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Critical Approaches to Media and Popular Culture

By Eric Loveday

Studying the media and popular culture requires an understanding of various critical approaches that focus on media and popular.
Furthermore, aside from understanding these critical approaches, we must be able to identify strengths, weaknesses, and limitations
of each particular approach. Many critical approaches either build off of other approaches, or use the ideas behind other
approaches in a new or slightly different way. It is in the subtleties and minute differences that we can effectively evaluate a critical
media or popular culture approach. Thus far, we have studied three major media and popular culture approaches. They include
Culture and Civilization, Frankfurt School, and Classical Marxism otherwise known as the political economy approach. At first
glance, these three approaches appear very individualistic, almost self-contained. However, as we further examine each approach,
then examine them as a group, convergence becomes readily evident.

Convergence is especially evident when examining the ideas of Frankfurt School, and the ideas of the Culture and Civilization
approach. The culture and civilization approach disapproves of mass culture or popular culture because of the threat that it poses
upon cultural standards, otherwise called norms or morals, and because of the threat that mass culture poses against social
authority or power of the ruling class. The Frankfurt School also disapproves of mass or popular culture. However, the Frankfurt
school has different reasoning behind their belief that mass culture threatens us. First, the Frankfurt school approach agrees with
the culture and civilization approach by feeling that mass culture threatens cultural standards. However, the Frankfurt school feels
that mass culture threatens cultural standards because it depoliticizes the working class. By depoliticizing the working class, social
authority remains. Therefore, both the culture and civilization approach and the Frankfurt school approach believe that mass culture
threatens cultural standards; however, they disagree as to why mass culture has a negative impact on our cultural standards. It is
clearly seen that these two approaches are nearly identical in regards to the effect of mass culture; they simply disagree on the
cause. What does mass culture do to a society which threatens its cultural standards? Both approaches would answer this question
differently; however they would agree that the question itself is both truthful and relevant.

Classical Marxism has strong ties with the Frankfurt school approach. Classical Marxism believes that the ideas of the ruling class
are the ruling ideas. By this, it is meant that the class in power will have control over intellectual production. Marxism believes that
through power, the ruling class could simply subject its people to mass culture which would then hinder the masses from gaining
power or knowledge. The Frankfurt school believes in a similar outcome, however once again the cause is different. The Frankfurt
school believes that the culture industry produces a culture marked by undesirables. This in turn depoliticizes the working class by
limiting its knowledge of political and economical goals that exist within the capitalist society. Therefore, the working class in unable
to gain power or control because of their lack of education or better stated, their "false" education of mass culture. Both views see
power or the ruling class as something desirable to overcome.

Finally, in comparing Classical Marxism with the Culture and Civilization approach it is evident that similarities exist, however, these
two approaches have more distance and distinction then comparing the other approaches to each other. Both culture and civilization
and Classical Marxism rely on authority or the ruling class. For Marxism, the ruling class controls ideas and therefore controls culture
and society. For the culture and civilization approach mass culture is or could be the destroyer of power and social authority. Clearly
these are different approaches to mass culture. One relies on power and control over the people, the other focuses on mass
cultures control over power. Power and authority is vital or key in each approach, but the substantially different view of authority
makes us quickly realize how different these approaches are.

Each approach; culture and civilization, classical Marxism, and Frankfurt school believe that cultural text, mass culture, popular
culture, etc... can have a profound affect. Marxism believes that cultural text can be part of historical change or it could even grant
some sort of stability to the masses. Culture and civilization believes that mass culture is the demise of our knowledge and the
destroyer of social authority. Frankfurt school feels that mass culture destroys the working class, keeps them from full knowledge,
and allows authority and upper class to continue to rule over them. It is important to note that culture has an effect, an exceedingly
strong affect according to these approaches. The effect is different in each approach, but clearly existent.

Marxism appears to be most prevalent in our culture today. The idea of the ruling class having power, and then in a way distribute
its ideas still seems very truthful today. Therefore, I will examine how classical Marxism can be used to understand media. In
particular, I will use Marxism as a way to understand a newspapers setup and who or what has control over what makes it into print
and why. Marxism seems fitting for this evaluation because of the clear hierarchy at newspaper offices and because of the force of
capitalism and ruling ideas behind the mega newspaper franchises of today. To understand the Marxism application to newspaper,
we must first take a brief look at the newspaper in specific, and media in general. Newspaper has always brought news to the
masses. Penny papers pushed circulation into the millions. It has been the one true cheap form of media from its beginning. At times,
its news has been in depth, accurate, and unforgiving. However, during hard times such as during warfare, especially WWI and
WWII, the news is influenced by those in power to become an instrument of untrue propaganda. Newspapers distribute articles filled
with skewed military casualties form military officials, false victories from government officials, and false hopes from the President
himself. Since newspapers reach the masses, it influences them in sometimes good, sometimes bad ways. The powerful ruling class
gives false knowledge to individuals and the masses often believe it to be true. Assumption #1: In the world of newspapers, the
ruling class is the editors. They control each and every word that makes it into print. They are the gatekeepers. Assumption #2:

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Advertising companies influence papers in certain advantageous ways due to their significant, sometimes complete funding of a
newspaper.

If we attempt to use Marxism to get an in depth look at these two basic assumptions, we see that the ruling class, be it the editors by
their title, or the advertisers by their cash influence, have control over some of the means of intellectual production. To determine the
affect editors have on printed news, we would ask questions such as; do editors have a bias towards a certain political part, do they
have a personal goal in mind for the newspaper, what guidelines are given to them when they begin editing, and finally what lines
are drawn for an editor, how far can they go? Some questions of concern over the impact on advertising would be; are newspaper
departments separate from one another, would a contribution in one department result in a change in another department, would a
negative article about a particular company cause that company to withdraw from advertising in that particular paper, and finally,
how much funding of a newspaper is actually provided by the advertisers.

To answer these questions, one would have to interview current editors, survey advertisers, research statistics dealing with funding
a newspaper, read several newspapers daily for content, talk to writers/ columnists, research advertisers and find out what
newspapers they advertise in, and so on. Mainly, first hand research in several areas and surveys could answer some or maybe all
of these questions. Marxism would be a good approach to use for this research because of the skepticism that exists today for those
in power, and America's lack of trust for unbiased newspaper writing. Do you trust what you read? Maybe, maybe not. Marxism
allows us to examine the rich, the powerful, the ruling class, and determine what actual impact they have on us (the masses) and to
what extent they can control our ability to receive true, stimulating, enlightening intellectual production. Marxism attributes nearly full
power to money and the economy, therefore it would be extremely important to examine the impact that those with the money and
those providing money to the newspaper would have on the news that we read everyday.

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