Frankfurt Schools Contribution To Popular Culture Cultural Studies Essay

Frankfurt Schools Contribution To Popular Culture Cultural Studies Essay The idea that culture is mass produced came from two German academics named Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer. These two intellectuals, who would later begin a cultural enquiry, were members of The Frankfurt School. This institute was established in 1923 and consisted of many other German left-winged intellectuals. It was very much interested in the ideas of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud and therefore endeavoured to study the emergence of capitalist societies through the exploration of Marxism and psychoanalysis. This is what The Frankfurt School referred to as critical theory. The Frankfurt School, Adorno and Horkheimer in particular, were interested in studying popular culture and the mass production of cultural artefacts which they later referred to as the culture industry. In order to explore The Frankfurt Schools contribution to our understanding of popular culture, firstly we need to ask; what is culture? The word culture suggests a particular way of life, whether of a people, a period or a group. (Storey, 2006.1) It can also refer to the works and practices of intellectual and especially artistic activities. (Storey, 2006.1) The word cultivate was used to refer to the cultivation of land but now it can refer to the cultivation of the mind. Culture plays an important part in how human societies communicate with each other and how the new technological developments which contribute to this create a new type of culture known as popular culture. An obvious starting point in any attempt to define popular culture is to say that popular culture is simply culture which is widely favoured or well liked by many people. (Storey, 2006.4) Popular culture is centred on consumerism and is dominated by money; there is no part of popular culture that one doesnt have to pay for. Popular culture produces products known as commodities which have a use value and an exchange value. A commodity is only a commodity if it can be replaced by something else. Commodity fetishism was an idea that came out of popular culture. Capitalist organisations fetishize commodities and invest them with power that they do not really have. They discourage us from asking where the things we consume actually come from. These companies do not want us to think about this process. The idea that capitalist companies are manipulating the thoughts of the masses about what they consume and the great power that they have leads us to the term mass culture. In a mass culture, industrialised society there are no longer the same traditional values. The idea of an organic community no longer exists. The individual is left more and more to his or her own devices, has fewer and fewer communities or institutions in which to find identity or values by which to live, and has less and less idea of the morally appropriate ways to live.(Strinati, 2004.6) The Frankfurt School argue that the culture industry is killing the desire that might let us imagine a better world. They have an ideal notion of what human beings are capable of. The institute believes that we could never create a better world as long as we are part of this commodity culture. Adorno stated that the culture industry does not give the mass any responsibility for the culture that they are consuming, yet the masses are unaware of this which explains their passivity in accepting it. Although the culture industry undeniably speculates on the conscious and unconscious state of the millions towards which it is directed, the masses are not primary but secondary. . . The customer is not king, as the culture industry would have us believe, not its subject but its object. (Strinati, 2004.55) This point further emphasises the power that the culture industry has on the masses. With living in a culturally industrialised society comes conformity. Conformity replaces the consciousness of the masses according to The Frankfurt School. They believed that the masses are dependent on the culture industry and that the masses themselves are no longer producing culture. Through researching the works of The Frankfurt School, we can understand that the masses are oblivious to the mass controlled culture in which they live due to the face that everything is pseudo-individualised. Products that were being produced by the culture industry were all standardised. This meant that they all had certain characteristics that made them significantly similar. The Frankfurt School, Theodore Adorno in particular, realised that the industry knew that standardised products would sell and therefore they needed to be given a supposed uniqueness to provoke the masses to continue buying them. This was referred to as pseudo-individualism. The Frankfurt School stated that the culture industry created false needs in the pursuit of profit while ignoring the true needs of humans. According to The Frankfurt School the cultural industry and mass culture, . . . shapes the tastes and preferences of the masses, thereby moulding their consciousness by instilling the desire for false needs. (Strinati, 2004.55) They point out that the capitalist industries bring in a lot of profit through what they called waste production. They generated products that, in the opinion of The Frankfurt School, the masses did not need. Masses become so enthralled in the culture industry that their consciousness is overridden. The masses become too interested in the falsehoods that the industry has created and tend to forget about satisfying their true human needs. The school argues that it is due to all of this that the culture industry maintains its stability. With regards to true and false needs, Theodore Adorno once wrote, The indistinguishability of true and false needs is an essential part of the present phase one day it will be readily apparent that men do not need the trash provided them by the culture industry. (Adorno, Theodore W, The Culture Industry revisited at http://books.google.co.uk.p.156 accessed on 27/10/10) Another point that The Frankfurt School has highlighted to us in order