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Davin Heckman | 1 Jun 2006 18:16
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RE: Conservatism

I've been thinking about "conservative" cultural studies scholars and have 
come up with some suggestions/ ideas/thoughts.

Many conservatives reject the ideas that fall under the umbrella of CS work 
(the cultural construction of certain "realities" the study of the 
mundane/popular, or the discussion politics/economics in disciplines other 
than politics and economics) and prefer a different type of scholarship 
(humanities scholarship that evaluates the "best works" of civilization, 
philosophy that operates under the presumption of eternal truths, or that 
has a more practical application).

Those prominent conservatives who do accept the value of cultural studies 
work often find themselves at odds with the mainstream assumptions of that 
particular ideology and either drift into media work or, I believe, conceal 
their postmodern ideas underneath a front that is consistent with the image 
of the movement.  Perhaps the "best" conservative cultural studies work is 
being done by PR people like Frank Luntz (who has some amazing insights into 
selling conservative policies to a moderate public) and activists like David 
Horowitz (who might not be all that enlightened or ethical, but who also 
knows how to construct subjective experiences through the manipulation of 
words and signs).

Those "conservatives" who stick around and do cultural studies work might 
just get lumped in with the supposedly "lefty" scholars who do CS work.  
There is an assumption that we are lefty because we study things:  We either 
look at eccentric examples (which pundits can say proves that we are trying 
to normalize deviant behavior) or we can look at mainstream examples (which 
pundits can say proves that we look down with scorn on the foundations of 
our society).
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Paul Bowman | 1 Jun 2006 18:26
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RE: Conservatism

Further to Davin's interesting points below, I'd like to say that John
Mowitt engages with these issues in his discussion of the likes of Bourdieu
and Wacquant vis-à-vis cultural studies and cultural politics, in the book
INTERROGATING CULTURAL STUDIES. I've put the interview up here:
http://freespace.virgin.net/jp.bowman/CV/page_07.htm

Mowitt also engages excellently with these issues in the interview that is
here: http://freespace.virgin.net/jp.bowman/CV/page_08.htm

All of these can be accessed on CSeARCH too:
http://www.culturemachine.net/csearch

paul

-----Original Message-----
From: cultstud-l-bounces <at> comm.umn.edu
[mailto:cultstud-l-bounces <at> comm.umn.edu] On Behalf Of Davin Heckman
Sent: 01 June 2006 17:17
To: cultstud-l <at> comm.umn.edu
Subject: RE: [cultstud-l] Conservatism

I've been thinking about "conservative" cultural studies scholars and have 
come up with some suggestions/ ideas/thoughts.

Many conservatives reject the ideas that fall under the umbrella of CS work 
(the cultural construction of certain "realities" the study of the 
mundane/popular, or the discussion politics/economics in disciplines other 
than politics and economics) and prefer a different type of scholarship 
(humanities scholarship that evaluates the "best works" of civilization, 
philosophy that operates under the presumption of eternal truths, or that
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Jay Hamilton | 1 Jun 2006 19:30
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RE: Conservatism

To follow more Davin's and related posts, I think it's
very important not to essentialize "conservative" or
"lefty" and the like. This is not to say there are no
differences of course, but that the differences are
contextual and practical.

Despite having some reservations about the approach,
I've gained quite a bit from reading Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello,
The New Spirit of Capitalism (Verso, 2005), which among other
things underscores the fluidity and historicity of such
categories and the tactics of capitalism, particularly in
the past 35 years.

--

-- 

++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jay Hamilton
Associate Professor
Department of Advertising and Public Relations
Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-3018
Tel 706.542.3556
Fax 706.542.2183
http://www.arches.uga.edu/~hamilton/
++++++++++++++++++++++++

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Thomas Hackett | 1 Jun 2006 21:02
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Re: Conservatism

Probably this has already been mentioned, but don't forget Friedrich 
Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom."

Also, a few years ago, I read some speeches by Theodore Roosevelt 
arguing for a proactive foreign policy. Although I thought the 
arguments were suspect, I also remember thinking that TNR made a more 
compelling case for our current military adventurism than anyone today 
has.

