Marxism & Cultural

Studies

Economic Determinism,

Critical Theory, Ideology,

Hegemony

Intro

• Classical Marxism – Base and

Superstructure & the problem of Ideology

• Frankfurt School & Critical Theory

(Adorno 1903-69 ,

Horkheimer 1895-1973)

• Gramsci

(1891-1937, imprisoned 1926)

& Hegemony

Classical Marxism

• 1) production and distribution of ideas is

concentrated in the hands of the owners of

the means of production

• 2) their ideas therefore tend to predominate

and dominate the thoughts of subordinate

groups

• 3) this ideological domination prevails in

relationships of exploitation

Classical Marxism

Base and Superstructure (family – state [legal-

political] – religion – culture & mass media –
education)

The mode of production of material life

determines the general character of the social,
political and spiritual processes of life

The production of ‘false consciousness’ (‘opium

of the masses’)

The base-superstructure model

Superstructure

Base

Base/Superstructure

The basic problem:

• Economic

Determinism

(or how much ‘freedom’ is

there in the
superstructure?)

Frankfurt School

Theodor Adorno 1903-69 Max Horkheimer 1895-1973

Walter Benjamin 1892-1940 Herbert Marcuse 1898-1979

• Institute for Social Research 1923

• Context/Questions:

• Classical Marxists too focused on economy

• Why no working class revolution? What is

working class consciousness ? (‘False’
consciousness)

• Pessimistic, high culture

intellectuals (philosophy,
aesthetics): avant garde and
authentic culture destabilises,
disturbs - what makes you
happy is bad

Frankfurt School

Mass Culture is HOMOGENOUS and PREDICTABLE

• Masscult doesn’t destabilise established power, it

MAINTAINS SOCIAL AUTHORITY

• Conformity: the ‘decieved masses’ are caught in a

CYCLE OF MANIPULATION

• The masses are dicouraged from thinking BEYOND

THE CONFINES OF THE PRESENT

• Capitalism/the culture industry is able to prevent the

formation of oppositional or deeper desires

Hollywood and Hitler

•

The capitalist system is TOTALISING

•

Masscult is not merely escapist but INCULCATES AND

SUPPPORTS ITS OWN VALUES AND PRINCIPLES

(Westerns - naturalisation of struggle, power,

competition; Donald Duck accommodates us to brutal

reality)

•

Masochism: The pleasures of suffering & subjugation

(Freud & psychoanalysis)

Frankfurt School

Depriving authentic culture of its CRITICAL function

The culture industry, after profits and

homogenization, seeks also to deprive

‘authentic’ culture of its critical function

through STATISTICAL

COMMODIFICATION, which neutralises

it, flattens it out:

(Smooth/coffee table jazz; Beethoven as

mad isolated genius; rap as politically

neutralised and based on mainstream values)

• Work stunts the senses

escapism consolidates this and

supports passive acceptance

only ‘authentic culture’ outside

the culture industry can BREAK

THE CYCLE (e.g. Radiohead?)

Critical Theory & the critical

stance

• Happiness and relaxation are signs of accommodation

to the system

• The Modernist, Avant Garde work of art that turns

against itself (Berg, Beckett)

• So, AUTHENTIC and INAUTHENTIC culture - Adorno:

difficulty and ease of accessing a work’s message

• (Frankfurt perspectives in Central European Culture:

e.g. The Delfonics v King Crimson)

Frankfurt School

cultural binaries

• Real/False
• European/American
• Multi-dimensional/One-dimensional
• Active consumption/passive

consumption

• Individual creation/mass production
• Imagination/distraction
• Negation/social cement

Frankfurt School

• Continuity with ‘culture and

civilisation’

• Culture Industries as

‘superstructural’

• Legacy: Deep intellectual mistrust of

mass/popcult – but knowledge of it

Antonio Gramsci

• Prison: 1929-37

• Publication of Prison Notebooks in

English in the 1970s (after Althusser)

• Massive impact on Cultural Studies

from the 80s on

Gramsci & Hegemony

beyond economic determinism and abstract theorising?

Q: Why the rightward swing in 1920s/30s?

• 1) Economic crises in themselves CANNOT SUBVERT

CAPITALISM

• 2) Class struggle should be CULTURAL as well as

political

Althusser

• RSAs

• ISAs

• Interpellation

• Marxism as a science

Hegemony

There are COMPETING IDEOLOGIES operating in

every culture that are not reducible to economic
relations

Hegemony: A process whereby the SPONTANEOUS

CONSENT OF SUBORDONATE GROUPS IT
ACHIEVED

Coercive and consensual forms of control

Ideology is not forced but PERSUASIVE – give and

take

Gramsci

• Certain ideologies achieve

dominance or hegemony, but it is
ALWAYS PARTIAL

Organic Intellectuals

• Sub-ordinate groups must find their

values reflected in the hegemonic order

• Popular culture is where hegemony is

produced, reproduced and transformed

• ORGANIC INTELLECTUALS

articulate through the language of culture, the feelings and

experiences WORKING CLASS/MINORITIES/SOCIALLY
EXCLUDED GROUPS – e.g. SOAP OPERAS

‘Articulation’ in popular

culture

Articulation – partial fixing of meaning

Stuart Hall (CCCS) – texts & practices are not

inscribed with fixed meanings - generating
meaning is a SOCIAL PRODUCTION, a process of
articulation

Texts and practices are MULTIACCENTUAL

The ‘active audience’ & encoding/decoding

E.G. Bob Marley & global

capital

2 ways of looking at the rise of Marleyism

• 1) the global propagation of a radical,

anti-capitalist, pan- ‘African’ politics

• 2) Enormous profits for, and stabilisation

of, the record industry

• A paradox: the anti-capitalist politics of

Rastafarianism are articulated in the

interests of capitalism

Marleyism cont.

• Ultimately beneficial to the dominant

culture of capitalism. AND a source of

inspiration, for those who embrace it

• Record industry carefully changed

Marley’s image:

Elements of ‘inclusive’ capitalism and

Marleyism = peace, love,

universalism as Global Culture

Hegemony – a moving

equilibrium

• Popular culture is made, negotiated from ‘above’

and ‘below’, both ‘commercial’ and ‘authentic’

• A shifting balance of forces between

RESISTANCE and INCORPORATION

• The capitalist mode of production, being

adaptable, survives long term (e.g. hippy
entrepreneurs, ‘empowerment’, individualism)

Gramsci

Ironically, too little attention is

paid to ideas/culture – while for
many G fails to solve the economic
determinism problem

Class reductionism – do other

forms of collective culture have no
autonomy?

Conclusion/issues

• Any escape from economic determinism?
• Who’s in charge?
• How can we identify a ‘ruling class’
• What is ‘authentic’ culture?
• Marxism as a ‘science’ – the problem of

theory

• Is Marxism obsolete?
• How useful is the concept of hegemony?