Helloo readers....
So this blog is the part of my thinking activity in classroom. But it's about an interesting topic "Cultural studies". So as a part of cultural studies in this blog I would like to talk about one centre topic in cultural studies Power and Media.
Cultural studies:-
It is difficult to difine this term. But some poststructuralist like Raymond William who would love to define it as "everyday life as really lived by one and all, including common-men". It is a wide area for study.Cultural Studies is its scope of study. As it aims to transcend all disciplines and breaks the difference between the high and the low, the elite and the popular culture, it encompasses almost everything under its umbrella. This makes it confusing and the student / teacher with lesser ability to dig deeper in the artefacts to connect it with the 'discourse', sometimes, fails Cultural Studies.
If we discussing about the cultural studies than we should definitely talk about the power and media. Cultural studies is incomplete without the power. Power and Media play a vital role in the culture.
Power:-
Definition of Power:
Power is the ability of its holder to make other individuals obedient on whatever basis in some social relationship.
In Foucault's theories power is granted through knowledge and therefore constructs truth.
For the better and wide understanding of the power here I put one video here.
This video help us understand where power comes from, how it is exercised and how can one read and write power.
In this video we find that there are six main sources of civic power:
1)Physical forces:- it means power of Police.
2) wealth:- power is all about the wealth. We suffering from this problem for long time. That people who have a more wealth they are more powerful. They control many people in their power position.
Eg.:-Mukesh Ambani cheated other telecome company in the name of digital India with the help of power, broken all rules and regulation of TRAI and made his Jio company.
3)state action:- it means state government who decide what to do or not either they elected or dictatorship.
4) Social Norms:- It means Social norms govern the behavior of the members of society.
5) Ideas:- it means power generate idea and and suggest to people to do as power like.
6) Number: It means majority of thinkers who create power by expressing collective intensity of interest.
Now we will see that how power operate for that there are three laws of power:-
1. power is never static
2. Power is like water:- power like a water that it's flow anywhere and spread in everywhere. It's seems that policy is power frozen.
3. Power compound
We talk about power so in that context I would like to talk about the one French postmodernist foucault and his theory on the power and knowledge.
Foucault argued that knowledge and power are intimately bound up. So much so, that that he coined the term “power/knowledge” to point out that one is not separate from the other. ... In his most important works, this included an analysis of texts, images and buildings in order to map how forms of knowledge change.
According to Foucault that power is wielded by people or groups by way of 'episodic' or 'sovereign' acts of domination or coercion, seeing it instead as dispersed and pervasive. 'Power is everywhere' and 'comes from everywhere' so in this sense is neither an agency nor a structure.
Foucault is one of the few writers on power who recognise that power is not just a negative, coercive or repressive thing that forces us to do things against our wishes, but can also be a necessary, productive and positive force in society.
A key point about Foucault’s approach to power is that it transcends politics and sees power as an everyday, socialised and embodied phenomenon. This is why state-centric power struggles, including revolutions, do not always lead to change in the social order. For some, Foucault’s concept of power is so elusive and removed from agency or structure that there seems to be little scope for practical action. But he has been hugely influential in pointing to the ways that norms can be so embedded as to be beyond our perception – causing us to discipline ourselves without any wilful coercion from others.
Media:-
Why media studies is so important in our digital culture?
The Media and Cultural Studies (MCS) program emphasizes the study of media in their historical, economic, social, and political context. We examine the cultural forms created and disseminated by media industries and the ways in which they resonate in everyday life, on the individual, national, and global level. Focusing primarily on sound and screen media — television, new media, film, popular music, radio, video games — but reaching out across boundaries, MCS encourages interdisciplinary and transmedia research.
Social media has been a major part of our daily lives. It totally effected our culture in positive and negative ways. There are so many positive impacts of social media on our culture. Social media increased the connections between people and created an environment in which you can share your opinions, pictures and lots of stuff. Social media improved creativity and social awareness for our society by interacting with other people and sharing new ideas and opinions. It is also important for any business because at some point, you need to use social media in your business.
Noam Chomsky has to say about Mass Media. He gives “Five Filters.”
1. Media Ownership:-
Mass media firms are big corporations. Often, they are part of even bigger conglomerates. Their end game? Profit. And so it’s in their interests to push for whatever guarantees that profit. Naturally, critical journalism must take second place to the needs and interests of the corporation.
2. Advertising:-
The second filter exposes the real role of advertising. Media costs a lot more than consumers will ever pay. So who fills the gap? Advertisers. And what are the advertisers paying for? Audiences. And so it isn’t so much that the media are selling you a product — their output.
3. Media Elite:-
The establishment manages the media through the third filter. Journalism cannot be a check on power because the very system encourages complicity. Governments, corporations, big institutions know how to play the media game. They know how to influence the news narrative. They feed media scoops, official accounts, interviews with the ‘experts’. They make themselves crucial to the process of journalism. So, those in power and those who report on them are in bed with each other.
4. Flack:-
If you want to challenge power, you’ll be pushed to the margins. When the media – journalists, whistleblowers, sources – stray away from the consensus, they get ‘flak’. This is the fourth filter. When the story is inconvenient for the powers that be, you’ll see the flak machine in action discrediting sources, trashing stories and diverting the conversation.
5. The Common Enemy
To manufacture consent, you need an enemy — a target. That common enemy is the fifth filter. Communism. Terrorists. Immigrants. A common enemy, a bogeyman to fear, helps corral public opinion.
Who can be considered as "truly educated person?
Now we all very well aware about the education and its impact.A true education opens a door to human intellectual freedom and creative autonomy.
It’s not important what we cover in the class; it’s important what you discover.
A true education opens a door to human intellectual freedom and creative autonomy.It’s not important what we cover in the class; it’s important what you discover.
To be truly educated means to be resourceful, to be able to “formulate serious questions” and “question standard doctrine, if that’s appropriate”…. It means to “find your own way.
Truly educated means that people try to come out from their comfort zone and gave their knowledge to other people.if he develops his knowledge and skills in such a way which ultimately results into his positive contribution in community life. Acquiring knowledge and using it for the happiness and goodness of the society really makes a person educated.
Educated person is always be a rational and reasonable.
conclusion:-
In conclusion, power and culture are the foundation of the society. The cultural orientation of the people within a society or group determines their definition of power and how they react towards those in authority. Power complements culture in the sense that it enforces cultural values and norms.
Thank you.....
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