The Critical Political-Economy of

Communication
 Political Economy

• Kajian mengenai hubungan-hubungan sosial,

khususnya hubungan-hubungan kekuasaan yang
saling membentuk atau mempengaruhi produksi,
distribusi, dan konsumsi sumberdaya.

• . . . the study of the social relations. Particularly

the power relations, that mutually constitute the
production, distribution, and consumption of
resources (Mosco, 1996; p.25).
 LIBERAL: Individu sebagai principal units of analysis, dan
market sebagai principal structure; dan pertemuan keduanya
dalam proses-proses ekonomi. Concern: Kedaulatan individu
dalam melakukan pemenuhan kebutuhan

LIBERAL:
Kritik thdp “ineffisient and
unproductive mercantilism”

NEO-LIBERAL: Penentuan kombinasi factor-faktor produksi

demi effisiensi dan produktivitas, dimana manusia merupakan
salah satu factor produksi. Concern: Kedaulatan individu dan
pengembangan the science of economics dan pengembangan the
science of economic

Political
Economy
INSTITUSIONAL: Institusi dan teknologi sebagai pembentuk
pasar yang menguntungkan bagi mereka yang menguasainya
Concern: penguasaan institusi dan teknologi yg berimbang.

CRITICAL MARXIAN: Proses dehumanisasi buruh/pekerja dalam

Kritik terhadaLiberalisme kapitalisme: Concern: pengembalian manusia ke hakekat yg
sebenarnya

NEO-MARXIAN: Proses dehumanisasi, hegemoni, dominasi

kapitalisme. Concern: kepentingan publik, mengakhiri
monopoly capitalism, penataan internasional division of labor
 Liberal or “Positive”
(mainstream)

Political Economy
of Mass
Communication

Instrumentalism
(e.g., Herman, Chomsky)

Critical Structuralism
(e.g., Schudson)

“Constructionism”
(e.g., Golding, Murdock)

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 “Theory” in Critical Theories

Theory is not a deductive system of interconnected axioms and laws, but a

critique that reveals true conditions behind “virtual reality”, false
consciousness and beliefs. (Golding and Murdock, in Graham 1992; p. 15).

Criteria of Adequacy
Horkheimer (dalam Bohman, 2005; hal. 1)

Explanatory: harus menjelaskan apa yang salah atau tidak seharusnya dalam
realitas sosial yang ada.

Practical: antara lain mengidentifikasi metode dan aktor-aktor sosial yang

mampu merobah Dan mengoreksi realitas sosial yang ada.

Normative: suatu teori kritis jelas harus menyajikan norma-norma yang jelas,
yang dipergunakan sebagai dasar melakukan judgments dan kritik terhadap
suatu realitas sosial, maupun mengetengahkan tujuan-tujuan praktis yang bisa
dicapai melalui suatu transformasi sosial.
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 VALIDITY

“The test of validity in the case of critical

constructivist research is directly related to its
stated purpose of inquiry. The research is valid to
the extent that the analysis provides insight into
the system of oppression and domination that limit
human freedoms, and on a secondary level, in its
usefulness in countering such systems.” (Clark, 2005):
 rit is
ori K
r Te )
u k u
t p. 31-32
St r 87 ; p
,1 9
(Fay
• Teori yg menjelaskan adanya kesadaran palsu
Theory of • Teori yg menjelaskan terbentuknya kesadaran palsu
False Consciousness • Teori yg menggambarkan adanya kesadaran alternatif

• Teori yg uraikan konsepsi tentang krisis sosial

Theory of Crisis • Teori tentang adanya krisis sosial tersebut
• Teori latar historis krisis dan kaitannya dng kesadaran palsu

Theory of Education • Teori ttng necessary conditions u/ pencerahan masyarakat

• Teori ttng pemenuhan kondisi-kondisi tersebut

Theory of • Teori ttng aspek-aspek yg harus dirobah

Transformative Ation • Teori ttng program aksi untuk transformasi sosial
 Critical vs Liberal Political Economy

Liberal Political Economics Critical Political Economics

Epistemology •Partial: the “economy” as a separate •Holistic: interplay b/w economic

and specialised domain organization and political, social and
cultural life
•“objective” •Social construction

Historicity •A-historical analysis . . . detached f •Historical analysis . . . especially

•rom the specifics of historical time and interested in the investigation and
place description of late capitalism

Issues and Focus •Market structure and mechanism in •The ways that communicative
which consumers choose b/w activity is structured by the unequal
competing commodities on the basis of distribution of material and symbolic
the utility and satisfaction resources

