The ‘Culture Industry’ and war coverage

The ‘Culture Industry’, war coverage and Nazi Germany

Below is a propaganda film of German airborne troops in training(1944)

Also, click here for a collection of English translations of National Socialist propaganda for the period 1933-1945.

The ‘Culture Industry’, war coverage and capitalist America

Below is a video clip from the documentary ‘Outfoxed’. This clip shows the positive spin, given by Fox News, that forms the narrative on their coverage of the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq.

Below is a talk given by Dahr Jamail, independent and unembedded journalist, in which he reflects on his eye witness coverage of the occupation of Iraq. Compare his narrative to that of the mainstream mass media.

Another documentary that you might find useful — Weapons of Mass Deception . This documentary investigates the mass media’s coverage of war and specifically the Iraq war. Finally, have a look at this video clip — ‘The Myth of the Liberal Media?” A short video that argues for a propaganda model of news.

Seminar Eight: The culture industry

What do we mean by the ‘culture industry’? In this seminar we will look at the writing of critical social theorists, especially as the term originally comes about through the writings of this school.

Critical social theory and the culture industry

The ‘Frankfurt School’ is probably the most prominent school within the tradition of critical social theory, known through the writings of the mainly German theorists based at the Institut fur Sozialforschung in Frankfurt Germany. It grew to fame from the late 1920s to the early 1930s, with prominent theorists including T.W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Leo Lowenthal, and Eric Fromm. Their writings concentrate on how mass culture and communication plays a role in the social reproduction and domination of capitalism. Coining the term the ‘culture industry’ they meant the production of mass culture in capitalism, which they defined as the “administered … nonspontaneous, reified, phony culture rather than the real thing” (Jay 1973: 216) Phony as it is pre-packaged and produced for mass consumption, whilst also being repressive, as it plays an ideological role in the reproduction of necessary social relations for the capitalist economy.

Herbert’s Hippopotamus: Marcuse and Revolution in Paradise

Below is a documentary that examines the turbulent life in California of political philosopher and prominent Frankfurt School theorist Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979), author of ‘One-Dimensional Man’, ‘Reason and Revolution’ and ‘Eros and Civilization’, among other books, professor of philosophy at the University of California San Diego, and a visionary and influential force for the student movement worldwide during the Sixties and Seventies. Blending archival footage, interviews, re- created scenes and voice-over narration, the video profiles not only the life of Marcuse but also the history of student protest and social activism. The video features interviews with Marcuse’s student Angela Davis, former UCSD Chancellor William McGill, colleagues Fredric Jameson and Reinhard Lettau, and rare footage of Marcuse and former California Governor Ronald Reagan. Directed by Paul Alexander Juutilainen.

Seminar six: The rise and fall of class?

In this seminar we will look at the contested concept of social class. Of all the classical sociologists the works of Karl Marx are central to sociological discussions on class. This is mainly due to the central role class plays in his social analysis, especially in understanding social change. Let us now first turn to Marx and social class, before turning to other theories. Finally considering more contemporary theorists, we will ask if class is still relevant today.