On Jun 1, 2006, at 1:30 PM, Jay Hamilton wrote:

> To follow more Davin's and related posts, I think it's
> very important not to essentialize "conservative" or
> "lefty" and the like. This is not to say there are no
> differences of course, but that the differences are
> contextual and practical.
>
> Despite having some reservations about the approach,
> I've gained quite a bit from reading Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello,
> The New Spirit of Capitalism (Verso, 2005), which among other
> things underscores the fluidity and historicity of such
> categories and the tactics of capitalism, particularly in
> the past 35 years.
>
> -- 
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Jay Hamilton
> Associate Professor
> Department of Advertising and Public Relations
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Tildy | 1 Jun 2006 21:55
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Re: RE : RE: Query on modes of resistance

First, thanks everyone for your suggestions; they all look promising and are
very much appreciated.

I think the lack of clarity in my original request stems from the fact that
y'all might be thinking I am, or should be, more acquainted with this
material than I actually am, ahem.  "Performative" sounds like a more
specialistic development on the basic theme I'm interested in, which is
simply consuming as a potential model of resistance (or at least agency) in
a situation where the exercise of power would seem on the surface to flow
unidirectionally from producer to consumer.

I'm a musicologist rather than a cultural studies scholar, so I'm
essentially attempting a crash course on some of these concepts, and I may
not be all that well-oriented to start with.  I'm writing about the iPod,
which may not even turn out to be a viable example of the
consumption-as-resistance model.

Thanks very much again,

Tildy B.

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Kirsten Firminger | 1 Jun 2006 22:08

RE: RE : RE: Query on modes of resistance

Hi Tildy,

I would recommending looking through the contents of the Journal of Consumer
Culture and a 2002 special issues of Psychology and Marketing No. 19 Vol. 2.
The following references may be useful (from what I remember the Holt
articles and the Raby article specifically talk about Fiske):

Cohen, L. (2003). A consumer's republic: The politics of mass consumption in
Postwar America. New York: Vintage Books. 

Duke, L. (2002). Get Real!: Cultural relevance and resistance to the
mediated feminine ideal. Psychology & Marketing, 19(2):211-233.

Fournier, S. (1998). Consumer resistance: Social motivations, consumer
manifestations, and implications in the marketing domain. Advances in
Consumer Research, 25:88-90.

Holt, D.B., 'Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? A Dialectical Theory of Consumer
Culture and Branding', Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.29, 2002

Holt, D.B., 'Does Cultural Capital Structure American Consumption?', Journal
of Consumer Research, Vol.25, 1998.

Klein, N. (2000). No logo: Taking aim at the brand bullies. New York:
Picador.

Martens, L., Southerton, D., and Scott, S. (2004). Bringing children (and
parents) into the sociology of consumption: Towards a theoretical and
empirical agenda. Journal of Consumer Culture, 4(2):155-182.
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yamtoob | 1 Jun 2006 22:18
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Pop Culture and performativity for undergrads

Hi Folks,

Looks like I will be teaching a course on pop culture to 
undergrads...my hope is to work it through a lens of 
performance theory or ideas of performativity.

Anyone know of reasonable textbooks, articles, or book 
chapters that would be useful in teaching this type of a 
course?

Any suggestions would be appreciated...

Thanks 

Desiree

Desiree Yomtoob
Graduate Student
Institute of Communications Research 
University of Illinios

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Ranu Samantrai | 2 Jun 2006 02:12
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Re: RE : RE: Query on modes of resistance

I think for many CS folks, including Fiske, the point of origin for 
this question is Michel de Certeau's _The Practice of Everyday Life_.
Ranu

