Bumble: post class 3/18

Shared cultures or understandings can unite people. The idea of Barthes that mythologies or stories are these shared perceptions of a word or an experience is seen in every day life! When you meet someone and start talking about things you used to do in your childhood, sometimes a movie called “We sing in silly-Ville” would come up. If the other person knew that movie, suddenly there was such a connection between us and we were instantaneous best friends. I know that my baby sisters who watch their shows have a different understanding of whats cool to watch versus what was cool for us to watch.

Ideologies are clearly unconscious, and the best way to realize them is to be in a different country where a cultural norm is very different from a cultural norm in our culture. The greatest example of this was a trip my father went on to India. My father is a big runner and every morning he runs about 7 or 8 miles. It is his daily routine for fitness, and mental awareness, and of course the adrenaline rush. It was a morning in Bombay when he started running; he was doing his usual thinking and breathing when all of a sudden about 10 men in their rickshaws start chasing after him. Some are on their rickshaw bicycles; some are in their rickshaw cars. All of them were yelling stop! Stop! Get In Get In!! What my father did not know before that day, (which he quickly learned) was that in India you run or exercise if you need to go somewhere. You never ever move if you do not have to. When this happened in India there was no such thing as a leisurely run for enjoyment. All of the men on their Rickshaws assumed because of their cultural ideologies that he needed to get somewhere. They all tried asking, “Where are you going?” He was thoroughly confused at first and responded, just on a run. The baffled looks and lack of understanding is that cultural difference of ideologies of a simple thing like a jog.


In response to the issue of abnormal or normal behavior, this happens a lot on a daily basis regarding food. Everyone grows up eating different things and trying different food combinations. During Passover one year at Rollins College, I was serving myself some matzo ball soup and had at least 5 people stare at it in disgust. WHAT IS THAT!!? It is so easy to forget that eating certain types of foods (particularly culturally defined food) is not natural but is a learned and solidified thing. I initially reacted in shock that they had never even seen it before, this is because where I am from it is such a cultural standard. A deli has matzo ball soup. At first I was offended but then I realized that they had simply not been exposed to this type of food and what a great opportunity to expose them to a different ideology!

sawsaw Hebdige

After reading this passage from Hebdige, I am immediately reminded of an example of hegemony while traveling in West Virginia last Spring Break. I went with my church on a missions trip to serve an impoverish family. This family had absolutely nothing. There was eight people living in a one bedroom house with only one toilet and no shower. I was completely astonished that people were living like this in America. Since this family was so poor and needy it was “socially unacceptable” for people to associate with them. Most of the people around them lived in normal houses with all the common necessities. This family was under the control of the middle to wealthy social class. They were seen by others as being a “charity case” and were pitied by others. It was really great to be able to go and love on these people and be genuine in helping them. We wanted to help them because they really needed people to help not because we were ashamed or embarrassed by their living conditions.

I find Hebdige’s quote on page 150 to be very interesting. He writes, “The class which is the ruling material force of society is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.” This was so true of the family in West Virginia. Since the people in this family from West Virginia never received a formal education they were seen as stupid and unintelligent. This quote really expresses the harsh truth that people who come from low class households are viewed as being intellectually stupid because they are not a part of the ruling material force of society.

NewYorker - Hebdige

When I think of the term culture, I think about the ways of life of a certain population in a certain destination. It varies from state to state, or country to country. But when I read the opening of the piece, the Oxford English Dictionary's definition of culture, I was shocked. It first spoke about soil and organisms, and only last did it dicuss civilization and education. It's amazing how once again, it is proved how language is so arbitrary, and that a single word can have multiple definitions. But then reading further on, I agreed more with what Williams had to say about culture. "A particular way of life ... values not only in art and learning but also in ordinary behaviour ... clarification of meanings and values..." (Hebdigs 145). I think this definition is what we base our thoughts on, especially when learning about it in school. I took a class here called Intercultural Communication, and we did ethnographic research on a different culture, and learned about traditions and values of people from all over the world. There are different customs for different things, different holidays, etc. Even hand gestures mean different things to different cultures, so when going abroad, it is a good idea to learn their culture and customs before implying anything that you don't mean, because it means something different to an American.
"The theory of culture now involved the study of relationships between elements in a whole way of life," (145) - this is important to make the connection between individuals and the country they live in, their way of life. It is good to look at individual parts that make up the whole, and draw conclusions/find answers that way, because then you are looking at a micro level of culture to a macro level of culture.

WouldntULike2Know Hebdige

“First, without appreciating good literature, no one will really understand the nature of society, second, literary critical analysis can be applied to certain social phenomenon other than “academically respectable” literature (for example, the popular arts, mass commuications) so as to illuminate their meanings for individuals and their societies (Hoggart, 1996) (Hebdige 146).

Hebdige’s use of Hoggart’s basic premises of cultural studies helps to explain the massive influence of Macherey’s notion of intertextuality. We are unable to understand our world around us without being influenced by what we have observed or read in the past.  De Saussure also emphasizes this point: “Language is a system of independent terms in which the value of each term results solely from the simultaneous presence of others” (de Saussure 7). 

