Culture and Industry

Culture and Industry Students Name Institution Culture and Industry Introduction This paper gives a critical analysis of Max and Ardonos article. It does this by comparing it to the works of Michelle Hilmes and Tuttle Howard. It gives an in-depth analysis of the theory of these scholars on the use of mass media and social culture. As they explain, mass media can be used both for the good of the entire society or advance individual goals. However, it is better if a right decision is made to ensure that rational solutions are chosen. The paper aims to define the use of mass media in the classical and contemporary times and the way it can be used to promote good and bad ideologies which can affect the society in different ways. Explanation According to Adorno and Max, the contemporary mass media should be condemned because of the way it is being used to advance selfish agendas of individual institutions of or groups of people. Instead of using it for the benefit of all the people in the society, mass media is now used by the state to sell cultural propaganda and ideologies. This is what many governments have been doing in the world today. For instance, as they explain, the autocratic regimes of Adolf Hitler used newspapers, magazines, radios and films so as to spread their political ideologies to the people of Germany. At the same time, the government of Stalin used media to promote communism in the Union of the Socialist Soviet Republic (USSR). Moreover, mass media industry was used in the United States of America (USA) in which the state took advantage of the Hollywood films to promote its capitalist ideologies (Tuttle, H.N., 2007) The same trend has persisted up to date because a lot of governments still manipulate the media to enable them consolidate their political powers. However, this should not happen because it promotes the misleading of the public in governmental policies and records development, the information which every citizen is entitled to. Instead of manipulating the mass media to mislead the public, the state should know that this is a very bad thing to do. Media is so influential because it is trusted by everybody in the society. It should be used so cautiously, so as to benefit all the people regardless of their social class. One more argument noted is that mass media has been used as a tool for domination. As these authors argue, the media industry has been used to brainwash the masses and dominate over them. This has been done because its role is now perceived as an instrument of control. The same sentiments have been echoed by Tuttle Howard who argues that mass media no longer executes its duties. Instead, it has become a subject of manipulation which is used by the top authorities to assemble all the people. As a result, it has put them into general categories so as to deny personal identity. Meaning, individuals have gradually lost their identities because this can no longer be recognized since it has no significant role to play in their lives, as far as the top authorities are concerned. In this regard, Max refers to the media as an organization from above Meaning, the ordinary citizens have no enough strength to determine how it should be used to satisfy the diverse interest of each and everyone in the society. He goes further to say, In culture industry the individual is an illusion not merely because of the standardization of the means of production. He is tolerated only so long as his complete identification with the generality is unquestioned. This paper accepts that it is true to make such an argument because the media has been used to propagate general ideas. They portray society as an entity which constitutes all, as it shuns away from individualistic ideas which advance the ideas of people as individual persons. As a result of the standardization by the media industry, the spirit of homogeneity has been advanced. Basically, it has become apparent that individual identity has become a matter of the past. It has no important contribution to make in the society any more. In its replacement came the production of a human being as a creature for consumption. The role of a man has been limited to use. A human has lost his or her identity because of the influences of the mass media which has placed as a sub-set of the entire grouping to which an individual belongs. This argument is vague because the media has made human beings to be identified by others and the existence of mass media has placed individuals only to exist because of others. Their identity is received from the larger society. This paper agrees with the philosophies of these scholars because they gave an assertion which depicts the real picture in life. As Tuttle Howard says, individuals are treated as labels. A person is identified with a particular group he belongs to. Individual identity has been replaced by a broader category which states that people inherit traits of their groups. It is the label which is used to categorize people today. Although individualism reins, the fact is that a group identity, which has been promoted by the mass media, still has a great influence on the society. This paper agrees with the assertion that mass media should be condemned for demolishing the initially significant aesthetic value of art. Unlike prominent it was before, art was exclusively used to promote the aesthetic beauty of life in totality. This was done by appreciating the role of individual contributions into the society. In other words, people were not viewed as cliques, but as individual entities with diverse worldviews and contributions which they could make into the society. However, as these scholars argue, this has ceased since then because of the numerous changes in the contemporary art. Unlike the classical art which emphasized on intellectual productions, the contemporary art is merely aiming at entertaining people. In fact, the only important thing to them is to please the viewers by provoking laughter. As Max and Ardono explain, Happiness has now been reduced to laughter. Art is no longer used for educating people. Instead, it is only used for making people laugh. This explains why they claim that, In the false society laughter is a disease which has attacked happiness and is drawing it into its worthless totality. The major players in the arts industry are not ashamed of their acts. They have altered the industry to serve as a center for