mass-communication-theory

MARXIST THEORY
base (or substructure)
of
society
In Marxist
theory, the
means of
production
superstructure
In Marxist
theory, a
society’s culture
ideology
In Marxist theory,
ideas present
in a culture that
mislead average
people and encourage
them to
act against their
own interests
Chapter 8 The Emergence of Critical and Cultural Theories of Mass Communication 217
theories based in part on Marxist thought were gaining increasing acceptance
(Grossberg and Nelson, 1988). We briefly summarize key arguments in the Marxist
perspective and pay particular attention to ideas about media. Then we present
some more recent theories based on these ideas.
Karl Marx developed his theory in the latter part of the nineteenth century, during
one of Europe’s most volatile periods of social change. In some respects, his is yet
another version of mass society theory—but with several very important alterations
and additions. Marx was familiar with the grand social theories of his era. He was
a student of the most prominent German Idealist philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Hegel. Early in his career, Marx drew on Hegel’s ideas, but later he constructed
his own in opposition to them. From Hegel he derived insights into the
human construction of the social world and of human reason itself. But while Hegel
attributed social change to a metaphysical force, a “World Spirit,” Marx eventually
adopted a materialist position—human beings shape the world using the technology
and physical resources available to them. It is the availability of and control over
technology and resources that limit and determine what people can achieve.
Like some mass society theorists, Marx identified the myriad problems associated
with industrialization and urbanization as the consequence of actions taken
by powerful elites. Industrialization and urbanization were not inherently bad. Problems
resulted when unethical capitalists attempted to maximize personal profits by
exploiting workers. On the basis of a similar analysis, conservative mass society
theorists demanded restoration of traditional social orders, but Marx was a Utopian,
calling for the creation of an entirely new social order in which all social class
distinctions would be abolished. The workers should rise against capitalists and demand
an end to exploitation. They should band together to seize the means of production
(i.e., labor, factories, and land) so they might construct an egalitarian
democratic social order—Communism. In Marx’s theory, media are one of many
modern technologies that must be controlled and used to advance Communism.
Marx argued that the hierarchical class system was at the root of all social problems
and must be ended by a revolution of the workers, or proletariat. He believed
that elites dominated society primarily through their direct control over the
means of production, the base (or substructure) of society. But elites also maintained
themselves in power through their control over culture, or the superstructure
of society. Marx saw culture as something elites freely manipulated to mislead average
people and encourage them to act against their own interests. He used the
term ideology to refer to these forms of culture. Ideology fostered a “false consciousness”
in the minds of average people so they came to support elite interests
rather than their own. Marx believed an ideology operated much like a drug.
Those who are under its influence fail to see how they are being exploited—it
blinds them or it distracts them. In the worst cases, they are so deceived that they
actually undermine their own interests and do things that increase the power of
elites while making their own lives even worse.
Marx concluded that the only realistic hope for social change was a revolution
in which the masses seized control of the base—the means of production. Control
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