THEORIES OF STUART HALL

By Khushboo Surana Maithili Joshi Nancy Nigam

2011C6PS573G 2012B1A7502G 2012B1A3646G

Priyanka M.P.
Srinidhi P.V. Varsha Rao Yatisha Raul

2012B5A7483G
2012A7PS095G 2012C6PS317G 2012A7PS108G

INTRODUCTION

Stuart Hall was a cultural theorist born in Jamaica in 1932. Birmingham School of Cultural Studies. Instrumental in removing racial prejudice in media. Mixed racial ancestry

RACIAL PREJUDICE AND MEDIA

Critical role in opposing racial discrimination against non-whites in the media Black men-white media Theories-representation, encoding-decoding, power relations.

REPRESENTATION
Connects meaning and language to culture
Systems of Representation- mental representation and language Mental representation shared concepts culture Language signs words are arbitrary

MENTAL REPRESENTATION
Concepts about material world

Societal influence
Abstract concepts angels, mermaids, friendship, love or even fictional characters Principles of similarity and differences to understand the concepts Culture shared conceptual map

LANGUAGE
Concepts to language

Words, sounds, visual images signs

Language is used to communicate concepts Words are arbitrary Culture shared language systems Meanings / words keep changing

THEORIES OF REPRESENTATION

How Representation of meanings through language works?

THREE APPROACHES

Reflective approach
Intentional approach Constructionist approach

POWER, DISCOURSE AND KNOWLEDGE

DISCOURSE
Discourse as a linguistic concept : passages of connected writing or speech Foucaults meaning : group of statements that provide a language for talking about a particular topic at a particular historical moment Production of knowledge through language Never consists of one statement, one action, one text or one source

DISCOURSE FORMATION
Discursive events referring to the same object, sharing the same style and supporting a strategy, a common institutional administrative or political drift pattern
Nothing which is meaningful exists outside discourse Nothing has any meaning outside discourse

KNOWLEDGE AND POWER

Knowledge , Power and Truth

Regime of truth : general politics of truth New conception of power : Power circulates

FEMALE HYSTERIA : AN EXAMPLE

Andre Broillet (painter), JeanMartin Charcot, French psychiatrist and neurologist

How does this theory understand the cultural power of media?

The constructionist approach of the representation theory helps us understand the cultural power of media by helping us understand the images we are seeing and how the meanings of objects are social constructions and do not have fixed meaning.

For example, if women are always portrayed in the media as subservient, objectified objects, than those characteristics will always be assigned to what it means to be a woman; however, through the shift in definition of females, those meanings can alter and change.

In Racist Ideologies and the Media, Hall uses the example of race and the representation of race within society. According to Hall, the media constructs for us a definition of what race is, what meaning the imagery carries, and what the problem race is understood to be.
The media constructs the identity of a race by its representation , therefore, incorporating an ideology and a set of meanings about a race into society. The media is bias in its representations of different groups of people

As a society our maps of reality are dictated by what we see through the media and what those images represent, if they are distorted than we do not receive the true meaning (Hall). As a society, we become immersed in a set of cultural beliefs that are a reflection of what is instilled in us by a shared culture. The media is an outlet where those ideologies get distributed. The media controls what content we are allowed to invite into our reality, and into our shared cultural and social perception.

Halls Theory of Encoding and Decoding

THE ENCODING/DECODING MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

THE ENCODING/DECODING MODEL OF COMMUNICATION Offers a theoretical approach of how media messages are produced , propagated and interpreted.

Speaking is encoding, as are writing, printing, and filming a TV program. Once received, the message is decoded; that is, the signs and symbols are interpreted. Decoding occurs through listening, reading, or watching that TV show.
Decoded depending on an individual's cultural background, economic standing and personal experiences. Hall has had a major influence on media studies.

THE MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

Four-stage model of communication that takes into account the production, circulation, use and reproduction of media messages . Each stage will affect the message and the sender can never be sure that it will be perceived by the target audience in the way that was intended, because of the chain. The four stages are: 1. Production This is where the encoding of a message takes place 2. Circulation How individuals perceive things: visual vs. written. 3. Use (distribution/consumption) This is the decoding/interpreting of a message which requires active recipients. 4. Reproduction This is the stage after audience members have interpreted the message and individuals take action after they have been exposed to a specific message

3 DECODING POSITIONS

Dominant
Negotiated Oppositional

Accepts the preferred message

Shares the same cultural biases as the sender

DOMINANT POSITION

Mixture of accepting and rejecting

Involves modification based on personal experiences

NEGOTIATED POSITION
Crucial in implementing changes in the product, books (revised editions); help in improvizing the product

Understands the literal meaning of the message

Rejects the message due to cultural/ economic/ social background

OPPOSITIONAL POSITION

CONCLUSION
Highly influenced by post-structuralists Barthes and Derrida
No ultimate way to decode the message

Post-modernism: Reader-response theory

Significant role to the decoder as well as t the encoder Criticism:
1. Based on the assumption that the latent meaning of the text is encoded in the dominant code. Downplays conflicting tendencies within texts May be applied more easily to news and current affairs than to other mass media genres. Difficult to pick a preferred meaning.

2. 3.