Mainstream Culture and Media after the World War II

Marxist literary criticism as defined by Peter Barry approaches a literary text through terms introduced in Karl Marx’ and Friedrich Engels’ Communist economic theory. Their jointly written text titled The Communist Manifesto called for a society with “state ownership on industry… rather than private ownership”. The social theory later became known as Marxism. As stated in Barry’s text, “The aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless society, based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange” (156). One of the theory’s main aspects looks to the “exploitation of one social class by another. The result leaves one class alienated.” Central to Marxism is a belief in its ability to change the material world, which it theorizes. According to Marxist theorists, only through conflicts between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, can the status quo positively change (157).

Entertainment, how much do we actually understand and enjoy entertainment? Well, during world war 1 or 2, entertainment can be important to survive through the tough times, especially the soldiers. Thus, I am bringing this essay- How much did entertainment during world war 1 or 2 affect the morale of the soldiers, especially for those who share a similar interest on this topic. Well, I know others think that there are many other factors that affect morale, such as food, and probably the well-being of the squad.

Jenkins argues that American popular culture will be redefined by the struggles over convergence and media. With the idea of profit in mind,

Does Pop Art form a critique of post-WWII society and culture or is it a celebration of high

During WWII, media was a huge part in trying to rally up the people to help in war efforts. . Great Britain was in major need and were willing to do anything.

Any time there’s a war, entertainment always adapts to the mood of the country. (How did World War 2 change entertainment on the home front)

These changes all lead back to the media of the 1960 's and their involvement in documenting and reporting the Vietnam War. Aside from these social and political changes, thanks to the media of the 1960 's, the 21st century has been molded accordingly. Not only has television technology skyrocketed, but according to the Nelson Company, 96% of Americans as of 2015 now own a television in their homes. And with more families owning a television, the more they are informed by T.V reporters and the news channels. Americans are fed information from the country and other nations by news anchors. Thanks to the media, Americans of the 21st century have become more informed about the world affairs and are able to assess whether or not they are in danger of any terrorist attacks and brewing conflicts between nations. The media of the 1960 's helped news reporting evolutionize the way that it has. However that 's not to say that television reporters are not biased, because they are. Nowadays, it seems that reporters only tell one side of the story, and give their opinions far too frequently. Instead of progressing, reporters seem to be straying from the truth, using bait title methods and cliff hangers to increase their viewers and in return, earn them a couple bucks. It 's quite evident to everyone that American politics and news reportings are extremely biased. However, regardless of their flaws, whether it 's peace protests, violence, alien country attacks and even political

“The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer is a pivotal article in history that changed the way in which many communications scholars viewed media. Both authors were members of the Frankfurt School, a school of thought which looked further into Karl Marx’s theories about capitalism and the issues of mass production. Published in 1944, Adorno and Horkheimer revealed their beliefs that the media, much like the economy, is becoming mass produced, and is therefore turning people in society into media-consuming robots. Industrialization created work lives for people in which they would work on only one part of a larger machine. As a result, they felt less involved in the completion of the project as a whole, and therefore felt less pride in their jobs and their lives in general. Instead, these people turned to media and pop culture so that they would feel more fulfillment within their lives. Adorno and Horkheimer believed that these people had a reduced capacity for original thought because media is now force feeding them the ideas of what they can think and feel. This essay will prove that although Adorno and Horkeimer’s points were justified through the eyes of authors George Lipsitz, Lev Manovich, and Susan J. Douglas, there are still exceptions to their theories that they do not account for.

Martin Mayer in his book Madison Avenue, U.S.A (1958) provided an insider’s view of the industry, noting that the workers are faced with ‘brutal hours’ and dogged by ‘psychological insecurity’ (43). Advertising soon degenerated into a culture of deception and Halliwell says that slowly “the postwar promise of self-determination often degenerated into subservience to a technocratic society run by a power elite intent on hoodwinking consumers” (22). Harvard economist John Galbraith in The Affluent Society (1958), notes that the decade is characterised by its emphasis on productivity which became “the summum bonum of liberal economc policy” (20). In America the social values were supplanted through dissemination of conventional wisdom not

Marxism is a perspective that was first introduced in the mid 1800’s by Karl Marx and is still applied to situations today. Marxism believes that the mode of production in society determines the social relations of productions (Mack & Ott, 2016). It is considered to be a materialistic philosophy as it has a strong focus on the material world and how it plays a part in human thought. This helps in learning more about the product consumption of the media industry and how social institutions such as family structures, religion and education reflect on different

The ideology of Marxism, established by German philosopher Karl Marx, is a collectively known set of assumptions of a political ideology, which focuses especially on analysis of materialist interpretation of historical development, or on class struggle within the society. The primarily approach of Marxism, nonetheless, was the critique of capitalism. The strength of his inquiry lies in belief of inevitable shift from capitalism and he aims to advocate the new form of ideology and economy, the socialism. The title of this essay is provocative as in today´s world, there exist many proponents who claim, the core of Marx conception of ideology is still relevant in the 21st globalised world. However, Marxism is relevant to the extent to which

In times of War, the media plays a crucial role both in reporting, monitoring and giving updates. During the Vietnam War of 1955-1975, the American press played crucial roles of reporting until it ended up shifting its tone under the influence of occurrence of some events like the Tet Offensive, the My Lai Massacre, the bombing of Cambodia and leaking of Pentagon papers resulting into lack of trust in the press (Knightly 1975). From the beginning of the war up to present times there have been undying debates over the role of media in the war. The have been various criticisms over the American News Media’s actions and influences on the outcome of the war. The debate is embedded on the particular political assumptions perceived across the

A Focus group is defined as a research technique that collects data through a group interaction, on a given topic from the researcher. Along with this definition are some essential components. Firstly, it states that, focus groups are research methods devoted to data collection. Secondly, it signifies the interaction of group discussion as a source of data. Lastly, it acknowledges the active role of researchers in establishing the group discussion in order to collect data (David, 1996.p.130).

Adorno and Horkheimer’s essay “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” (1944) describes culture industries, such as film, radio, and magazines, as ideological mediums of domination that reduce consumers into passive subjects. As members of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory which critiqued post World War II Western modernity, Adorno and Horkheimer viewed the culture industry’s standardization and mass production as mechanisms of control under Capitalism, an economic system meant to maintain power among the wealthy. Similarly, Warren Susman’s essay” The People’s Fair: Cultural Contradictions of a Consumer Society” highlights the 1939 New York World’s Fair as a commodity meant to piece the public into a part of a

In 1944, Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, members of the Frankfurt School who fled from the Nazi Germany to the USA, were publishing their seminal essay ‘The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception’. Political critique, their thesis about the ideological domination of capitalism on cultural production is one that persists today and is regularly renewed (Mukerji & Schudson, 1991). Yet, since the first half of the twentieth century, evolutions have occurred within the ‘Culture Industry’, and while the theory – focusing primarily on the music and cinema industries – is still applicable to some features of contemporary ‘cultural industries’ (Hesmondhalgh, 2007), these changes require a contemporary reconsideration of it.