downgrading societal values. For instance, they have downtrodden the role of love to romance. It is true to argue like this, since the mass media is now used to disseminate pornographic materials which do not add any value to the society. Instead, they only corrupt the minds of the younger generations who are the major consumers of the contemporary art. In his explanation of philosophy, Ardono insists that philosophy should be used I the pursuit of knowledge. In this regard, he recommends that it should be properly and extensively used in the provision of answers to major questions surrounding life. This paper supports this argument because it is true that a proper interpretation of life involves critical thinking coupled with reason. In fact, this commitment was indicated in their work when they decided to incorporate the philosophical ideologies of Fredrick W. Hegel who emphasized the role of rationalism and idealism as the chief sources of knowledge. It is right to say that these are most paramount qualities in accomplishing individual consciousness. As Hegel argues, consciousness is essential in realizing freedom. It is futile for one to lack freedom and harmonious relations in his mind, body and soul. Otherwise, there will be a conflict which may be difficult to tame. This is an informed stance, since it can enable one to make sound decisions. Likewise, it can be a teaching to the mass media to be rational in their decisions. They should know that art is supposed to be used for the benefit of the society. Meaning, the producers of mass media should be rational to ensure that they become utilitarian in their productions. This is the only way through which they can benefit people. Otherwise, they will make art continue losing its aesthetic value. It is true that capitalism is one of the worst ideologies which should not be propagated by the media. As Michelle Hilmes claims, capitalism been used since time immemorial as a tool for expressing dominance of the advantaged groups and suppression of the vulnerable groups. As Karl Marx states, materialism is not good because it brings division into the society and during the classical periods people used to exchange the value of their labor to get material benefit. However, the owners of production had a full control of the means of production. On the other hand, laborers could only provide their services at cheaper prices, but had no say on how it would be used to create wealth. Later, there was rivalry and each of these factions stated to view one another as an enemy. From the above explanation, it appears that capitalism is not a good thing because it advances oppression. With the modern development people have become great consumers. Likewise, there has been mass production which is the only way to satisfy the demands of consumers. The media and art should not be used to advance capitalist ideologies as it used to be done by Hollywood industry in the USA, it should not be manipulated by the state so as to spread capitalist regimes which can be so detrimental in the society. These authors are right when emphasizing the role of the mass media in promoting unity. The mass media should be left free to operate without any limitation. Otherwise, it will align to one section of the society so as to advance its ideas. They say, Under monopoly, all mass culture is identical and the lines of its artificial framework begin to show through. Meaning, the mass media should not be monopolized. If it happens, it will pretend to promote one culture which will be in a contravention of the spirit of tolerance and diversity. Capitalism is bad because it dehumanizes the society. It should be rejected since it leads to dominance and oppression. There should be equality because it can lead to unity and harmony in the society. The other ideology advanced by these authors is about the role of consciousness in the interpretation of the part the mass media plays. In order to shed more light on this issue, the scholars opted to allude to Sigmund Freuds human development psychoanalytic theory. In his work he recognized the role of childhood experiences in the development of ones character. Freud said that the kind of life led by an individual during his or her childhood influences greatly their future development during adulthood. On the other hand, Sigmund argued on the role of unconscious mind in the shaping of characters of people. Concerning this, it is important for the mass media to ensure that they impart the right information on people. The information given should keep on changing depending on time. It can have a very great influence on the kind of culture adopted by people in a given society. As Max argues, it does not mean that the character of a child is determined by the family alone. However, it should be known that a childs immediate environment extends to anyone it interacts with in its everyday experiences. Thus, it is upon the media to ensure that they provide information which reflects the culture of the people. Media has a very great influence on people. Hence, one should be conscious of the type of the message to deliver to the people for their consumption. Culture qualifies to determine the kind of lifestyle adopted by people. Conclusively, the ideas put by these scholars are quite relevant and help in understanding the contribution of mass media in shaping the culture of people in the society. As they explain, every culture has origin and is subject to transformation. Hence, media and art should not be monopolized. Instead, they should be left to freely operate as they strive to sensitize people on the information relevant to their environmental context. Otherwise, it will be misused and ends up by dehumanizing the society. The industry can only enable people to retain the natural meaning of life if it is properly used. Otherwise, it will have to be destroyed. Reference List Tuttle, H.N. The Crowd is Untruth The Existential Critique of Mass Society in the Thought of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Ortega y Gassett. American University Studies Ser. 5, Philosophy Vol. 176) New York Peter Lang. 2007 Print. CULTURE INDUSTRY PAGE MERGEFORMAT 5 Running head CULTURE INDUSTRY 1 Y, iHbW)OrVm,zg23qgOo
4Gh9FWl ToN1(UHLps
WIV32n8MRyXwppHThwRBw)Zi94McJgcYEBVV0DlXEUB/zRC8D5rU6P yQh.w3Dpw(qz5MCGYRTWzlc1_oT od@oJKkV(oMi26PSFnHK utHScV(YWQ OC(GAY2w
zwY,dLrHPU(P7w2,Fnrb9Ow6A)bjVDOFM5r381 Q
H
/zC4hb6lth M6k ckshvN.3 c M 6Q