to contribute to our understanding of popular culture is that a lot of culture is very homogeneous. They believed that all aspects of popular culture were generic and predictable. They could not fathom the fact that the masses were accepting this constant reproduction of the same thing. They believed that people should want something more; something different and challenging. The culture industry followed a formula. The reason for the formulaic structure of the industry and the way in which its products were produces was because it was successful. This particular formula and method of mass producing standardised products generated profit. When referring to this great power that the culture industry has, Adorno says, Today anyone who is incapable of talking in the prescribed fashion, that is of effortlessly reproducing the formulas, conventions and judgements of mass culture as if they were his own, is threatened in his very existence, suspected of being an idiot or an intellectual. (Adorno, 1991. 79) Critics of The Frankfurt School say that they do not appreciate just how diverse and hybrid popular culture is. They also say that The Frankfurt School invest too much power in the culture industry and that they consider capitalism as being more stable than it actually is. Critics believe that the culture industry has a lot more potential than The Frankfurt School gives it credit for. The term culture has been described by Richard Williams as, One of the two or three most complicated words in the English language. (Storey, 2006.1) Although some agree with this statement, The Frankfurt School has contributed greatly to our understanding of popular culture by highlighting how culture has become commercialised in the pursuit of profit. It points out to us that in a culturally industrialised society, no one thinks for themselves and that they consume this culture because it has been imposed onto them. The authenticity and traditional aspects of culture are no longer present and we can now come to the realisation that we will always live in a culture that is controlled by capitalism and consumerism. Everything that is presented to us, including the false needs that the industry provides is all in the interests of capital and profit. Our ability to understand how the culture industry works is aided greatly by the work of The Frankfurt School. References Storey, John (2006) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction Strinati, Dominic (2004) An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture (Second Edition) Adorno, Theodore W (1991) The Culture Industry

Identification of chosen population Essay

Mexico has replaced United States as the most obese country in the Western Hemisphere. The problem of obesity in Mexico has become a global public health challenge and was accepted by the World Health Organization as such in 1997. 70% of Mexicans are overweight while 32.8% of them are obese. 1 out of every 6 Mexicans adults suffer from weight related chronic diseases such as diabetis, heart disease and certain cancers. 70,000 Mexicans die each year from weight related diabetis. 400, 000 new cases of diabetis arise each year. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE OBESITY IN THE MEXICAN POPULATION The problem of obesity in Mexico is very complex and it is due to many factors including social, cultural, epidemiological and environmental factors. SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING OBESITY IN MEXICANS 1. LOW EDUCATION STATUS There is much lack of knowledge of what nutritious foods are and what the long term effects from eating unhealthy foods are. There is also lack of knowledge about the impact physical exercise can have on health as well as what kind of exercise and how often it should be done. 2. EMPLOYMENT STATUS People who work long hours have no time for shopping for nutritious food and also for cooking at home. Therefore they rely on processed, fried, high fat, high sugar, high calorie foods and high sugary beverages that are easily accessible. 3. POVERTY One of the major social factors influencing obesity in Mexico is poverty. Poverty predicts the place of residence which is usually in unsafe communities. Living in unsafe neighborhoods means children stay indoors not being able to go outside and play. They resort to watching TV and playing computer games. Poverty makes it difficult to buy foods that are healthier, low calorie and more nutritious because it is more expensive. Long hours of work means less time for food preparation at home, shopping for groceries and physical activity. Lack of money and transportation lead to children being unable to participate in sports, recreational activities and youth programs. Poverty also leads to stress which compels people to focus on the immediate concerns rather than risk of long term chronic disease. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING OBESITY IN MEXICANS 1. AGE Mexico ranks first in childhood obesity; there are 4.5 million children who are obese. 28% of children between the ages of 5 and 9 are overweight. 38% of teens and preteens between the ages of 10 and 19 are obese or overweight. 2. GENDER Mexican females have a higher obesity rate than males (one third females versus one fourth of males). 3. PHYSICAL ACTIVITY Poor physical activity and an increase in sedentary life-style. 