A Cultural Approach to Communication Essays

A Cultural Approach to Communication Essays A Cultural Approach to Communication Essay A Cultural Approach to Communication Essay A Cultural Approach to Communica0on CLA1201 SemA 2012 Department of Media and Communica0on City University of Hong Kong Recap of Last Week’s Lecture ? We discussed the psychological e? ects of media on the audience ? The media e? ects research tradi0on draws from psychology and sociology ? It is generally quan0ta0ve (i. e. , using numbers and formulas to represent knowledge) and scien0? c (i. e. , lab experiments. ) ? But there are some limita0ons to this approach. Cri0que of the â€Å"E? ect Approach† ? The â€Å"effect approach† (or scienti? c approach) of communication research –? Reduces â€Å"cultural questions† to measurable and veri? ble categories –? Depends on â€Å"rigidly objectivity† –? Serves advertisers and media organizations primarily –? Narrowly focuses on audience individual behavior, ignoring questions like â€Å"where are media industries taking us† –? Refuses to place the research in a broader social and historical context ? Instead, historical and cultural approaches should be used to focus on the long-range effect of mass media. Di? erent Methods: Cultural Studies vs. E? ect Studies ? The â€Å"cultural approach† often uses methods such as audience ethnography and textual analysis, which has previously been used primarily in humanities (e. . literary studies). ? The â€Å"effect approach†, or generally understood as the â€Å"communic ation studies†, uses methods such as survey research, content analysis and experiments. Origin of the Cultural Approach ? Originated in Europe, where an interpretive approach (as in literary criticism) is preferred to a scienti? c approach. ? In? uenced by Marxism: mass media operate primarily to justify and support the existing power at the expense of ordinary people –? Old-fashioned Marxists believed people were oppressed by those who owned the means of production, or the base. –? Neo-Marxists believe people are oppressed by those who control the culture, or the superstructure. ? Its goal is to bring about change in government media policies or even fundamental change in media and cultural systems. The Frankfurt School ? It emerged in the United States in 1930s when a group of scholars escaped to US from Nazi Germany, where Hitler effectively used mass media to control the minds of the public. The Frankfurt School (Cont. ) ? These scholars analyzed products of mass culture within the context of cultural industries and focused on features of –? Commodi? cation –? Standardization –? Massi? cation ? They believe cultural industries provide legitimation for capitalism and serve to integrate individuals into mass culture through â€Å"false consciousness†. Frankfurt School scholars were the ?rst to: ? Comment on the role of â€Å"cultural industries† in the functioning of modern societies –? Agents of socialization (positively presenting social norms) –? Mediators of political reality –? Maintaining the status quo and legitimating dominant power ? Systematically analyze and criticize mass-mediated culture But†¦ Its distinction between high and low culture, and preference for high culture over low culture shows an elitist bias. –? Seeing mass culture as monolithic, duping a mass of consumers –? An idealistic view of â€Å"authentic art† Adorno and Horkheimer The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, Walter Benjamin BBC Modern Masters Series: Andy Warhol Nor does the distinction recognize that audience may be active, may have their own reading of a text or even become a producer Or give adequate attention to the actual production process of media and their interaction with other social institutions. Bri0sh Cultural Studies:1960s and onwards ? â€Å"The Birmingham School† arose in 1960s when political upheaval swept through Britain. –? A class-based system and widespread inequality –? Mass media tried to integrate the working classes –? In? ow of ethnic population from diverse backgrounds –? Americanization of pop culture –? Feminist movement and Civil Rights movement Characteris0cs of Bri0sh Cultural Studies ? Like the Frankfurt School, British cultural scholars believe mass media may further the will of the dominant class and may oppress subordinate class, gender, race, and ethnic strata. ? Different from the Frankfurt School, they argue audience can resist and struggle against domination. –? Media texts do not have â€Å"transparent† meaning. Texts have different layers of sign systems that audience may interpret differently from media producers. –? Audience is no longer passive. Audience with different social and political orientations decode messages differently. ? Removing â€Å"high vs. low† cultural distinction and embracing popular cultural forms like television and pop music. From Week 