[MUSIC] Hi, and welcome to the week eight of our communication theory course. Last week, we discussed social media and theories related to mass communication and society. Over that part we came to the conclusion that our reality is being constructed by media. This week we are focusing on one very special dimension of the communication theory, it is critical approach. When I say critical, I don't mean judgmental, rather than referring here to the whole body of scholarship that explores historical, cultural, and ideological lines of authority that underlines social conditions. But let's start with the very beginning with Karl Marx. Karl Marx is a German political philosopher and economist, who is the founder of modern communism. With Friedrich Engels, they rolled the Communist Manifesto and launched it into a series of books, most notably the three volume, Das Kapital. Their method is the dialectical analysis. This method, which is the art of knowing truth by uncovering their contradictions in the reasoning of one's adversary exposes to the underlying struggle within opposing forces. The argument here is that the individuals can liberate themselves and change the existing order only by becoming aware of the dialectic of opposing forces in the struggle for power. Karl Marx is the most important figure in this social political theory because his ideas did not only totally change the intellectual history vector but also affected real politics. And thus, the result in countries of Eastern Europe and particularly in the USSR, the communist ideology was established for the full 20th century. First, we cover the main ideas which are narrated in the Communist Manifesto. Marx and Engels argued that the means of production determines the very nature of society. This is the linear idea of the base superstructural relationship. The economy is the base of all social structure, including instructions and ideas. Look at the scheme, shortly describing the foundation of Marxism. Base is a two-fold structure. It consists of the means of production, for example, machines which are used in production and relations of production, which are social classes relationships. Superstructure includes all non-economical spheres, media, culture, politics, and etc. Hence, we can formulate the most important idea in classical Marxism, base shapes the superstructure, superstructure maintains the base. Marx defined his theory as the critique of political economy. His focus was on the last stage of social and economic development, which still remains as the predominant one. To separate the stage from other ones, Marx assumes that the economy is the base of all social structure. Hence, we could separate periods in history according to the main molds of production. In capitalistic systems, profit drives production and thus, dominates labor. Working class groups are oppressed by the group in power who benefit from profit. All institutions that perpetuate domination within capitalistic society arise from this economic system. Only when the working class rises against the dominant groups can the liberation of the worker be achieved. Such liberation furthers the natural progression of history in which forces in a position clash in a dialectic that results to the higher social order. Remember, that dialectic is based on universal laws and the development of nature, human society, and thinking whether eternal moving and changing phenomena of nature and society is based on revealing internal contradictions and the struggle of opposites, which leads to transition from one quality to another. Let's discuss Marx's critique of ideology. Despite the focus on the base, Marx also comments on the superstructure. Hence, we'll move to the critique of ideology, which is formulated in Theses on Feuerbach. His critique is devoted to three understandings of ideology. Hegelian idealism, part of the superstructure, functionally explained false consciousness. We can summarize that for Marxist, ideology is the false consciousness which wrongly navigates people actions. Unfortunately for Marx, his theory per se, became one of the most predominant ideology of the 20th century. Raymond Aron wrote the book Opium of Intellectuals where he criticized the French intellectuals fashion of Marxist views. Overall, a number of approach is to Marxist communication theory can be taken. They all focus on two kinds of problems. The first one is particularly devoted with the ideology, this is the politics of textuality. This approach has to do with the ways the media produce encoded messages, the ways audiences decode those messages, and the power of domination apparent in this processes. Scholars might also study the way certain kinds of media content, such as network news are produced and how those depictions are understood by audiences, so as to perpetuate or oppose the power of certain dominant economic institutions such as government. Let's focus on superstructure, Cultural Marxism. Maybe for the Marxists are not only interested in economic domination but also focus on the culture as a superstructure. In communications, this line of investigation examines the relation amongst media, other institutions, and the ideology of culture. Cultural theorists are interested in how the dominant ideology of a culture subverse other ideologists via social institutions such as schools, churches, and the media. Both traditions focus on the evils of class society and the struggles that occur among different social forces. Gyorgy Lukacs, in history and class consciousness, focuses on the analysis of class consciousness, ideology, and verification. According to him, all work and action has an aspect of consciousness, ideas and material changes of the world are therefore, not independent but inherently connected. [MUSIC]
