Cultural Studies, Media, Power, and the Truly Educated Person

This blog is the part of thinking activity task assigned by Dilip Sir for  unit 1 of Cultural Studies.[ "Teacher's blog"] The aim of this activity is to develop critical thinking and analytical skills by examining the intersections of media, power, and education through the lens of Cultural Studies. I will reflect on the blog post and engage in a critical dialogue on media influence, education, and cultural practices in contemporary society.

Cultural studies is the ambigious interdisciplinary field, the study of how culture is created, transmitted, and understood in society. It looks at how different aspects of culture, like art, music, literature, fashion, and even food, reflect and shape the values, beliefs, and experiences of a particular group of people.

While we define cultural studies then Matthew Arnold in his work "Culture and Anarchy" defined as "perfecting what was best thought and said" on the contarary Raymod Williams in "Culture and Society" redefine culture as " everyday life as really lived by one and all, including common-men".

As CS is multidisciplinery field further it bulrs the boundries between high and law culture, elite and popular culture. On the other hand it covers almost all the aspect under the sky. And let's not forget that major concern of the CS is the governing of "Power" within the society and how it affects the meanings and society at large. 

In this cases CS most probably criticise the power for some extend it can be said that it is "Anti-power" or "Politically incorrect". However, the majority and right whingers are in the favour of the 'politically correct" scenario. For example, CS talks about the disparity between gender in the terma of feminism and queer theory, whereas the mainstream is in the favour of patriarchal ideas and hetrosexuality. 

CS further argues about the representation of other races in the context of racism, castism and heirachy. It highlights the power of "Whitesuperimacy" and "Brahminical tradition" and sanskritization on the name of right whing or politically correct view. Minute observation highlights that it's all about the governing of the "Power". 

Apperently, the governing of the power is happened through multiple ways. In this technological age Media is powerful medium to affect the lagrge number of group. It makes people think in one way blindly. 'Media' is the tool to control the perceptions and the subject, the Power makes extensive use of Media. All forms of media. Print, radio, TV, electronic, digital, social.

[This video help us understand where power comes from, how it is exercised and how can one read and write power. ]

Media and Power: the relationship between media and power in contemporary society

In the video Eric Lui with the help of animation talks about the types of power and how to write the power.  There are six types of the power. 

This power is more connected with the goverment and the burocracy. With the physical force they make people believe or disbelieve in some ideas. Agitation of teachers over recurtment of TET-TAT and the way police attack back, beat, and jailed them are the examples of it. This information came to me through the media. 

Another power is the wealth which is most probably true in the every country regardless of it's stasnding. Wealth power not just controls the power by there productions moreover, it controls laws and policies as well. 

State with it's policies, constitution and regulations controls the society. What and how people can do that is in the controll of the state. State's policy of promoting startups leads to the mass to think in the case of business, profit and loss. 

Social normas are another way of regulating the power. Whether it is celebration of the festivals, behaviours of the people in public, discourse of religion, caste, politics, economics, and so on decided by this. 

Ideas are connected with the knowledge, Micheal Foucault talks about the power and knowledge that creates the discourse in the society. Ideas like "Brahmins as mastiskh of society", "White as superior", "Males can have more rationality" and so on spread and accepted in the time. 

This is self-explanationary and in the case of Democracy this works. Majority has power and ability to shape the perception. 

In Noam Chomsky's interview on Manufacturing Consent, Chomsky argues that the mass media in the US is primarily a tool for mobilizing public support for the special interests that dominate the government and the private sector. He identifies these interests as the concentrated network of major corporations, conglomerates, and investment firms that control the major decisions in society.

For example,  stock market, private firms, multinational companies, and so on controls the consent of the people through the medium of advertising, news, social media. 

Chomsky also explains that the media serves two primary targets: the political class and the general population.  The political class, consisting of about 20% of the population, is more educated and articulate and plays a role in decision-making. The cream of the society, goverment and highly educated intellectuals. Their consent is crucial, and they need to be deeply indoctrinated. 

The remaining 80% of the population, however, are primarily concerned with following orders and not thinking critically. As Fanon classified as 'Lumpenproletarian' and 'peasant class' or Marx defined as 'peoletrait' and 'land-owners'. Chomsky outlines a propaganda model to explain how the media operates.

This model includes filters such as ownership, advertising, sourcing of information, and framing of issues. These filters work together to shape the media's output and ensure that it serves the interests of the dominant elite groups. For example advocating traditional role of women, heirarchy, justification of racism and superiority. 