Concerns • Economic Efficiency • The balance b/w capitalist

• Individual sovereignity enterprise and public
“ . . . the greater the market intervention
forces the greater the freedom of • Justice, equity and public
consumer choice” good
 Positive Political Economy
• ‘. . . Seeks out principles and propositions against which
actual experience can be compared in order to understand
and explain, not judge, that experience . . . Is explicitly
theoretical. Its focus is on microfoundations, and it is
grounded in the rational-actor methodology of
microeconomics . . . and its concern with explaining
regularities. (Alt and Shepsle, 1990. Perspective on Positive Political Economy. Cambridge, New York:
Cambridge Umniversity Press; p.1).
 INSTRUMENTALISM
•Focus on the ways that
capitalists use their
economic power with a
commercial market
system to ensure that the
flow of public information
is consonant with their
interests.
•See the privately owned
media as instruments of
class domination.
“CONSTRUCTIONISM” STRUCTURALISM
•Structures: dynamic •Conceive of structures
formation which are as building-like edifies,
constantly reproduced solid, permanent and
and altered through immovable which
practical action. constrain and determine
•Structural level of the outcome of new
analysis is only part of process.
the story . . . economic
dynamic is not a
complete explanation of
the nature of news
production activities.
•. . . structures are
constituted through
action, and reciprocally
how action is constituted
structurally” (Giddens,
1976, quoted in Golding
and Murdock, 1991; p.19)

Herman and Chomsky’s Golding and Murdock Schudson (1986): Relates

“Propaganda Model”
(1988): “. . . the powerful
are able to fix the premises
of discourse, to decide what
the general populace is
(1991): “The state and the
capitalist class operate
within structures which
constrain as well as facilitate,
imposing limits as well as
the outcome of the new
process directly to the
economic structure of
news organizations, and
that “everything in between
 INSTRUMENTALISM
(e.g., Herman, Chomsky)
•Economic determinism . . .
everything can eventually be
related directly to economic
forces
•Privately owned media as
instruments of class
domination ... capitalists use
their economic power with a
commercial market system
to ensure that the flow of
public information is
consonant with their interest
“CONSTRUCTIONISM”
(Golding, Murdock, Mosco)
•Economic forces is not a complete
explanation
•The state and the capitalist class can
not always use media as their
instrument as they would wish. They
operate within structure which
constraints as well as facilitate
•Acknowledge the contradictions in
the structure/system
•Structures: dynamic formation
which are constantly reproduced and
altered through practical action
•Structures are constituted through
action, and reciprocally action is
contructed structurally
STRUCTURALISM
(Schudson)
•Economic determinism
•idem “Constructivism”
•Structures: solid,
permanent, and immovable
•Political economy relates
the outcome of the new
process directly to the
economic structures of
news organization . . .
everything in between is a
black box that need not be
examined
 Change in the Media Industries
structure vs agency

• Economic determinism/reductionism:
faktor-faktor struktural industri media sebagai
penentu perobahan produk yg dikonsumsi dan
mempengaruhi khalayak.
• Cultural determinism/reductionism:
perobahan nilai dan selera khalayak sebagai
penentu perobahan industri media.

Re: structuration

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“The critical perspective holds that knowledge must
be situated historically and cannot be a matter of
universal and timeless abstract and abstractly
related . . . knowledge, and the justification given to
knowledge claims, must be ‘historize’ . . .” (Smith, dalam
Egon Guba 1990; hal.. 167).
 HISTORICITY OF THE
CRITICAL POLITICAL-ECONOMY PERSPECTIVE

Critical Political economy is also necessarily historical, but

historical in a particular sense Critical Political-economis analysis is
a historical analysis . . . especially interested in the investigation
and description of late capitalism . . . (Golding and Murdock, in Curran and Gurevitch,
1991; p..19-20)

Capitalism is a dynamic system which is still in the process of

development. Analysis needed to be both concrete and specific. It is
not enough simply to outline the general features of capitalism; it is
also necessary to show how they were developing and changing in
response to concrete historical situation (Bottomore and Rubel, 1963; pp. 96-97).
 SPECIFIC HISTORICAL CONTEXT

• Neo-Liberalism
• Global Economic Structural Transformation
 NEO-LIBERALISM

A belief in the legitimacy of markets . . . the belief that

unregulated free market is the essential precondition for the fair
distribution of wealth and for political democracy
(Hudson, Mark (1999). “Understanding Information Media in the Age of Neo-Liberalism: the Contribution of
Herbert Schiller”. Progressive Librarian, No. 16. Fall)
 The main points of neo-liberalism:
Martinez, Elizabeth, “What is Neo-Liberalism? A brief definition”. Global Economy, February 26,
2000.