2 Slides: How are meanings created and Shared? â€Å"Elephant† The Triangle of Meaning c-o-w† (Signifier) a farm animal (Signified) he animal itself (R) The Triangle of Meaning 1.? Signi? er: the sign/word/picture itself e. g. , â€Å"c-o-w† 1.? Referent: the object or external reality being referred to, e. g. , the physical cow in the farm 2.? Signi? ed: the conventional meaning, e. g. a farm animal, produces milk, etc. The process of interaction among these 3 elements so as to create meanings is called signi? cation. Encoding/Decoding Model (Stuart Hall) ? Dominant Reading ? Negotiated Reading ? Oppositional Reading http://users. aber. ac. uk/dgc/Documents/S4B/sem08c. html ? Financial Times China: Financial Times China: ? Grass Mud Horse†: Internet resistance art wiki-entry:  · Green Dam Girl ? (Song of Grass Mud Horse) What Is â€Å"Worth† Studying? ? Previously studies in humanities focused on highly regarded works of art such as poems, painting and ? lms. ? Now cultural scholars turn to less elite forms of culture: fashion, tabloid magazines, pop icons, rock music, hiphop, soap operas, TV dramas, shopping malls, advertising, reality TV, professional wrestling, etc. ? Scholars try to make sense of the â€Å"taken-for-granted† everyday life and media culture, which they believe can provide insight into broader meanings of society. Textual Analysis ? Highlights the interp retation of cultural messages (books, movies, TV programs) ? Instead of looking for replicability and objectivity of data, textual analysis looks for meanings in rituals and narratives. ? TV: The Most Popular Art (Horace Newcomb)! –? why certain TV programs and formats became popular (e. g. comedies, westerns, mysteries, soap operas, news, sports) –? â€Å"The task for the study of popular art is to ? nd a technique through which many different qualities of the work – aesthetic, social, psychological – may be explored†. (Newcomb, 1974) Audience Studies ? Focuses on how people use and interpret text (cultural content) ? It differs from textual analysis in that the subject of study is now â€Å"audience† instead of â€Å"text†. It explores audience? relation to the text. ? It often combines audience ethnography with some form of textual analysis as methods. Assessing Cultural Studies ? While cultural studies avoid cutting up the culture into high and low, popular and elite, and manage to bring race, gender, and class issues into research focus; ? They suffer from too narrow a focus on cultural text and audience reception, overlooking the production process and the arger political-economic context of media production. ? The celebration of audience freedom in interpreting texts may be carried to far, to the point as if audience alone may produce meaning. Some related schools of thoughts or tradi0ons within â€Å"cultural studies† ? Communication as Rituals? /Construction of Reality ? A ritual view of communicatio n is directed not toward the extension of messages in space for the purpose of control, but toward the maintenance of society in time; not the act of imparting information but the representation of shared beliefs. (James Carey, 1975, p. 18). Communication as Rituals? Construction of Reality? Communication is a process of creating culture ? â€Å"Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed† (James Carey, 1975). The Lippmann- ­? Dewey Debate Walter Lippmann John Dewey Produc0on of Culture Studies how economic and other factors in? uence the way culture is produced, ? nding out rules and routines that govern cultural production (see more in Lecture Two) Entertainment Production News Production Poli0cal Economy Studies ? Political economy studies examine interconnections among economic interests, political power, and how that power is used. ? Major concerns include: –? Increasing concentration of ownership: control of media by fewer and fewer organizations –? Catering to â€Å"what the public want† rather than â€Å"what they need†; the bottom-line is money rather than democratic expressions Ownership and Concentration ? Hori zontal integration ? Vertical integration ? Internationalization ? Multi-sector and multimedia integration Sing Tao Group To summarize, we looked at ? Dominant schools in cultural studies –? Frankfurt School (originated in USA) –? Birmingham School (originated in Britain) ? Changing interest –? A macro-level analysis of popular culture encompassing political economy, texts, and audience, sustained by a â€Å"high culture vs. low culture† divide (Frankfurt School) –? Studying more diverse forms of popular culture; subcultures; as well as issues of identity politics (Birmingham School and onwards) ? Major approaches –? Audience studies (Audience engagement with texts) –? Textural analysis ? Related schools in cultural studies –? Communication as rituals (construction of reality) –? Production of Culture –? Political Economy