4. LOW SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS Mexicans with low socioeconomic status are unable to afford nutritious food, they rely on low cost, processed high-calorie foods and high sugary drinks. LOW EDUCATION LEVEL They lack knowledge about what foods are nutritious and what the long term effects are of consuming high fat, high sugar, highly processed foods and beverages. MIGRATION More Mexicans have moved from rural to urban communities where nutritious food is more expensive, there is less walking or biking due to increased number of cars, there is an increased consumption of coca-cola mainly due to unsafe drinking water. Traditional diets that are healthier are abandoned. Traditional continuous physical labor such as farming, factories, mining were abandoned for desk jobs. CULTURAL FACTORS AFFECTING OBESITY IN MEXICANS Overeating now is conditioned by recurrent or past economic deprivation. Avoiding hunger is part of the culture. Traditional nutritious foods like corn, grains, beans have been abandoned. Foods that could not be afforded in the past and associated with survival are those that now are highly valued like meats, fats, sugars. These foods are also desired because they are associated with a high social status; it is a symbol of integration into society. Acculturation is also a factor; Latinos who take on the values of the white population especially those closer to the United States border, end up eating less fruit, more fried foods. There is also the belief that whatever happens, happens. They believe that if they are going to get diabetis, they get diabetis. It is meant to happen. Also, the parents expect their kids to clean their plate in order to not waste food which ends up in overeating. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING OBESITY IN MEXICANS They reside in low income communities where unhealthy food choices are made due to lots of fast food stores. These areas are not safe so they tend to stay indoors and have minimal physical activity. There is limited amount of fresh produce and lots of sweets and snack items. Since these areas are not safe, there are few safe areas where children can play therefore they end up watching a lot of TV with no physical activity. The schools they attend have poor PE facilities so there is not much physical activity in school. There is also a high exposure to commercials of high sugar, high fat snacks. PAST CONSIDERATIONS Obesity rate was much lower in the past as people were doing more manual labor, they were eating more nutritious, home grown grains, beans, corn, fresh vegetables and fruits. The existence of cars was very minimal in the past so people used to bike and walk much more than now. PRESENT CONSIDERATIONS More and more people have moved from rural areas to urban areas. There is an increase in the number of fast food restaurants and a great increase in the daily caloric intake. Due to unsafe drinking water, there is an increase in high calorie sugary drinks. Mothers fill up baby bottles with coca-cola. The life in urban communities is more sedentary. There is a reliance on less nutritious dies that consist of processed foods that are high in saturated fats, sugar and salt content. â€Å"†¦Mexicans spent 29.3% less on fruits and vegetables in 1998 than in 1984, while during the same period, purchases of soft drinks increased by 37.2%† (2006). FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS Obesity leads to increased mortality rates due to diabeits, hypertension, myocardial infarction. Diabetis is the primary killer of Mexicans. The prevalence of diabetis and the cost it incurs has skyrocketed. It is predicted to overwhelm the Mexican health system in the future. By year 2030, the health system is predicted to collapse; 3.24 billion dollars are spent to treat these chronic illnesses associated with obesity. GROUPS IN MEXICO MOSTLY AFFECTED BY OBESITY THE POOR Poor Mexicans are unable to afford nutritious food as it is more expensive. More energy-intense foods such as foods high in sugar and fat are cheap and sought after due to lack of money. Coca-cola is consumed instead of water due to unsafe drinking water. THE YOUNG In the last decade, children obesity rate has tripled. Within the poor classes, the children of the obese parents are malnourished while being programmed to become obese. There is no control in school as to what children eat. Schools are filled with vending machines full of soft drinks and fast food. Their intake of processed, salty, high fat snacks, refined carbohydrates foods is very high while their intake of vegetables and fruits is very low. Their intake of sugary, high calorie beverages such as coca-cola is very high due to its low price, increased availability and lack of safe drinking water. They live in unsafe communities and are unable to play outside and be active. They spend excess time watching TV, play station time and computer. A lot of parents rely on TV for their children due to lack of childcare; this leads to sedentary lifestyle and exposure to unhealthy food commercials. Most public schools lack playgrounds or grounds for exercise. Most public schools, (80%), lack water fountains so they drink sugary drinks. There are few public most parks, swimming pools, play grounds and sidewalks. RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE 1. FOOD LABELING There is an urgent need for food labeling that is not confusing and misleading. There is a lack of accurate labeling standards and regulations. Portions sizes and contents are unclear and confusing. The labeling has to be formatted in an easy-to-understand by all consumers even by the less well-educated ones. This will address the social factors; the plan will not improve their education level but it will make it easy for them to see if they are purchasing healthy or unhealthy food. This has to be applied to all supermarket shelves, food packaging, restaurants and canteen menus. My recommendation is for the Mexican government to start monitoring these food labeling as it is not reinforced by the government today. 2. MARKETING The heavy consumption of junk foods and sugary drinks can be greatly influenced by the media due to their food related advertisements. 