•The rule of the market.

Liberating “free” enterprise or private enterprise from any bond imposed by the
government (the state) . . . Calls for total freedom of movement for capital, goods and
services . . . unregulated markets is the best way to increase economic growth, which
will ultimately benefit everyone.

•Cutting public expenditure for social services

Reducing the safety-net for the poor

•Deregulation:
Reduce government regulation of everything that could diminish profits . . . including
protecting the environment and safety of the job.

•Privatization.
Sell state-owned enterprises, goods and services to private investors . . . in the name of
greater efficiency.

•Eliminating the concept of “the public good” or “community”

and replacing it with “individual responsibility”
Pressuring the poorest people in a society to find solutions to their lack of health care,
education and social security all by themselves – then blaming them, if they fail, as
“lazy”.
 Global neo-
liberalism
phenomenon
The essence of the neo-liberal position
on international commerce is the
proposition that economic growth will
be most rapid when the movement of
goods, services and capital is unimpeded
by government regulation.
MacEwan, Arthur (1999). Neo-Liberalism or Democracy? Economic Strategy,
Markets, and Alternatives for the 21st Century. London: Zed Books; p. 31
. . . the International Monetary Funds and the
World Bank : “. . . built-in systemic mechanism of
economic liberalization, opposing not only socialism
but national capitalism as well, in favor of the
progressive extension of international market
forces”.
Robert E. Wood, “The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in a Changing Wolrld
Economy”. In MacEwan and Tabb. Eds. 1989. Instability and Change in the World Economy. New York:
Monthly Review Press; pp. 298-315.
NEO-LIBERAL MYTHS

. . . every human being is an entrepreneur managing their own

life, and should act as such . . humans exist for the market, and
not the other way around . . . it is good to participate in the
market, and that those who do not participate have failed in
some way (Paul Treanor “Neo-liberalism”: http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/neoliberalism.html)

. . . neo-liberal treat markets, usually without explicit

acknowledgement, as existing outside society and outside history
. . .The market is simply there (MacEwan, 1991, p. 11).

Facts:
•The market is a historically contingent phenomenon
•The market is socially constructed
 The Global Economic Structural Transformation
•high degree of capital mobility . . .
a huge increase of capital and financial markets that are continuously on the lookout for profitable ‘investment’
opportunities, however transitory they may be; the World Bank estimated them at about US$14 trillion dollars
(see, e.g., Chomsky, 2000) . . . the daily turnover on the world’s financial markets has reached US$1.5 trillion per
day (Beeson, 1998).

•increasing separation of the entire financial sector from

underlying real economic activity (where goods and services are
produced), be it domestic or international.
•In addition to a huge increase in the amount of unregulated capital, there was also a very radical change in
its composition. In 1970 – before Nixon dismantled the Bretton-Woods system – about 90 percent of the
capital used in financial transactions, internationally, was for long-term investment trade and about 10
percent for speculation; but now figures have reversed: it is 90 percent for speculation, and about 10
percent for investment and trade (Eatwell, quoted in Chomsky, 2000)
•A good deal of what is described as ‘investment’ has nothing to do with long-term plans to actually
produce commodities for sale in markets.
•All that matters to financial players are knowing which way markets are moving – no matter what is
driving them To some extent, the driving forces for capital mobility are fears, greeds, perception or
‘sudden changes of heart’ (see, for example, Beeson, 1998; and Borsuk, in Emmerson, 1999).
 “Economic fundamentals”

The economy becomes determined more by

factors which are subject to the change of
perception and the flows of information and
less by orthodox economic measures such as
foreign reserves, current account deficit,
trade balance etc.
 How does global neo-liberalism
relate to mass media?

 Mass Media & communication technologies

contribute to the general process of global neo-
liberalism ( re: hegemony and legitimation)
 Neo-liberalism at work in the society as a whole penetrate
media practices institutions, and influence communication
as a social practice
 Three entry concepts (Mosco, 1996)

 Commodification
The process of transforming use values into exchange values (i.e., through
commercialization, liberalization, privatization, and internalization)

 Spatialization
The process of transforming space with time . . . Refers to the growing power
of capital to use and improve the means of transportation and communication

 Structuration
The process whereby structures are mutually constituted with agency
 Commodification
Re: State constitutive activities

 Commercialization
The state replaces regulation which based on public interest with market standards
and establish market regulation

 Liberalization
State intervention to expand the number of market participant

 Privatization
State intervention that sells of public/state enterprises

 Internationalization
State policy to integrate the economy into the global economic system
 How does commodification relate to
communication industries

• “Communication processes & technologies contribute to the

general process of commodification in the economy as a
whole”, and vice versa . . .