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leadership - Essay Example This is contested by Andersen (2006) who wrote that traits alone are not enough for effective leadership and they are only prerequisite. Traits only provide people with the potential for leadership. Goleman (2008) hypothesized that great leaders are naturally inclined to show interest in others and bring about positive feelings from these people. This then allows a strong show of support. He further mentioned that learning and practice on desirable leadership style can lead to enhanced performance of a potential leader. Thus, the Great Man Theory only explains a part of a successful leader. There are various factors that influence the development of a good leader (Goleman 2008). Cawthon (1996) stated that most important leadership capabilities and proficiencies can be learned and people can be educated along these as long as there is desire to learn and there are no apparent obstacles to learning such as a learning disorder. When studying the several circumstances that play an import ant role in the lives of the great leaders, it seems hard to believe that only inherent traits contributed to their success. There are too many variables that are considered to make effective leaders. The possession of certain inherent traits does not guarantee the success of leadership. Additionally, any leadership style can be successful as long as it recognizes the path to success. Strong leadership capability goes further than genetic inheritance. House and Mitchell (1974) proposed that successful leaders have the capacity to persuade and motivate others to willingly increase their efforts to contribute to the organisation. They further stated that this can be achieved through a leader’s inimitable focus toward fulfilling the needs of their associates by providing the needed training, supervision and support. These motivate followers toward higher levels of performance. Researchers often take on the assumption that leadership comes inherently with individuals, that some o f them .possess a set of inherent traits that enable them to be recognized as great leaders. For many years, this assumption led social scientists to focus only on these traits. However, because of inconsistency in the results research, the trait theory was discarded in favor of the theory that leadership development does not espouse inherent leadership traits but only leadership styles or behaviors that may be developed and changed completely from one setting to another. There is also the notion that a person who is a leader in one setting may be a follower in another in the same way that traits which are practical in one situation may not be helpful in others. Thus, leaders are not born with any specific traits that determine effective leadership (Howard & Wilson, 1982). Even without inherent traits, a person can be an effective leader as long as he can adapt to the unique demands of ever changing organisations. According to Howard and Wilson (1982), leaders must have the aspirati on to lead. In order to be effective, a person must want to lead. However, even if a person has the ability and education to lead but has no enthusiasm, success will most likely not be achieved. History has presented the crucial roles that leaders and leadership play in the success of an organisation – these can be in the context of business ventures, educational settings and

