Rubber Soul, Bourdieu

"TV news...It suits everybody because it confirms what they already know, and, above all, leaves their mental structures intact" (329).

When discussing Lyotard, he states "What is advised... is to offer works... that the public will recognize what they are about, and will understand what is signified" which essentially means that you can tell people what they already know to make a million dollars. Television operates in this matter as well. Programs that are shown focus on safe subjects that require little critical thinking. Bourdieu refers to these "newsworthy" stories as "tried and true formulas" which tend to encompass human interest stories or sports. He says, "No matter what has happened in the world on a given day, more and more often the evening news begins with French soccer scores...Or it will highlight the most anecdotal ritualized political event... which are [stories] apt to arouse curiosity but require no analysis, especially in the political sphere" (332). This idea ties into Chomsky's analysis of how the ruling class dominates the realm of mass media. The huge concentration of media ownership translates into only certain information in the best interest for the ruling class getting relayed to the public. Thus people conform to the moral codes that are presented to them, even if these values don't necessarily suit the public. The result is a lack of sociological imagination. "Invisible power relations are translated into personal conflicts and existential choices" (333) meaning that a person blames oneself even when the real issues lie within the flaws of the invisible structures in power. Television is one of these powers and that is why it is so important to understand the decision making process for why we are shown the things we see on T.V. Bourdieu sums up the current process in an almost snowball effect--"Through pressure from audience ratings, economic forces weigh on television, and through its effect on journalism, television weighs on newspapers and magazines... The weight then falls on individual journalists, who little by little let themselves be drawn into television's orbit" (335). Television is a business, so we are shown what makes the large and in charge stay in power.