READING DIARY: A response to How to do Media and Cultural Studies chapter four by Jane Stokes

A response to How to do Media and Cultural Studies chapter four by Jane Stokes.

This chapter both defines and explores the "theories of culture and the practice of the media and culture industries"1. I found the section on Marxist approaches extremely interesting as the opening statement suggests there in nothing to analyse, "Karl Marx himself had relatively little to say directly about media and culture"2, yet Stokes discusses the concept in depth. The main focus appears to be the idea of inheritance of the Marxist ideologies by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer. They initially put forward the notion "that contemporary culture was a 'culture industry'3."4 This teamed with the works of James Curran and Jean Seaton (1991), came the theory of media power, in definition being larger media based companies influencing passive audiences ideologies through economical superiority.

To further research this I would use a selection of 100 people from various ages and cultures, especially with different political stances. I would give them the task of isolation from all forms of external media whilst giving them a daily example from a news paper with an obvious underlining agenda. For example, people who identify as being conservative would receive liberal texts and vice versa over 12 months. At the end of the experiment, all individuals would be questioned once again on their political views to see if they have changed dependant on the influence of the media texts they have encountered. I aim to prove the Marxist theories of Theodor, Horkheimer, Curran and Seaton, that the media have a cultural influence on the public.

In conclusion, the chapter delves into various theories surrounding the origin and development of culture from a media perspective. For further research I would carry out a study to prove the influence of biased media texts on passive members of its audience.

1 How to do media and cultural studies by Jane Stokes pg 99

2 How to do media and cultural studies by Jane Stokes pg 103

3 The Dialectic of Enlightenment by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer

4 How to do media and cultural studies by Jane Stokes pg 104