A Comparison between Gandhi and Albert Camus Research Paper

A Comparison between Gandhi and Albert Camus - Research Paper Example A valid way to understand them would be to consider the effect of their environment upon their thinking and actions. Their respective philosophies are also studied in this essay. Two of their works, â€Å"My experiments with Truth† by Gandhi and â€Å"The Stranger† by Albert Camus are also compared to understand these aspects. These highly attractive figures also had many similarities in their life. Both belonged to the same class of thinkers, the existentialists, Gandhi being accorded the status on being a religious man whose truths are subjective than objective. Both accidentally suffered the violent ends. Their life and significance and present day relevance are only being more understood in the in the recent years. Name Instructor Course Name 9th May 2011 A Comparison between Gandhi and Albert Camus Youth and Upbringing Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known in his country as â€Å"Mahatma† or great soul was the most popular and charismatic leader of the nation in modern times and the most powerful leader responsible for gaining independence for India from the British Empire. He was born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, a small town on the western coast of India, which was then one of the many tiny states in Kathiawar where his grandfather and father were prime minister of that small royal state. He was sent to Britain to study law an occasion, which served to broaden his mind greatly. [Gandhi bio source 1] Affectionately called the father of the nation he was a man who led a spotless and model life so correct he was able to say, â€Å"My life is My Message† [Sarvodaya]. He acted as a moral leader who taught that freedom was directly related to a moral life and led by example. He inspired so much awe among the great men of the world that Einstein wrote "Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe, that such a one as this, ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth." [Gandhi Research].In short he was a thinker â €Å"who practiced what he preached†. All his simplicity and social involvement was the result of profound thought and religious idealism. Philosophy As a theoretical philosopher, he may fit in more as a religious person who has attained enlightenment than as an originator of totally new line of philosophical thought. â€Å"This is because Gandhi was not a philosopher trying to make sense of the world around him in abstraction. He was essentially a political actor.† [Dasgupta] Most of Gandhi’s potent ideas, like Ahimsa and Non-violence were not exactly originated by him but were of religious origin. In short, for comparative purposes, he was a man who was able to find meaning in life, which for him was God, which he also called the truth. [SOURCE].One of Gandhi’s motivators was also his feeling of religious guilt being a very morally reflective boy from his childhood. Born in a very traditional family environment he felt sorely from the instance of having been engaged in sexual intercourse with his own wife while his father was on his deathbed .Unfortunately while Gandhi was away his father happened to die. He felt very guilty about this, he constantly tried to become a purer man, and his grace spread to the society about him. [Gandhi Autobiography] He was also highly moved by the beauty of the ‘Sermon on the Mount’[New Testament]. Albert Camus [1913- 1960] was born 7 November 1913 in Mondovi, Algeria, into a working-class family and grew up in poverty. His mother Catherine Helene Sintes was an illiterate cleaning woman of Spanish origin. Lucien Auguste Camus, his father, was an itinerant agricultural laborer He died when Camus was as a one year old of his war wounds in 1914 after the Battle of the

Personality Theory of Sigmund Freud Essay Example for Free

Personality Theory of Sigmund Freud Essay According to Freud, mankind has only two drives that determine all thoughts, emotions, and desires- the need for sex and aggression. Sex is the equivalent of life- after all it is how we procreate the species and continue our lineage. Aggression often leads to its equivalent – death- which is also a control measure for procreating the species as it allows us to remove an adversary that may prevent procreation. Freud proposed that there are three levels to our personalities- the Id , the Ego, and the Superego. At birth, we are born with the Id, which he described as being the part of the personality that demands our basic needs. It is important because it drives our instinct to obtain our basic needs and keep ourselves alive. It looks only for satisfaction of a hunger, whether it is for food, comfort or any other pleasurable sensation. As a child interacts in his first three years of life, the Ego begins to form. The Ego begins to realize there are others that have needs and that interaction in the world means thinking of this and responding accordingly. Around five, the formation of the Superego starts as the child becomes trained in the moral and ethical ideas of his caregivers- it is often compared to the conscience. Throughout the rest of our life the Ego serves as the mediator between the Superego and the Id, keeping us from becoming either totally self-centered and demanding or rigid and unbending in our interactions with others. In the fights with the Id and Superego, the Ego develops various defense mechanisms to help keep the balance. These defense mechanisms help the ego sate the id’s impulsiveness without offending the Superego’s moral position- all the while keeping reality in check. Some of these defenses include denial, intellectualization, regression and sublimation. Perhaps the most debated of Freud’s writings is his theory of psychosexual development and it’s five stages. The first stage, which stretches from birth to 18 months, is the oral stage where the baby is focused on the pleasures associated with sucking. From 18 months to age three, the child is in the anal stage, where pleasure is derived from retaining and releasing. The phallic stage covers age’s three to six, in which the pleasure zone switches to the genitals. This is the stage in which the Oedipal complex comes into play. The latency stage stretches from age six to puberty during which pleasures are repressed in order for learning to take place. From puberty to death, we are in the genital stage in which our pleasure derives from the genitals. While many of his theories are not as popular today, Freud laid the groundwork for understanding the human mind. References Heffner, Christopher L, â€Å"Personality Theory† retrieved on May 29, 2009 from http://allpsych. com/personalitysynopsis/freud. html Stevenson, David B. â€Å"Psychosexual Stages of Development† retrieved on May 29, 2009 from http://www. victorianweb. org/science/freud/develop. html Felluga, Dino. Modules on Freud: On Psychosexual Development. Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Purdue U. retrieved on May 29, 2009 from http://www. purdue. edu/guidetotheory/psychoanalysis/freud. html.

