Week 2 - Barker, Chapter 3 (Ideology)

Arnold and Leavis defended high culture. Williams = more inclusive. Culture not from individuals but collective - shared meanings. Williams stressed anthropoligical approach that opened up study. Culture = "whole way of life." Who forms meanings - receivers or producers? Marxism = "economic mode of production shapes the cultural superstructure." Sony Walkman (shows textbook dating) - example of the circuit of culture. Production, Identity, Representation, Regulation, Consumption and back. Gramsci's hegemony - ruling class uses culture to gain "assent." Challenges = culture too varied to maintain any hegemony. Ideology: "the 'binding and justifying of ideas' of any social group requiring no concept of truth.