The Place of Humanities in University Studies This is NOT an essay - it is a collection of notes which are the foundation of an 800 word comparison of two articles regarding the place of humanities in university studies, and the roles of mass communication.Part 1 (800 words - 30%)You will be given two short readings by the end of Week 3 of the Semester. Identify the approach or approaches used in each, and with reference to the features and examples of the identified approaches as presented in Subject materials, justify your answer.Andrew Riemer's article, "Cannon or Fodder?" (The Weekend Australian, 16-17 November 1996) can be identified as having both Idealist and Leavisite approaches within the text. This is indicated in several passages of the text:"My colleagues in the Department of English were irresponsible...They were trivialising the discipline...by allowing undergraduates to sidestep the so-called canonical writers...in favour of whatever transient phenomenon or writer of small talent happened to be their latest obsession.""They were reprehensible ... in encouraging their students to impose simple sub-Marxist, sub-feminist templates on complex and mysterious works of literature ... Milton's Eve reduced to a mere victim of the patriarchy.""Alluring though it might be, we cannot recover intellectual integrity by turning back the clock.""Cannon or Fodder?" (The Weekend Australian, 16-17 November 1996)When looking at the approaches as they are presented in the Subject Materials, one is able to identify them as clearly being both Idealistic and Leavisite. Our Subject Book indicates that the Idealistic view of culture has been "conceived in the humanities and in journalism and popular social commentary ...
a realm of moral, spiritual and aesthetic values which exist largely independent and above society". Further, this view states Culture was isolated from society - autonomous because it had to be abstracted from one way of life (pre-industrial) and then transmitted and extended to another (allegedly inferior) way of life to 'save' that society.The Leavisite concept of culture is still common and is firmly bound up in the theory of mass society and mass culture.Mass communications are seen to hold a crucial and privileged place in mass society, taking over the role of creating and distributing the values and information common to a society.Mass culture, unlike high culture, is unable to transcend its time and place and offer any kind of lasting truth to its audiences and, at worst, positively damages them.
Humanities is defined as the study of processing and documenting human achievements and failures in culture, art works, literature, history, philosophy, language, and religion. A course such as Humanities 1301 has great value in the cultural norm. People living in the
The debate issue it self is an impression, it is a result of thought derived from a specific sours that is most likely to be the media. . “Mass media is a term which connotes the means of a variety of media specifically designed for disseminating news and information to a large audience for a variety of r...
This article has allowed me to formulate an understanding of what the humanities are and how they are incorporated into everyone's life. The introduction of A New Deal for the Humanities gave me a clear idea of how different types of people can find different meanings for a subject matter. This passage speaks on how many professionals in higher education fear that the humanities are facing a crisis. The word “crisis” can be seen as a loaded word, just from the highly negative connotation and how it gains the reader’s attention from the beginning. However, if the eloquence about the word “crisis” is withdrawn, the humanities do face increasing pressure from outside parties. In A New Deal for the Humanities, Gordon Hunter and Feisal G. Mohamed
Education in the humanities may bring a better outcome of understanding the process off everything that happens in our society. Students are able to learn more about the past cultures which is very beneficial for them. It does not only give them an idea of how the past was, but rather help’s them analyze what can be useful in their present. Students also have the capability of learning skills that will allow them to succeed in their future careers. All this learning comes from the aspect that humanities shows skills that students will
Adorno and Horkheimer’s Culture Industry Argument is based around mass media and mass consumption. As the exchange value of objects increase consumers become obsessed with conforming to the ideal image and judging others if the fit into this mold. Impressions are taken from material possessions rather than personality traits. As capitalism takes control over people minds, the culture industry is turned into a commodity to be mass-produced and sold to masses. These causes can lead to many socio-psychological effects on society. People becoming internalized and not being able to form judgments for themselves as mass media is forcing opinions upon them by not giving the consumer time to reflect before reacting to information. The formation of mass media leads to consumers being manipulated and deceived by the media as information is standardized and a false sense of individualism created.
