Encoding/ Decoding Stuart Hall By: Maria Abigail A. Jamias
Feb 08, 2016
Encoding/Decoding
Stuart Hall
By: Maria Abigail A. Jamias
Mass communication used to have a linear model
– sender/message/receiver – but it has been challenged through time. One of those who did was Stuart Hall with his Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication. The model presented a four-stage model of communication which will help us understand that communication is not a linear circuit, but a complex structure of relations of encoded and decoded messages.
Abstract
Linear Model of Communication
Sender Message Receiver
Encoding/Decoding
Model
Source: http://melaniemryan.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/hall.jpg
Production Circulation Distribution/Consumption Reproduction Each moment is articulated through
discourse.
Encoding/Decoding Model
Each moment has a product. The products are meanings and
messages. These products operate within the
rules of language.
Television Discourse
Production – message construction The construction of the message is
framed by meanings and ideas. Source of message: audience
Circulation and reception But production and reception are not identical.
No Meaning = No Consumption If meaning is not articulated, there is no effect.
In the communicative process,
distortions may arise. Meaning structure 1 is not
equivalent to meaning structure 2 To sum it all up, televisual
discourse is a complex one.
Production of “what we can know
and say” Discourse is an articulation.
Codes operate in discourse. In some visual signs, certain codes
appear to be so natural.
Discourse
This is because of convention. Umberto Eco explains that
iconic signs “look like objects in the real world because they reproduce the conditions (that is, the codes) of perception in the viewer”.
Denotation Connotation They are not truly distinct. They operate as levels.
Linguistic Theory
Most signs will combine denotation
and connotation. Meanings are not fixed in natural
perceptions. What is fixed are ideological
values.
connotative levels of signifiers are
fragments of ideology In televisual sign: - denotative level is fixed - connotative level is open to transformations - exploitation of polysemic values
Dominant cultural order Dominant or preferred meanings Preferred readings Performative rules - enforce or pre-fer one semantic domain over others Neglect of interpretative work by formal
semiology
Reading is a subjective capacity Controversy on getting messages
across
Dominant-hegemonic position - viewer is operating inside the dominant code - positions are produced by the professional code - professional code operates within the hegemony of the dominant code
Decoding Televisual Discourse
Negotiated Code or position - mixture of adaptive and oppositional elements - acknowledges hegemonic definitions but operates within its own rules
Oppositional Code - understanding literal and connotative inflection but decoding the message in a “globally contrary way”
Althusserianism and Neo-
Gramscian Cultural Studies
Louis AlthusserAntonio Gramsci
Louis Althusser explained the
concept of ideology – that it is not merely an expression, but also a practice. It has an economic base and is in fact a process of transformation. More importantly, ideology is not something limited to the ruling class because it is a two-way street. It affects both the ruling class and the subordinate class. From Althusser, we also understand the concept of the problematic and the practice of symptomatic reading.
Abstract
Neo-Gramscian cultural studies,
on the other hand, explains how hegemony works. More importantly, ‘articulation’ is a key concept in neo-Gramscian cultural studies and this concept was further explained by Stuart Hall.
Abstract
Theorized concept of ideology Social formation - economic, political and ideological Dominant practice depends on
economic production
Althusserianism
“Through ideology, men and
women live their relations to the real conditions of existence.”
A system of representations Process of transformation It is unconscious.
“Theoretical (and ideological)
structure which both frames and produces the repertoire of crisscrossing and competing discourses out of which a text or practice is materially organized.”
Problematic
What it excludes, what it includes What is not said/what is not
done/what is said/what is done Encourages texts to question itself. “…divulges the undivulged.”
The problematic is deconstructed
through sympotamatic reading Absence of repressed words Multiplicity of meanings Production of new knowledge figuration
Ideology represents imaginary
relationships. It is a lived, material practice. It is done through Ideological State
apparatuses. Ideology is the creation of subjects. Ex. advertising
Althusserianism
Concept of hegemony “…a political concept developed
to explain (given the exploitative and oppressive nature of capitalism) the absence of socialist revolution in the Western capitalist democracies.”
Neo-Gramscian Cultural Studies
A condition in process Not only rules, but leads There is a high degree of
consensus. It is a result of negotiation.
Organized by organic intellectuals They are class organizers.
Hegemony in popular culture. Ex. Bob Marley
Articulation is a key term. Stuart Hall – articulation is to
express and to join together Meaning is the result of an act of
articulation.
Meaning is determined by
discursive location and social context.
Meaning is a social production.
But people are not ‘cultural dupes’.
An example of which is popular culture.
Case Studies
Jenny Kitzinger
From this reading, the researchers
studied the way audiences reacted to media’s coverage on AIDS and sexual abuse. The study showed that the audience have different readings and interpretations of media texts because of their personal experiences and socio-political standpoints. This is not undermine, though, the potential of media to influence.
Abstract
Recall References to Mass Media Fluency in generic conventions of
news Media as channel of basic information Media as conveyers of false
information
Common Findings
52 focus group discussions
Visual representations were important.
‘the face of AIDS’ Africa as cradle of HIV infection AIDS associated with ‘perversity’
Audience understandings
of AIDS
Interviews with journalists and sources Examination of media content and
production process
Danger from strangers (child abduction) Entwined with series of high-profile
social work scandals Social workers looking big and bad
Audience understandings of sexual abuse
Not all perceptions are because of
media coverage. structured gossip Media messages interact with the
daily lives of people
Social and Cultural Context of Audience Understandings
Identifying diversity and resistance Coverage are not homogenous Consumption of different messages People’s social, political and personal
positions and identifications People can also challenge media
representations
Audience Diversity and Resistance
There are limits to skepticism, logic and
political consciousness. There are also limits to personal
experiences. Some people can take in information
while rejecting the source. Personal experiences may be too
personal.
Limits
Media messages can take
precedence over what people know from elsewhere.
‘media-free zone’ One’s understanding of the world
is a process.
Media has the potential to influence. Media representation matters. Cultural debate must include
production, content and reception of such messages.
Ability to deconstruct messages is not the same as rejecting the message.
Conclusion
Audiences may share the same
meaning but react differently. ‘Deviant readings’ may also be
influenced by media. Active audience is not immune
from influence.
Hall, S. in Durham and Kellner, Eds. (2001). Media
and Cultural Studies: Keyworks. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Storey, J. (1993). An Introduction to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, 2nd ed. London: Prentice Hall. 115-131
Kitzinger, J. “A Sociology of Media Power: Key Issues in Audience Reception Research” in Thornham, S., Bassett, C., and Marris, P. Eds. (2009), Media Studies: A Reader, 3rd ed. New York: New York University Press.
Sources
Hall, J. (1978). Gender Effects in Decoding
Nonverbal Cues. Retrieved fromhttp://www.communicationcache.com/upload
/1/0/8/8/10887248/gender_effects_in_decodig_nonverbal_cues.pdf.
Rotter, G.S. & Rotter, N.G. (1988). Sex Differences in the Encoding and Decoding of Negative Facial Emotions. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00986931.
Suggested Readings
Reception of Female High School
Students on News Reports about Rape Victims
Reception Analysis of the Youth on the primetime soap opera Got to Believe
Perception of Social Reality of Children who are heavy users of technology
Research Topics