COM 327 January 16 2014 Lineup : 1. Quiz 2. “Communication as culture”

COM 327January 16 2014

Lineup:1. Quiz2. “Communication as culture”3. Carey & critical media studies4. Group work

1. Both models of communication that Carey presents in Section I have their origin in ________.

a) politicsb) economicsc) agricultured) religion

2. In Section 1, the two models of communication Carey discusses are the “transmission” model, which he sees as dominant in American culture and thought, and the ______ model.

a) exchangeb) communistc) rituald) utopian

3. In Section 1, what media does Carey use to compare these two models of communication? a) newspaperb) typewriterc) telegraphd) fax machine

4. According to Carey (in Section II), the Chicago School offers the following definition of communication:"a  ______ process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed”a) boringb) symbolicc) behavioristd) scientific

James Carey“Communication as Culture”

Book was published in 1989, but ideas in it were developed much earlier.

Story up to now:

What makes an approach “critical”?

What are “systems of differentiation”?

What are the characteristics of “power”? How does power operate?

Why are “media effects” theories not great for understanding our relationship to technology?

Today: Looking at Carey’s notion of “communication” and its theoretical foundations.

Communication theory (in America) before Carey (and still to this day):

Mathematical Theory of Communication (Shannon and Weaver, 1948)

“imparting” “sending” “transmitting”

“it is a view of communication that derives from one of the most ancient human dreams: the desire to increase the speed and effect of messages as they travel in space”

“communication is a process whereby messages are transmitted and distributed in space for the control and distance of people” (p. 15)

Ritual view of communication

“sharing” “participation” “fellowship”

“the maintenance of society in time” (p. 18)

“operates to provide not information but confirmation, not to alter attitudes or change minds but to represent an underlying order” (p. 19)

the news: transmission view

“questions arise as to the effects… on audiences; news as enlightening or obscuring reality, as changing or hardening attitudes” (p. 20)

the news: ritual view

“”news is not information but drama”(p. 21)

“newspapers do not operate as a source of effects or functions but as dramatically satisfying, which is not to say pleasing, presentations of what the world at root is” (p. 21)

“communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained,

repaired, and transformed” (p. 23)

“reality is brought into existence, is produced, by communication – by, in short,

the construction, apprehension, and utilization of symbolic forms” (p. 25)

“we first produce the world in symbolic work and then take up residence in the world we

have produced” (p. 30)

Theorists Carey uses to discuss the “ritual” model of communication

Raymond Williams (1921-1988)- one of the founders of cultural studies- “culture is ordinary”- key work: Culture and Society (1958)

Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)- Canadian media theorist - ‘rock star’ academic- our relationship to communication is like a “fish in water”- key work: Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1962)

Erving Goffman (1922-1982)- also born in Canada (pattern..?)- we are always “performing” our identity- key work: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)

NONE of these were “communication” theorists or researchers…

Raymond Williams: “cultural studies”

Previous notions of culture:

1. Culture as foreign

2. Culture as breeding

Culture is1) The everyday2) The realm of signification & communication – media

Established the field of “cultural studies” – aka, the role of media in our daily lives

Carey’s connection: culture IS communication.

Marshal McLuhan

“One thing about which fish know exactly nothing is water, since they have no anti-environment which would enable them to perceive the element they live in.”

We’re the fish; media is the water.

It’s impossible to separate our understanding of the role of media in society from the effects that media HAS on structuring our thought and communication.

Carey’s connection: Communication is the act of constructing and maintaining the reality we live in.

Erving Goffman

“Dramaturgical” view of social relations: we’re constantly performing.

We present different versions of ourselves depending on the situation & audience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKlDBi0cyIA

Carey:We maintain – ‘co-construct’ – our culture through interactions with each other & with various media forms & practices.

(Also: we re-affirm our own identity/ies through these practices)s

“Ritual” vs “transmission” views

Not just academic theories, but ways of understanding, enacting, and living our relationship with each other & with media.

Communication as transmission:“a process whereby messages are transmitted and distributed in space for the control of distance and people” (p. 15)

Communication as ritual:“directed not toward the extension of messages in space but toward the maintenance of society in time; not the act of imparting information but the representation of shared beliefs” (p. 19)

After last year’s Newtown shootings:

Game-burning at Southington, Connecticut (30 miles from Newton)

Which model of communication (ritual vs transmission) were they acting on?

Which model of communication (ritual vs transmission) would they have acted out?

Carey & communication studies: THE AFTERMATH

1. Opened up the communications theory itself to critical attention- attention to the ways “effects” research shores up political & economic power

2. Showed the ways in which we construct the world through communication…- Political economy (the study of capitalist production & its relation

to socio-economic privilege, aka CLASS)- Feminist theory (the study of gender as something we DO rather than as something we ARE)- Queer theory (the study of heterosexism, its production, and its

effects)- Post-colonial theory (the study of imperialism and its relationship

to ethnicity)- Race theory (the study of race as a social, political & economic construction)

Transmission Ritual“a process whereby messages are transmitted and distributed in space for the control of distance and people” (p. 15)

“directed not toward the extension of messages in space but toward the maintenance of society in time; not the act of imparting information but the representation of shared beliefs” (p. 19)

Facebook Political/organization posting status; “pics or it didn’t happen”; birthday notifications

Constant / compulsive checking. Symbolic “in a relationship”; birthday greets

Texting “I’m getting groceries” Daily/nightly greetings; length of time between reception & reply. “K.”

Email Only for work & school

Movies See movie -> do movie Date -> spending time together

YouTube Expressing certain ideas; video game walkthroughs; how-to’s

Regular posting for $$; addictive or compulsive watching (‘every week at x’)

Clothing Uniform: display authority; hide difference; gender; likes/dislikes – sports teams

Uniforms: creating unity; different clothing for different occasions

In groups of 4, consider how ‘transmission’ vs ‘ritual’ models would frame one of the following technologies… use specific (everyday!) examples.