulating the propaganda model theory

for examining the media. The propaganda model is a conceptual

model in political economy advanced by Edward S. Herman and

Noam Chomsky that states how propaganda, including systemic

biases, function in mass media

IDEOLOGY

An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's

goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be

thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of

looking at things, as in common sense and several

philosophical tendencies, or a set of ideas proposed

by the dominant class of a society to all members of

this society.