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Digital Culture and Sociology

Digital Culture and Sociology. Doing Cultural Studies. about today. Doing Cultural Studies , by Stuart Hall et.al. Digital Borderlands , Identity and Interactivity in Culture, Media and Communications by Johan Fornäs. part 1. break. part 2. reading the text?. main points. representation.

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Digital Culture and Sociology

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  1. Digital Culture and Sociology Doing Cultural Studies DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  2. about today • Doing Cultural Studies, by Stuart Hall et.al. • Digital Borderlands, Identity and Interactivity in Culture, Media and Communications by Johan Fornäs part 1 break part 2 DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  3. reading the text? DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  4. main points representation Walkman as object doesn’t have meaning per se but we can find it in the way it is represented: - link to identity - typical (modern) cultural artifact - studying representation we see all the other themes in operation Media are important because through them culture is “produced, circulated, use or appropriated” (23) Advertisement is not only about reflecting cultural identities but mostly about constructing identities through representation. We don’t buy things totally unconsciously, we identify to some small degree. DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  5. the circuit of culture Du Gay , Paul, Stuart Hall, Linda James, Hugh Mackay and Keith Smith. 1997. Doing Cultural Studies: The story of the Sony Walkman. London: Sage. DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  6. birth of the walkman production • Original idea? Akio Morita / young engineer • Heroic individual: personification, from rag to riches?, the US connection • Sony as Japanese (to West) as West (to Japan) • Chance production vs careful planning + investment DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  7. birth of the walkman II production • How to sell it? • Marx: Production and consumption necessary connected, articulation (Hall) • To target the ideal young costumers: • prizes had to be low (efforts, assembly) • name had to be cool (walky taken, walkman too “japanized”: soundabout (US), stowaway (UK), freestlye (Sve) • Marketing: give sets to musicians, couples in public places, invitations to press on audio • Lots of market research as consumption feeds back into production from 2people to 1 DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  8. Articulating production and consumption design • Designers have to embody culture in things so that they can sell them. • Explores design processes at Sony (i.e. how it became smaller, model differences, etc.) • “Lifestyling” through market research (p. 66) • Open the original target: mobile, young, music. As research showed more ages, not only urban. • “My First Sony” campaign • How Japanese is it? Centered on Western aesthetics DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  9. production sony as global firm • Analyze the company’s economical progress (ups & downs) • Globalization also in production: i.e. factories to Taiwan. • Sony expanding in more markets within electronic: music, entertainment, etc. • Define Sony in relationship to the theory of “culture industry” by Horkheimer/Adorno: combining hardware/software, the idea of media synergy DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  10. consumption uses/attitudes • Consumption concept: consumed> passive> rebellion • Did people “need” the walkman? • Baudrillard: needs are not natural but cultural (p.90) • Against the walkman: articles criticizing atomization, loss of values, isolation • In favour of walkman: active users, own space, reclaiming terrain • Bourdieu: different social groups consume goods differently + statistics • Commodification allows for appropriation and resistance. DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  11. regulation uses/attitudes • Public vs private sphere • People fined in public transportation • Media discussions about attitude, politeness... • Regulation in public places DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  12. DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  13. digital borderlands • purpose of text • relation to course • the balance theory / practise • your questions / comments let´s do a close reading of the text… DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  14. CASE: walkman discourse analysis steps: • Description: relation/difference with other objects • Semantic analysis: what does it mean? the name, what is it, what does it evoke, associations of the words related to the object: modern, Japanese... • Advertisement analysis: what kind of people are represented (social role, status, race, gender), what slogans, what other objects appear • Signifying practise: how is it used? what do we do with it? • Themes: Mobility, Privacy, Soundscapes... DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

  15. complementary bibliography • ADORNO, T.W. 1991. The Culture Industry. London, Verso. • ARNOLD, M. 1932. Culture and Anarchy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. • BARTHES, R. 1977. Mythologies. London: Jonathan Cape. • BAUDRILLARD, J. 1998. Selected Writings, Cambridge, Polity Press. • BOURDIEU, P. 1989. “Social Space and symbolic power”. Sociological Theory. Vol. 7, n.1. • WILLIAMS, R. 1961. The Long Revolution. Harmondsworth, Penguin. • WILLIAMS, R. 1976. Keywords. London, Fontana. • WILLIAMS, R. 1983. Towards 2000. London, The Hogarth Press. DIGITAL CULTURE AND SOCIOLOGY session 2 – Susana Tosca

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