A2 Key Phrases

Capitalism -
An economic and political system in which a country's trade/industry are controlled by private owners for profits

Left Wing Politics -
political positions/activities that accept/support social equality, in opposition to social hierarchy/inequality

Right Wing Politics -
political positions that view forms of social stratification/inequality as natural/normal

Market Liberalism (right wing) -
the free market. supportive of 'the way things are' - asserts economic benefits of capitalism

State Intervention -
when the state sets laws about the employment, health and safety and wages

Laws of Supply and Demand -
convincing the customer to buy the product and cause huge demand

Competition -
based on price and quality. Regulates the market by allowing products with higher quality to be successful

Consumer Sovereignty -
market liberals decide which businesses succeed and fail

Globalisation -
process of international integration from the interchange of world views

Privatisation - when the government sells off industries to individuals to raise more money for other industries

Cultural Imperialism -
when one culture takes over/whips out other cultures

McDonaldisation (PECC) -
Principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate sectors of society

- Predictability -

- Efficiency -
most efficient way of getting from A to B. Customers expect the same level of efficiency

- Calculability -
everything is measured and controlled. Workers expected to work fast.

- Control -
customers controlled in order to conform to the ideal - 'Eat quickly and leave'

Disneyfication -
critique of Disney based on:
- trivialization
-sanitization

Disneyization (THMP) -
a critique of Disney

- Theming -
- theme pubs/restaurant
-provides service as entertainment

- Hybrid Consumption -
1)stay longer
2)creation of a destination
3)achieved:
-diversity
-tactile, interactive

- Merchandising -
promotion of good, franchising, co-promotion of items linked by a common theme

- Performative Labour -
workers are cast members - audition instead of interview

Karl Marx (wrote largely before modern consumer culture) -
predicted collapse of capitalism

Bourgeoisie (Marx) -
the ruling class - own all things necessary to produce wealth

Proletariat (Marx) -
own labour - physically/intellectually skilled

Base/Superstructure Model (Marx) -

Conflict of Material Interest (Marx) -
bourgeoisie's aim is to make as much profit as possible, so it's in their best interests to pay workers as little as possible

Alienation of Workers (Marx) -
labour is a commodity to be bought and sold so individual workers find themselves in competition for jobs

False Consciousness (Marx) -
marxists believed we're kept in this state by ideologies. prevents proleteriate from succeeding

Commodity Fetishism (Marx) -
the perception of the social relationships involved in production, economic relationships among the money/commodities exchanged in market trade

Bernays - advertising based on subconscious desires

Conspicuous Consumption (Veblen) -
the spending of money on and acquiring of luxury goods/services to publicity display economic power

Social Emulation (Veblen) -
the idea that whenever individuals by cultural products conspicuously, in order to emulate their superiors

Elitism -
the belief/attitude that some individuals who form an elite group of people with a certain quality/worth

F R Leavis -
Influential British lieracy critic

Raymond Williams -
Welsh academic, novelist and critic

RSA (Althusser) -
Repressive State Apparatus

ISA (Althusser) -
Ideological state apparatus

Interpellation (Althusser) -
hailed into identities by adverts that surround us

Hegemony (Gramsci) -
the predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others

Popular Culture = Brainwashing (Frankfurt School) -
the dissemination of the ruling class ideologies

Incorporation (Frankfurt School) -
making something part of a whole. Can also refer to making a company a legal corporation

False needs (Marcuse) -
a failure to recognise the instruments of ones oppression

Standardisation (Adorno) -
formularic/similar products

Pseudo-Individualisation (Adorno) -
identical differences make products seem distinctive, but they're not

High Brow Taste (Bourdieu) -
Belongs to the middle/higher class

Low Brow Taste (Bourdieu) -
Working class

Habitus (Bourdieu) - the way you've been brought up

Consumerism -
social and economic order that encouraged the acquisition of goods/services

Fiske -
consumer sovereignty - positive view on consumerism as empowering individuals

Planned Obsolescence -
a policy of producing consumer goods that rapidly become obsolete and so require replacing

Organised Creation of Dissatisfaction -
'the key to economic prosperity is the OCD if everyone was satisfied no one would buy anything

Brand Identity -
how a business wants to be perceived by consumers

Celebrity Endorsement -
a form of advertising that commands a high degree of recognition, trust and respect among people

Thingification
(Lash and Lury)

Cathedrals of Consumption -
commercial displays meant to awe/inspire

Feminism (general) -
any discrimination or stereotyping of women can be described in terms of feminism

Simone de Beauvoir ("one is not born a woman, but becomes one") -
Having to prove you are a woman, not a girl

Simone de Beauvoir ("he is the subject, he is the absolute - she is the other")

Naomi Wolf - the Beauty Myth

Laura Mulvey - Scopophilia -
deriving pleasure from looking

Laura Mulvey - the male gaze -
occurs when the audience views from the perspective of a heterosexual man

Germaine Greer - "status ought not to be measured by a woman's ability to attract and snare a man"

Germaine Greere - "the housewife is an unpaid worker in her husband's house"

Post-Modernism -
Fragmentation - fragmented society

Cultural value -
some practises are better than others?

Postmodern identity -
unchanging

Style over Substance

Postmodern Irony -
meant to be cynically mocked

Pastiche/Parody -
copy of something intended to be a tribute

Bricolage -
smashing something together - collage

Post-Modernism (Baudrillard) -
Hyperreality - unable to depict what's real and not real

Post-Modernism (Lyotard rejects metanarratives) -
grand narratives/universal truths

(use to disagree with any theory)