Aveyourfaveblogger, 10/27

 Hello Blog! 

When I first read his piece, Dick Hebdige’s “From Subculture: The Meaning of Style” it seemed to be contradictory and a bit confusing at certain points. I had a hard time determining if he was critiquing and mocking capital or actually criticizing marxism, especially after reading the quote “Since ideology saturates everyday discourse in the form of common sense, it cannot be bracketed off from everyday life as a self-contained set of “political opinions” or “biased views.” Neither can it be reduced to the abstract dimensions of a “worldview” or used in the crude Marxist sense to designate “false consciousness”” (Hebidge 127). 

There is a lot to unpack in this quote. The whole first part of the quote is discussing how if we are in ideology, it can be difficult to see outside of it. We never question the ideology of common sense; we would never think to question it. Yet, it is still an ideology, even if we do not realize it. Hebidge is also arguing that ideology is much broader than political “ideology” or our personal views on something. He is talking about ideology on a systematic and societal level. The part of the quote that I was confused with was the very last sentence that mentions Marxism. 

I interpreted this line as Hebdige saying that Marxists are not correct about their views on ideology. False consciousness refers to the idea that someone cannot see the reality of their social standing. After taking a step back to look at this, I realized that Hebdige is simply saying that ideology is much larger and broader than Marxism makes it out to be. 

I wanted to shift gears for a second and make another connection. There is one other quote that really stood out to me while I was reading. Hebdige states that, “These decisions help to set the limits not only on what is taught but on how it is taught” (127). My mind immediately went to Foucault’s idea of surveillance after reading this. Cultural “norms,” in terms of education, come with a lot of pressure from different areas, whether that be parents, the government, and even possible coworkers of teachers. There is structure everywhere, and the constant surveillance and pressure from these outside sources helps to uphold the limits and boundaries on what is taught. 

That’s all for now.

Signing off, 

Aveyourfaveblogger