73% of the food commercials are for junk food. There is a need to protect the children from the pervasive effects of the food marketing. This has a powerful effect on their food preference, knowledge on the purchasing habits of children as well as their parents. My recommendation for the Mexican government would be to put in place to mobile phones, Internet, television and in-school promotions. The government should simply ban the advertising of unhealthy food to children and establish a system of monetary fines if certain companies deviate from this. This will address the environmental factors; if children don’t see it they will not buy it. 3. AVAILABILITY Junk food and soft drinks surround children at every step. Vending machines full of high saturated fats, high sugary drinks are all over the school premises and right outside the schools. No nutritious foods are offered to children in schools. My recommendation is that the central and local Mexican Government should place restrictions on the availability of soft drinks and fast food outlets just like alcohol and smoking restrictions. These restrictions should especially apply to outlets near schools. The increased availability of vegetables and fruits should be highly encouraged especially in schools at an affordable price. Elementary and pre-kindergarten schools should ban junk food from being even allowed to be sold in schools. Low calorie snacks and sugar free drinks should be sold only. This plan will take into considerations environmental, social and epidemiological factors. It will not improve their socio- economic status, but at least nutritious food will be more affordable and available even for the poor. If children will not be surrounded by junk food and soft drinks they will not buy it. 4. EDUCATION DUE TO LACK OF KNOWLEDGE The key to this problem in Mexico is to improve their knowledge about nutrition. This can be done through media since the Mexicans including the children spend hours in front of the TV and through schools. The government should direct media into advocating weight loss programs, healthy eating, the importance of physical exercise, and the long term effects of consuming junk food and soft drinks. The schools need to educate and give tools especially to high school students who have more access to fast foods to make better and healthy choices in school as well as after school. They can then bring the message home to the parents who can then make better choices as well. They need to teach the importance of physical activity. Local school districts need to make physical activity and physical education a higher priority or even mandatory. The children need to be taught the importance of drinking water not sugary high-calorie beverages and that they should eat only when they are hungry and not as their culture says avoid hunger. Local grocery stores need to be worked with and asked to move soda, chips, beer and candy away from the entrance to the store and also increase the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. These recommendations will address the social and cultural factors associated with obesity. This will improve their education level about nutrition therefore helping them make better choices and help them change their belief system that they have to avoid hunger. References Obesity in the Latino Communities, 2006. Retrieved from www/chc.org/research/ Documents/Obesity_in_Latino_Communities.pdf

The Middle Stone Ages Most Advanced Stone Toolmakers

Howiesons Poort and Stillbay industries of southern Africa are among the most advanced stone tool industries of the African Middle Stone Age, identified at a handful of archaeological sites, mostly caves in South Africa. Recent investigations at Sibudu Cave, as additional data supporting the earlier excavations, have achieved a timeline of between ~77,000-70,000 years before the present for Stillbay and ~66,000-58,000 bp for Howiesons Poort. Howiesons Poort and Stillbay Living These sites contain lithic stone industries that are comparable to European Upper Paleolithic in their sophistication, yet they date fully 20,000 to 30,000 years earlier than the UP. Stone tools from these industries include crescent-shaped blades (arguably hafted) and lanceolate projectile points. Bone artifacts include tools, perhaps even bone arrow points. Other advances shown by Howiesons Poort individuals include abstract portable art, in the form of ochre which has been engraved in a cross-hatched pattern. Some scholars have pointed to similarly sophisticated industries in eastern Africa and Asia, at dates ranging about 30,000 to 50,000 BP. This may thus represent the migration of Early Modern Humans from South Africa beginning about 60,000 years ago along the Southern Dispersal Route, well before the European colonization by Africans leading to the European Upper Paleolithic. Dating the Middle Stone Age in South Africa Recent examination of dates from several sites in South Africa by Jacobs and colleagues found that Howiesons Poort and Still Bay are clearly separate cultures, separated by several thousand years. Howiesons Poort/Still Bay sites South Africa: Pinnacle Point, Rose Cottage Cave, Blombos Cave, Border Cave, Klasies River Caves, Sibudu Cave Sources This glossary entry is a part of the About.com Guide to the Middle Paleolithic, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.Backwell, Lucinda, Francesco dErrico, and Lyn Wadley 2008 Middle Stone Age bone tools from the Howiesons Poort layers, Sibudu Cave, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(6):1566-1580.Henshilwood CS, and Dubreuil B. 2011. The Still Bay and Howiesons Poort, 77-59 ka: Symbolic Material Culture and the Evolution of the Mind during the African Middle Stone Age. Current Anthropology 52(3):361-400.Henshilwood, Christopher S., et al. 2002 Emergence of Modern Human Behavior: Middle Stone Age Engravings from South Africa. Science 295:1278-1280.Jacobs, Zenobia, et al. 2008. Ages for the Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa: Implications for Human Behavior and Dispersal. Science 322(5902):733-735.Lombard, Marlize, and Justin Pargeter 2008 Hunting with Howiesons Poort segments: pilot experimental study and the functional interpretation of archaeological tools. Jour nal of Archaeological Science 35(9):2523-2531.McCall, Grant S. 2007 Behavioral ecological models of lithic technological change during the later Middle Stone Age of South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 34(10):1738-1751.Mellars, Paul 2006 Going East: New Genetic and Archaeological Perspectives on the Modern Human Colonization of Eurasia. Science 313(5788):796-800.Mellars, Paul 2006 Why did modern human populations disperse from Africa ca. 60,000 years ago? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (25):9381-9386. Free downloadWadley, Lyn and Moleboheng Mohapi 2008 A Segment is not a Monolith: evidence from the Howiesons Poort of Sibudu, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(9):2594-2605.