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cultstud-l-bounces <at> x94-249-29.ej1071.umn.edu
> [mailto:cultstud-l-bounces <at> x94-249-29.ej1071.umn.edu] On Behalf Of 
> Tildy
> Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 3:56 PM
> To: Cultural Studies
> Subject: Re: RE : RE: [cultstud-l] Query on modes of resistance
>
> First, thanks everyone for your suggestions; they all look promising 
> and are
> very much appreciated.
>
> I think the lack of clarity in my original request stems from the fact 
> that
> y'all might be thinking I am, or should be, more acquainted with this
> material than I actually am, ahem.  "Performative" sounds like a more
> specialistic development on the basic theme I'm interested in, which is
> simply consuming as a potential model of resistance (or at least 
> agency) in
> a situation where the exercise of power would seem on the surface to 
> flow
> unidirectionally from producer to consumer.
>
> I'm a musicologist rather than a cultural studies scholar, so I'm
> essentially attempting a crash course on some of these concepts, and I 
> may
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J.Rosenbaum | 2 Jun 2006 10:47
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Particip <at> tions: new issue and call for submissions

Announcement & Call for submissions

The fifth issue of Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception 
studies, a new journal which aims to provide an on-line, interdisciplinary 
forum for the fields of audience and reception studies, has just come out.

Issue #5 (May, 2006) includes an editorial by Sue Turnbull, the second part 
of Martin Barker's essay on Straw dogs, entitled; 'Loving and hating straw 
dogs: The meaning of audience responses to a controversial film. Part 2 - 
Rethinking straw dogs as a film', Alexander Dhoest's article on Flemish 
television fiction called 'Everybody liked it: collective memories of early 
Flemish television fiction', Donald Horton and Richard Wohl's 'Mass 
communication and para-social interaction: Observations on intimacy at a 
distance', and Dwan Lewcock's 'Converse with the audience in the 
restoration theatre', as well as various reviews.

Submissions
Particip <at> tions is always on the look-out for contributions from a wide 
range of disciplines that focus on audience research. It publishes 
contributions from various approaches, such as, sociology, psychology, 
anthropology, linguistics/discourse theory and cultural and media studies. 
Additionally, since important notions about audiences have emerged from 
outside the 'mainstream'of media audience research, Particip <at> tions will 
also publish noteworthy contributions from fields such as museum and 
heritage studies; literary studies; educational studies, as well as 
interesting contributions from fields outside academia.

Briefly -
Particip <at> tions aims to
    * publish research from different approaches, without the limitations
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Davin Heckman | 2 Jun 2006 18:40
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RE: Query on modes of resistance


You might consider looking at the ways that apple positioned themselves in 
the market as a liberating alternative to PCs.  This starts with apple's 
famous 1984 commercial (directed by Ridley Scott, and released at the end of 
1983).  And it continues through their "Think Different" campaign.  Apple 
has always been very good at positioning itself as a more "democratic,"  
"countercultural" and "individualistic" company.  And, there might be 
something to it in their corporate culture and in the minds of mac people.  
I like macs.  I can't afford one.  And I like my artist friends and the work 
they produce on macs.  But if buying a really expensive computer is a form 
of resistance, I'd ask who is resisting what, and what are the alternatives. 
  Submitting to authority and buying a 400$ PC?  Running a hand-me-down on 
Linux?  Unplugging yourself?  Using the library computer?

Ipods are also cool as hell.  Also way out of my price range.  I also dig 
the spirit of napster and all that, but MP3s, as much as they maintain the 
original aura of casually swapped bootleg commodities, are not necessarily a 
challenge to the music industry (at least as they figure in the 
apple/ipod/itunes structure of easier/more consumption).  The free podcasts, 
radio shows, and dj mixes that people can listen to on their ipods can be 
really challenging, mind-expanding, and subversive.

But I would suggest that the Ipod offers a liberation from materials 
(smaller, less clunky than cds [I remember thinking CDs were mindnumbingly 
small], easier to organize, and easier to use) and seeks to draw an 
association between that feeling of "freedom" and the idea of a 
social/political/cultural liberation.  The ads at least try to show this 
exuberance.  With still silhouettes of bodies in motion, ample wires 
connecting ears to ipods.  And the sillhouette image connects the people to 
each other.  Each listens to the music of their choice, but all are rocking
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