The mass communication that is present for cultural influence becomes impactful for people. Varying interpretations and definitions could be displayed for individuals. The limited cultural influences found in networks, internet, and advertisements only displays a small part of the entire image. For instance, specialized networks for Hispanics could be very influential to people, but they could only display a small part of the culture to the masses. This large network can easily focus on certain aspects of individual Hispanic cultures that could affect the perception of several people. Similarly, it was mentioned in class how conglomerations are only a few companies who control these networks. These networks could globalize the media and possibly skew the cultural influences found in the media. With only these limited perspectives then there would be less material to learn from. However, there are other mediums that could be found within families and communities that could influence individuals to understand their culture. But at the same time, for third and fourth generation individuals the media may be one of the main sources of cultural enrichment. It becomes a slippery slope for individuals to be comprehensive of the media they become exposed to. The responsibility for them is to be active in their consumption and to question
There is an association between the development of mass media and social change, although the degree and direction of this association is still debated upon even after years of study into media influence. Many of the consequences, either detrimental or beneficial, which have been attributed to the mass media, are almost undoubtedly due to other tendencies within society. Few sociologists would refute the importance of the mass media, and mass communications as a whole, as being a major factor in the construction and circulation of social understanding and social imagery in modern societies. Therefore it is argued that the mass media is used as “an instrument”, both more powerful and more flexible than anything in previous existence, for influencing people into certain modes of belief and understanding within society.
Mass culture emerged as a concept that describes how human beings have developed to think alike and do things in the same way. The predictability of human beings is evident in their private interactions and position about many things that faced the modern day society. It had bec...
Mass or popular culture is derived from high culture, so for every item in high culture, there is a corresponding item of lesser importance in popular culture. Forms of popular culture include television, comics and magazines, pop music and the cinema.
I want to take this occasion to address one of the most prominent criticisms of the humanities today. I am not referring to criticism of more recent vintage, which takes to task the humanities for a supposed excess of political correctness; this complaint we can set aside as the ideologically motivated lament that it surely is. Rather, I’m speaking of the more long-standing critique that takes the humanities to task for its inconsequence, its uselessness. The presumption that underwrites this critique is simple: its claim is that we do not learn anything by attending to the objects of humanities research. These objects – a poem, a film or play, a piece of music, or what have you – do not furnish our minds with information we can use. No special knowledge is required to enjoy these objects, and no useable knowledge is furnished through their study.
What popular culture and mass culture are, their significance to society and how they are consumed are very multifaceted questions that have been subject to wide debate is the fields of Sociology and Cultural Studies. Many theorists have chimed in on the debate to answer these questions. Two notable theories on this topic are that of Dwight MacDonald in his work “A Theory of Mass Culture” and John Fiske in his work “Popular Culture”. MacDonald argues that mass culture is a phenomenon that is detrimental to society. He believes that although mass culture is something that produced “by and for human beings” that is ultimately is what leads to the loss of individuality and individual thought and expression in favor
Mass society theory have few assumptions that media directly influence the minds of average people and transform their views about the society in which they live. Media influence cause severe consequences individually or socially, and in mass society media controlled by elites and they use it for their own benefits. Mostly media promote high culture instead of giving representation to real society art or image.
In today's world people cannot live without Mass Media and with the help of technological improvements to send messages to the masses is becoming easier and easier. As we are been shower with tons of advertising, information and other sort of materials by the different types of Mass Media has influence in our everyday life styles.
The mass media has played a key role in shaping people’s lives. The modern society’s use of mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, as well as print media has largely influenced people’s ideas regarding themselves and the society at large. This is evident from their behavior towards themselves and their community as well as their treatment of the environment. While some experts believe that the media is to blame for most of the negative behavioral traits among the active members of society, the majority agree that the media makes people understand and develop a positive sense of association with their society within which they live, making it easy for them to identify and get their role in it.
culture, and on the individuals exposed to the media. Mass media is a form of socialization, having a long-term effect on each member of American society. While mass media targets the individual in short-term intervals, the overall influence on them has been established as the consumer moves from one impressionable age category to another. The long or short- term effects of mass media are separate and distinct when its role in America is evaluated. Mass media effects people differently because of varied amounts of exposure and formats.