Compare and Contrast the Work of Harry Harlow and Mary...

This essay will compare and contrast the work of psychologists Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth. To compare and contrast will be to emphasise the similarities and differences of both Harlow and Ainsworth’s work on understanding attachment, to which they have both made great contribution. Attachment refers to the mutually affectionate developing bond between a mother and any other caregiver (Custance 2010). It is a bond in which the infant sees the caregiver as a protective and security figure. Failing to form any type of attachment during the earliest years of childhood is thought to lead to social and emotional developmental issues that can carry on well into adult life (Custance 2010). Attachment theory was formulated by psychoanalyst†¦show more content†¦Mary Ainsworth is known for her ‘Strange Situation’ (Custance 2010) studies with children. Her theory was that the quality of an infant’s attachment depends largely on the kind of attention the i nfant has received. She observed the attachment styles of children, mostly aged between 12 and 24 months, by placing them in an environment and recording their reactions to their mothers (or primary caregivers) leaving the room and then returning. Based on these observations Ainsworth concluded that there are different types of attachment. Three types of attachment are: ‘anxious-avoidant’, where the child shows little upset with the stranger, but will avoid contact with the parent on their return. The ‘securely attached’ child is one that will show moderate levels of proximity seeking towards the parents and is upset by their departure but deals with the parents return positively, often returning to play. The third type is the ‘anxious-resistant’ child; greatly upset by the parent’s departure and on reunion seems angry and will not be comforted or picked up (Custance 2010). There are similarities in the work of both Harlow and Ainsworth on attachment. Firstly, both of them used studies demonstrating attachment beyond Bowlby’s idea of ‘cupboard love’ (Custance 2010), with Harlow’s experiment in the 1950’s giving an example of the power and strength of attachment with the monkeys sometimes returning to an abusiveShow MoreRelatedHarry Harlow1572 Words   |  7 PagesCompare and contrast research by Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth on understanding attachment This essay is looking at the similarities of two researchers into attachment. The aim is to present their work so as to compare and contrast the different approaches and techniques used by both Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth. Even though they both had their different techniques in carrying out their experiments, the conclusion of their findings was very similar and this essay will be showing these findingsRead MoreCompare and Contrast the Work of Harry Harlow and Mary Anisworth on Understanding Attachment1770 Words   |  8 PagesCompare and Contrast the work of Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth on understanding attachment ‘Attachment’ is a lasting secure and positive feeling that bonds one person to another, one of the strongest forms of attachment is thought to develop between a mother and child. Many psychologist, sociologist, physicians and psychoanalysts have sought to explore the fundamental nature of attachment and how it had evolved. Within this essay I shall examine †¢ The origins of attachment †¢ Psychologist who seekRead MorePsy 244 Essay10464 Words   |  42 PagesImmanuel Kant 1724-1804) ïÆ'  Nurture (environmentalism): emphasizes effects of experience on a passive mind; likens mind to â€Å"empty slate†; knowledge is based on experience; no innate ideas (John Locke 1632-1704) ïÆ'  Gene-environment interaction: genes never work in isolation, but always in combination with environmental influences 5. The English philosopher John Locke described the childs mind as a tabula rasa. He was referring to its initial quality, or state. What did he mean? ïÆ'  Blank slate; knowledge