• “Commodification processes at work in the society as a

whole penetrate communication processes and institutions . . .
. e.g., deregulation, liberalization of media industries &
telecom sectors
 How does Spatialization relate to
communication industries

• institutional extension of corporate

power in communications industry
• corporate concentration
• horizontal and vertical integration
• conglomerization, cross-media
ownership

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 How does the concept of Structuration relate to the study of
communication industries

“A process by which structures are constituted out of human agency, even as they
provide the very ‘medium’ of that constitution” (Mosco, 1996, 212)

• Looks at agency, social relations, social process, social

practice, social movements . . .
• Looks at economic structure, class, gender, hegemony…
In the social construction of communication industries

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 Issue of concern:
Corporatization of public sphere

Public Sphere - The Ideal Communication Situation

• Requires freedom of speech

• All people must have equal access to speaking.
• Norms and obligations of society are not one sided but
distribute power equally to all strata in society.
The above are not fully possible, but still necessary for complete emancipatory
communication to take place.
 end of part 1

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History
• How to understand the global political
economy
• How has social change happened?
• What have been previous struggles and
how are they the same or different than
current struggles?
• E.g., is globalization new?
• When looking at ‘new’ technologies, can
the past illuminate the present (radio:
Internet)…
Social Totality
• Holistic analysis
• Relationship among commodities,
institutions, social relations, and
hegemony
• What are the connections between
the economic and the political?
Commodity form
• Use of wage labour to produce goods
that are sold in the marketplace
• Media forms: television genres,
databases, PPV
• Commodification of information
• Corporatization of public space
Institutions
• Those that support, sustain, subvert public
and private activities
• Tensions between public vs. private
• Globalization exacerbating nation-state,
capital, labour relationships
• Closely interpenetrated regimes of power
and control in media systems
Social Relations
• How do people engage with the
media?
• Issues of race, class, gender
• Have’s and have-not’s
That H Word – Hegemony

• Process of constituting the common-

sense
• Origins from Gramsci – how to
understand capitalist society
• Used in analysis of social control
• Beyond ideology – appears natural
Some examples from everyday
life…
• We take for granted that…
• Voting = democratic process
• Capitalistic marketplace =
productive & fair society
• Objectivity as cornerstone of
journalism
• (Now, let’s challenge these dominant
hegemonies!)
Moral Philosophical Outlooks
• Social values
• What are appropriate social
benefits?
• An ethics of information in
society…
• E.g., who are the winners and who
are the losers?
Praxis
• In essence, practice & action
• Concerned with social justice
• Fighting for the public interest
• Public intellectual stance
Mosco and Reddick
• “…the study of control and survival
in social life”
• Social transformation, social
totality, moral philosophy, praxis
• Argues for a rethinking of p-e of
communications with entry points
of commodification, spatialization,
and structuration
Commodification
• How capitalism accumulates
capital and realizes value through
the transformation of use values
into exchange values
• In short, the process of
transforming use values into
exchange values
How does this relate to
imcommunication?
• “Communication processes &
technologies contribute to the general
process of commodification in the
economy as a whole”
• Ex: just-in-time manufacturing, quick-
response systems, e-commerce,
information entrepreneurial
And, (this is from Mosco, 1996,
142)
• “Commodification processes at work in
the society as a whole penetrate
communication processes and
institutions, so that improvements and
contradictions in the societal
commodification process influence
communication as a social practice”
• E.g., deregulation, liberalization of
media industries & telecom sectors
Commodification research
• Class power
• Media elites
• Ownership patterns
• Audience commodity
• Government-lobbyist liaisons
Policy Research…
• Policy – how this has contributed to
media commodification (neoliberalism)
• Tensions between public and private
spheres
• Media & democracy
• Public interest (whither the…) – ex:
Aufderheide on US Telecom Act of 1996
Spatialization
• Overcoming the constraints of
space and time in social life
• Coined by Henri Lefebvre
• Innis’ work on time-space
• Castell – “space of flows” in
describing network society
Spatialization related to
communication studies
Spatialization related to communication studies
• Addressed in institutional extension of
corporate power in communications industry
• Analysis of corporate concentration
• Horizontal and vertical integration
• Conglomerization, cross-media ownership
• Media ownership mapping
Spatialization….and policy
• Commercialization
• Privatization
• Liberalization
• Internationalization
Structuration
Structuration
• “A process by which structures are
constituted out of human agency, even
as they provide the very ‘medium’ of
that constitution” (Mosco, 1996, 212)
• Looks at agency, social relations, social
process, social practice, social
movements
• Looks at class, gender, hegemony…