I don’t believe that Hoggart is saying that in order to understand your role in society, one needs to have read every word of War and Peace, however, he is critical of the less serious media forms that have infiltrated society in such a grand scale and is worried that they have begun to define our current culture.

However, with the rise in DIYers (Jenkins) and the increasing popularity and following they receive, it seems unavoidable for “good literature” to dominant the public sphere.  These forms of media, in my opinion, have a greater effect on this generation of viewers then those deemed “academically respectable” which are being pushed aside or even morphed into popular art.  This overhauling of radical, liberal, or untraditional phenomenon certainly has “illuminated meanings for individuals and societies,” a trend that has certainly posed a threat to the neoconservative lifestyle.  

BubbaNub Hebdige

  Going against the norm or against culture has played an interesting role in the revolution of development of society.  However, as with most things these rebellious subtexts merely become another niche market that media and the American consumer culture devalue to the American Dollar.  Hebdige talks in length about the punk subculture and how it was perceived as threatening at first, but if you look around today the punk culture has become another area of exploitation of values.

Now you can walk into stores such as "Hot Topic" and go against everything that the punk culture stood for as you pay the corporations major money so you can buy their clothes and patches to "look punk".  It is scary when you realize how quickly our economy catches onto fads and turns them around in their favor, so they can make a profit.  Now we have people walking around thinking that they embody a punk philosophy or lifestyle when in reality, the Chuck Taylor's they are wearing were bought out by Nike and are now made in sweatshops in China.  Just like the American Dreams illusion of freedom, our exploited subcultures have become illusions of choice, illusions of personality, and illusions of culture.

The only culture America has is that which we produce and exchange for the almighty coin.  Money is our culture and money is our religion.  We have heard that America is a melting pot, a mix of various cultures that construct our identity.  I agree that we are a melting pot, but to me this does not carry positive connotations.  When we all melt together we lose our individuality, our culture, and melt into a new kind of currency.

Sgt. Pepper, 3/6

Last Thursday was one of those days that's going to make me look at everything through the eyes of "postmodernity." Thanks a lot, Dr. Rog.

Althusser and Marx's main theme discussed ideology, and more specifically, what constitutes ideology. Each author basically explains the effects hegemony has on people every second of every day. Dr. Rog gave good examples of this by pointing out the binary oppositions of the ruling class, and how hegemony (or the norms set by the ruling class) teaches us to prefer 'fast' to 'slow' and 'new' to 'old.'

One of my favorite ideas from class on Thursday was that if you said, "Ideology doesn't affect me at all," then Althusser would most likely respond, "That's the most ideological thing you could say." This idea of someone not thinking they conform to ideology is pretty much impossible*, yet it's so common these days. I actually spoke with Dr. Rog about this a few days ago, and how so many people these days strive to be cut off from ideology and to be "different." We talked about the idea of "alternative" music, and how it's pretty much what's popular, so it's almost like an oxy moron. This behavior of trying to be different than everyone else could be compared to the days of the hippies in the '60s and '70s and their attempts to "bring down the man." But while these individualists try to be different, it's clear (and Althusser would agree) that their behavior is, and forever will be, ideological.

*I was driving to my Grandpa's farm this past week (which is in the middle of nowhere, at least 40 miles from anything that could be remotely considered civilization), and I started to wonder if and how it would be possible to be cut off from all ideologies and to live unaffected by hegemony. The only thing I could come up with, and it still might not work, is that maybe if someone lived 40 miles from any civilization without the government knowing. If they raised farm animals to eat, and drank strictly water from the creek, would they be considered 'living without ideology'? I decided probably not, but they'd definitely be a lot closer to it than any of us.

Bumble: Hebdige

“Breach our expectancies…” Weird, unusual, “deviant behavior,” all of these can describe the consequences of acting on counter-hegemonic or ideological impulses. There are societal norms that people must follow in order to keep the social structure flowing smoothly. If you do go against these taken for granted norms then they disturb the peace. Often, it is hard to notice the ideologies, until they are violated! These Mythologies as Barthes puts it tries to uncover the normally, “hidden set of rules, codes, and conventions…” (Hebdige 147). Deviant seems to be a very powerful word, it is almost implying that it is so wrong that it is borderline illegal!

I decided to test just how powerful breaking the rules can be. I went on a search for a societal norm, or code of conduct in every day life atht we often take for granted. I thought of situations where there is a fine line of how to behave. The first thing I thought of was an elevator.

Over break I did an experiment and I was in a busy office building. I decided to wait for the elevator and then try to purposely breech the unconscious behavior of how we all act in an elevator, making sure not to violate any one’s personal space. So when the elevator door opened, I walked in and faced the back. There were about 3 people already in the elevator and it stopped a multiple number of times afterwards. Well, I stayed facing in, and did not turn around to face the door (which is the norm). People were so uncomfortable, and I knew that I had violated these unspoken rules of society. For one thing, I was facing people who did not want to make eye contact, and then the people who walked in were so confused as to whether or not to turn around or stay facing towards the back like me.

Immediately, by not turning around and finding my own space in the elevator I challenged the order and the norm. This little experiment I did proves just how powerful these rules are!