"Herein lies the danger of simplistic criticism. It takes the place of the work necessary to understand phenomena such as the fact that, even though no one really wished it this way, and without any intervention on the part of the people actually paying for it, we end up with this very strange product, the "TV news." It suits everybody because it confirms what they already know and, above all, leaves their mental structures intact." (254).
Dear Blog,
I choose the full quote to really unpack in my blog because I think the context is important when looking at the last sentence. Bourdieu brings up the uneasy idea that we did not ask for TV news; we did not ask for this simplistic criticism. I want to connect this idea to Marx and Engels and concerns around the construction of our social beings. If TV news appeared against our wishes, against our will maybe, how does this contribute to an argument that humans have self agency? Bourdieu talks about there being no intervention by the people who are receiving this "strange product," therefore, we don't fight it, we don't question it. The influence of media, and TV news, affects the construction of our social beings, which Marx and Engels argued in a pre-television society. I wonder if humans are just highly susceptible to influences from a greater entity, that is deemed uncontrollable with no room for intervening?
The second point I'd like to make in relation to this quote is the last line. Our theorist is arguing that everybody can find something they enjoy in TV news because it isn't telling us anything new and "leaves our mental structures intact." Again, bringing up this idea of self agency: do humans have self agency when it comes to news media telling us what we should think, not informing us of anything new, and not diversifying our minds or opinions? I find the last part of this quote to be the most interesting because TV news is seen as this new, fascinating thing and yet it only contributes to our own confirmation bias. Our social beings have turned to media to reaffirm what we already know. (Think of the own news outlets we watch or engage with, or even trust... We can all think of someone we know who only watches Fox News, or only listens to NPR. Should we all have to listen to a diverse swarth of news outlets to make sure we're not falling into confirmation bias?). We can turn on the news and have no new thoughts of our own. I wonder, is it the job of TV news to NOT leave our mental structures in tact? I would argue that they should be objective, spread news information and allow humans to come to their own conclusions... It is an interesting phenomena to acknowledge that human beings do not have a lot of self agency or free thinking abilities when it comes to absorbing media, especially the news.
Signing off,
mg
Sarah Hussey
ReplyDeleteCritical Frameworks Comment Blog on 11/24
Dear Maya,
I wanted to respond to your blog post because I find the quote you are dissecting to be very intruging and I agree with you on your many thoughts you shared in this post. I particularly want to take a look at the question which you posted:
“I wonder if humans are just highly susceptible to influences from a greater entity, that is deemed uncontrollable with no room for intervening?” – Maya
Bourdieu’s theory revolves around the idea that social classes, specifically that of intellectual and ruling, want to preserve their status and social privileges across generations—through their control of the media it is deemed possible.
Moreover, you bring up the concept of self-agency in human beings in the quote:
“ do humans have self-agency when it comes to news media telling us what we should think, not informing us of anything new, and not diversifying our minds or opinions?”
I think that the reason humans do not have self-agency when it comes on to the consumption of media is because we are not taught how. Media literacy is an extremely important part of a child’s development in terms of processing what they are consuming every day. On another note, we often turn to the media not to challenge our own beliefs, more so to reaffirm it—known as confirmation bias, where we look for answers that support our own beliefs. This phenomena supports Bourdieu’s theory as change is the last thing that citizens on a higher class or social standing want as a society, they want to remain on top or get higher, not lower.
It makes me question the benefits of media on the mind and if it is really worth it. I cannot imagine a world without it because I’ve never lived it.
That’s all I got for you today! Awesome blog post! I really enjoyed it!
Signing off,
SarahSlays