Chomsky argues that the media's focus on certain topics and its framing of issues are designed to maintain the status quo and prevent significant challenges to the existing power structure. He criticizes the media's role in shaping history and its tendency to prioritize certain perspectives over others.

Role of Education: the qualities of a "truly educated person."

Noam Chomsky argues that true education involves the ability to inquire and create independently, without external controls. He cites the views of the founder of the modern higher education system, William von Humboldt, who emphasized the importance of this ability for a fulfilled human being.

"It’s not important what we cover in the class; it’s important what you discover."

Chomsky  believed that the focus of education should be on what students discover rather than what they cover in the classroom. According to Chomsky, being truly educated means being able to inquire and create based on the resources available, to know where to look and how to formulate serious questions, and to question standard doctrines.

Chomsky emphasizes the importance of developing the ability and cultivate these skills from kindergarten to graduate school. He believes that a well-educated person is able to deal with the challenges of the world independently and to contribute to society through their own investigations, cooperation, and solidarity with others. I beleive that truly educated person means the one who is not blind by the conventions. 

I admit that it's hard to be unconventional, if students grow in the one particular enviornment under the one expert teacher still there is the scope that students strat beleving the ideas of teacher as it is. In this case educated person need many exposure and through one can be developed as "truly educated person".

Cultural Practices: Media representation and marginalized groups

The Five Filters of the Media

Imagine the media as a machine that produces news. This machine has five filters that shape what you see and hear.

Who owns the machine?

• The people who own the media want to make money.
• They will often choose stories that will make them more money. 

Media Ownership: Profit-driven media  prioritize stories that appeal to the majority audience. It often neglects marginalized groups. This can lead to underrepresentation or stereotypical portrayals of marginalized communities.

Who pays for the machine?

• Advertisers pay for the media.
• The media will often choose stories that will please advertisers.

Advertising: Advertisers often target specific demographics, and marginalized groups and issues may not be considered as lucrative markets. 

Who controls the machine?

• Powerful people and organizations can influence the media.
• They can give the media information or stop them from reporting certain stories.

Media Elite: The media elite can lead to biased reporting, perpetuating stereotypes, or neglecting to amplify marginalized voices.

Who is trying to stop the machine?

• Some people try to stop the media from reporting certain things.
• They might try to discredit journalists or spread false information.

Flack: Powerful individuals or institutions may use public relations tactics to silence or discredit marginalized voices, making it difficult for them to gain media attention.

Who is the enemy?

• The media often needs an enemy to make people afraid.
• This enemy can be a country, a group of people, or an idea.

Common Enemy: The construction of a common enemy can often divert attention from the struggles of marginalized groups. The focus on a perceived threat can overshadow systemic inequalities and injustices faced by marginalized communities.

These factors can combine to create a media landscape that is often biased, incomplete, or even harmful to marginalized groups. 

For example, imagine you own a news channel. You want to make money, so you choose stories that will attract advertisers. Advertisers want to reach people who are interested in buying their products, so you choose stories that will appeal to them. Powerful people might try to influence your channel by giving you information or threatening to stop advertising. Some people might try to stop you from reporting certain stories by spreading false information about you or your journalists. Finally, you might need to find an enemy to make people afraid and keep them watching your channel. [This example I got from the Gemini chatboat] 

Critical Media Consumption:

In this video we can see how partisanship can distort our perception of reality and hinder our ability to make rational decisions. It discusses a study that found people's political beliefs can influence their ability to evaluate data, even when they have the necessary mathematical skills. 

partisanship can lead to cognitive dissonance when group beliefs are at odds with reality, and people may be more motivated to maintain a positive relationship with their group than to perceive the world accurately. In the case of being in majority people silently obey the idea given by the mass.

The only source from which we get the idea of current affairs is the media. I would say that media is the solely surronds us and it creats the reality. In my case the social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter with it's trending hashtags, Youtube, NEWS papers and some website creats my perception of the culture. 

However, the Cultural Studies helped me in understanding this all the medias as Marchal Macluhan says, "The medium is the message" to look at this all mediums and question the mediums as well. 

And yes the meme clearly indicates the state of mind of the Cultural Studies's new students just like me. 

Words : 1678

References : 

Barad, Dilip. “Cultural Studies: Media, Power and Truly Educated Person.” https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2017/03/cultural-studies-media-power-and-truly.html?authuser=0. Accessed 02 10 2024.

Jones, Josh. “An Animated Introduction to Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent and How the Media Creates the Illusion of Democracy.” Open Culture, 13 March 2017, https://www.openculture.com/2017/03/an-animated-introduction-to-noam-chomskys-manufacturing-consent.html. Accessed 2 October 2024.