Thinking Activity on Cultural Studies

Cultural studies: Media,Power and Truly Educated Person

Hello readers !

          This is my blog as a part of thinking activity on cultural studies,which is the subject of our academic study,so here is my task is that, write on:

• What is Culture?
• What is Cultural Studies?
• Four Goals of Cultural studies.
• How is understanding 'Power' at the center of Cultural Studies?

What is Culture?

         To above the question,we can be gave answer in my ways but it is nearly impossible to define Cultural studies in definite terms.it is difficult because the concept of culture itself has been made ambiguous.The pendulum of the definition of culture ranges from Matthew Arnold's idea of " Perfecting what was best thought and said" .

       Much of the difficulty of understanding the concept of culture stems from the different usages of the tern as it was increasingly employed in the nineteenth century. Broadly speaking ,it was used in three ways. First,as exemplified in Matthew Arnold's Culture and Anarchy (1867),culture reffered to special intellectual or artistic endeavors or products,What today we might call "high culture"as opposed to "popular Culture".by this definition,only a portion-typically a small one-of any social goups "has"culture.this sense of culture is more closely related to aesthetics than to social science.

   
What is cultural studies ?

       " Cultural studies" is hard to define. cultural studies is not so much a discrete approach at all,but rather a set of practice.As Patrick Brantlinger has pointed out, cultural studies is not "a tightly coherent, unified movement with a fixed agenda,"but a"loosely coherent group of tendencies,issues,and questions" Arising from the social turmoil of the 1960s, Cultural studies is composed of elements of Marxism ,poststructuralism and postmodernism,feminism,gender studies,film theory, urban studies: those fields that concentrate on social and cultural forces that either create community or cause division and alienation.

Four goals of cultural studies

• First : Cultural studies transcends the confines of a particular discipline such as literary Criticism or History.
• Second : Cultural studies is politically engaged.
• Third : Cultural studies denies the separation of "high" and "Low" or elite and popular culture.
• forth : Cultural studies analyze not only the cultural work,but also the means of production.

How is understanding power 'power' at the center of Cultural studies ?

 As a cultural studies reads 'Power' with critical insights, it makes the students/ scholars 'politically incorrect'.This makes it difficult for CS to survive in the academia where 'political correct' and 'right-wingers' are in majority. However , it is but sure that the study of Cultural Studies in incomplete without the study of 'Power'.

First of all let's understand 'POWER'.   

  This Video help us to understand where power comes from,how it is exercised and how can one read and write power.

                         POWER n.

                         IS THE ABILITY TO

                         WHAT YOU WOLD 

                          HAVE THEM DO

   Six source of civic power

1. Physical force
2. Wealth
3. State Action
4. Social Norms
5. Ideas
6. Numbers

Here, i would like to mention one example, which can be connect with third type of  civic power State action . this is the use of loyal to compel people TO WHAT TO DO OR TO NOT DO CERTAIN THINGS. In democracy  people elect the government but, once after the election government have much more power over people like State action

      Abrogation of article 370 ,this is about acknowledges the special status of the state of Jammu and kashmir in terms of autonomy and its ability to formulate laws for the state's permanent residents.In the 1954 Presidential order, among other things,the Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution were made applicable to Kashmir with exceptions.

   Through this some opinion of  Kashmir citizen ,we can see the State Action. Not any amendment can be imposed without state assemble but political leader make people in swirl and confused what is going on and people also said that this is the unconstitutional. even people can not communicate with family members because of banned of Internet service. one of the Kashmir's student said that this is not the solution, even They are not take decision with agreement of citizen of Kashmir that means they only want to KASHMIR LAND not KASHMIRIAN. By this all we can transparently see the State Action power

Thank you !

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