Creative Commons Essay -- Music Musical File Sharing Essays

Creative Commons Creative Commons encourages artists to share and distribute their work for free. And that could be the key to a new multibillion-dollar industry. People can widely redistribute other people works, as long as they provide the credit to the authors; create new works based on an existing ones, provided they offer those derivations back to the public on the same terms. This paper analyzes the conflicts between the need of technology for creativity and innovation versus the legal aspect of copyright. An alternative emerging approach for licensing music, software, research paper and many other resources on the internet, creative common sharing copyright, is introduced. The paper does not analyze if creative commons is ethical or not; the answer will be yes under all ethical approaches. An ethical analysis on intellectual property, using multiple approaches, is instead presented. Technology and Legal Trend Restriction imposed by intellectual property law, for someone like Laurence Lessig, chairman is a professor of law at Stanford and founder of the School's Center for Internet and Society, have run out of control. The restriction impose by the market and by the state are affecting and threatening internet. Changes in the copyright and patent laws and the regulation of broadcast seem to protect the interest of few against new way of doing things. Law and technology are constantly increasing control on the uses of creative works at a level never seen in history before. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) does not permit, under the law, the usage of copyrighted material for fair use. Bill Gates recently stated that "If people had understood how patents would be granted when... ...andy Starr, The Creative Commons, February 2004, http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA401.htm 4. Joe Kaplinsky, Who owns ideas?, Frebruary 2002, http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/00000002D42C.htm 5. Sandy Starr, Copycat copyright, March 2003, http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/00000006DCC2.htm 6.Chris Evans, Tightening the net, June 2002, http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/00000006D929.htm 7.Dwight Duego, The boundary of Intellectual Property, January 2004, http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=8778 8. Mark Alfino, Intellectual Property and Copyright Ethics, Business and Professional Ethics Journal, Vol.10 No.85, http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/alfino/dossier/Papers/COPYRIGH.htm Useful Links 1. www.creativecommons.org 2. http://www.lessig.org 3. http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/ 4. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/

A Human Is A Complex Organism

Human beings are complex and special organisms as there is a complex organisation of cells in the human body. The organisation in the human body is summarised as follows: Cells—> Tissues—> Organs—> Systems—> Organism.The same type of cells which carry out a specific function are organised into a tissue. For example, a group of nerve cells form a nerve tissue. They are organised to work together to perform specific functions as the result of cells in the human body do not work individually.An organ is a group of tissue that cooperates to carry out a specific life process. For examples, epithelial tissues form blood vessels. Several organs are organised into a system.Each system consist of several organs which are organised to carry out life processes such as respiration, reproduction and digestion.Various systems in the human body are well organised to carry out all the life processes efficiently. They are able to function because the cellular components wo rk together to ensure the survival of human beings.The human brain is well developed to integrate information's and store them as memory. This allows human beings to have the ability to talk, think rationally, create new things, learn from experience and use languages. The ability to do all these makes us really special compared to other organism.Water is driven into the tanks to raise density and allow the submarine to sink and it also pumped out to reduce density and hence allow the submarine to float. The tanks can be filled with water and air, which allows the submarine to sink or rise in the water. When a submarine is floating, its ballast tanks are filled with air, which makes it less dense than the sea water it displaces hence allowing it to float. Submarines sink when water is let into the ballast tank. This is because the submarine's density becomes greater than that of the surrounding water, resulting in negative buoyancy and causing it to sink.

Womens Clothing in the Ancient World