Hello readers! I am Divya Parmar and I welcome you all to read my blog. This blog is a response to the thinking activity which is given by Dr. Dilip barad. In this blog i will cover the points like what is cultural studies and what is the role of power, Midia and Truly Educated person.
What is Cultural studies?
To understand cultural studies we have to understand first what is culture?
"the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic" (Merriam Webster)
culture, behaviour peculiar to Homo sapiens, together with material objects used as an integral part of this behaviour. Thus, culture includes language, ideas, beliefs, customs, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, works of art, rituals, and ceremonies, among other elements. (britannica)
Cultural studies is a field of theoretical, political, and empirical engaged culture analysis which was initially developed by British academicians in the late 1950s, 60s and 70s.
It has been taken up and transformed by many scholars in different disciplines around the world. Cultural studies are acknowledged today as interdisciplinary subjects and sometimes as anti-disciplinary.
A cultural study is an innovative multidisciplinary field of research and teaching investigation of ‘culture’.
It creates and transforms the individual experiences, everyday life, social relations and power. In research and teaching the culture is understood as the human expressive, symbolic activities and distinctive ways of life.
It combines the studies of social sciences and humanities in order to draw methods and theories from literary studies, sociology, communications studies, history, cultural, anthropology and economics. It addresses new questions and problems of today’s world.
It is devoted to understanding of the processes in societies and diverse groups with history, community life, and the challenges of the future.
Power in Culture:
In a narrowly defined version of cultural studies, the typical questions have been about the production or organization of meaning as a site of power.
Cultural processes are important and interesting because they are a medium through which powerful social relationships are played out and in which possibilities for social betterment are opened up or closed down. A typical way of posing ‘power questions’ has been in terms of identity, especially where identity is seen as a problematic issue, and where individual and collective identities are understood as being always created under social pressures.
The cultural question can be asked differently. Implicit in the culture-as-power issue and the questions that arise from it is the idea that everyone participates, however unequally, in the cultural process of making meanings and fixing and shifting identities.
Yet the best known definition of the cultural, and perhaps still the dominant one in everyday use, tends to narrow the cultural field down to specialized, often elite, ‘high cultural’ practices and products which are distinguished from ‘common culture’ and which are ‘owned’ by experts or privileged groups.
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In our regular life we are following one or another system which is made by someone who is in power. So what is power? Power is something we are often uncomfortable talking about! That's especially true in civic life, how we live together in community. In India we follow democracy. Democracy means something which can be ruled by people or period. When we talk about power, the term arrives is to control something or someone! Whether it is life, rights, belief, thinking process, choice to live life or we can say that freedom of state of mind.
The question comes from where Power comes from? How is it exercised? And what can we do to become more powerful in public life? "Power is the ability to make others do what you would have them do" whether it is family, relationship or workplaces!
Civic Arena:
Power means getting a community to make the choices and take the actions that you want. Here we find six major or specific sources of civil power.
1 . Physical Force : So the first civic source is physical Force and capacity for violence. Control of the means of force, whether in the police or a Militia.
2 . Wealth: The second core source of power is wealth. Money creates the ability to buy results and to buy almost any other kind of power.
3 . State Action: The third of power is state Action, government. This is the use of law and bureaucracy to compel people to do or not to do certain things. In democracy the people are there to give Power position to the government. In dictatorship, state power emerges from the threat of force, not consent of the governed.
4. Social Norms: The fourth type of power is social norms or what other people think is okay. Norms don't have the centralised machinery of government. They operate in a softer way, peer to peer. They can certainly make people change behaviour and even change laws.
5 . Ideas: The fifth form of power is ideas. An idea, individual liberties, say or racial equality, can generate boundless amounts of power if it motivates enough people to change their thinking and actions.
6 . Numbers : The six sources of power are numbers, lots of humans. A vocal mass of people creates power by expressing collective intensity of interest and by asserting legitimacy.
How does power operate?
There are three laws of power worth examining.
Power is never static
Power is like water
Power Compounds
What is the role of Media in Culture?
The impact of social media on culture cannot be overestimated. It had a great influence on the cultural changes in the society so that the role of men and women has been defined by the mass media. In the process, it affected both intercultural and international communication. Many people globally have been trying to understand the meaning of culture and its influence on how human beings behave. So, how does the media influence culture and society?
Learning about other cultures through the media can create some stereotypes which can be negative at times. The media plays an important role in educating the people and making them familiar with some cultures so as to avoid stereotypes. Examples of stereotypes that have been created by the media include portraying Muslims as terrorists and Africans as illiterates.
By educating the people about different cultures and emphasizing on the positive aspects, the media can play an important role in constructing the cultures of different societies across the world and in the process avoiding prejudice and stereotyping. The mass media has got a large audience that gives a lot of power to influence many societal issues. The media advocates for social concerns and enables communication and exchange of positive cultural values among different societies. The mass media presents information about a particular region of culture to the whole world and it is therefore very important for the information to be properly investigated before presentation. Global sports such as the World Cup enjoy a lot of following across the world and the media has the power to influence many cultural aspects during such tournaments.
Many ideas concerning male and masculinity have been constructed by the media. The media portrays a man as brave and without emotions and women as fearful and emotional in television programs and movies. The media forms the idea of a real man in the society as the one who is aggressive and financially stable. Women are portrayed as housekeepers and the children grow up with this information.
The media highlights different values and norms and the possible consequences of failing to adhere to societal norms and values. Through the media, society is able to learn how to behave in different circumstances according to one’s role and status. The media helps in portraying models of behavior that are supposed to be followed by the society and its members.
the media has a very important role in shaping our culture. The media has promoted globalization and in the end people from different nationalities and cultures are able to exchange values and ideas that are beneficial to their lives.
The mass media and the internet have greatly contributed to cultural construction of many societies across the world and therefore making them become very important agents of socialization. The mass media agents such as the television, internet, films and radio have been very instrumental in promoting socialization by providing a perfect platform for exchanging ideas and opinions on various issues that affect life. Networks have also been able to affect different cultures across the world.
Some of the issues highlighted in films and movies are always fiction but society tends to practice them in reality which has led to some serious consequences. Networks and organizations have made the world become a global village. Networks and organizations will no doubt continue to influence the culture of many societies since there is so much information being passed across different networks and organizations. The media will continue to influence people’s way of life both in the present and in the future.
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