The document provides an overview of several key media theories related to the representation of youth culture, including Marxism, Althusser, and Gramsci. It explains some of Marx's core ideas about capitalist societies and social inequality. It then discusses how Althusser views ideology and the way it structures people's realities. Finally, it outlines Gramsci's concept of hegemony and how dominant groups maintain power through influencing ideologies that become viewed as "common sense." The document instructs the reader to apply these theories in analyzing media representations of youth and when responding to exam questions.

1. Starter task
• How is youth/youth culture represented in the
media? use a variety of media forms and
theory to back up your answer.
News papers, films, TV, music/music videos,
news reports.

2. History repeats
Back in 1972, Stanley Cohen concluded:
• "The intellectual poverty and total lack of
imagination in our society's response to its
adolescent trouble-makers during the past 20 years,
is manifest in the way this response compulsively
repeats itself and fails each time to come to terms
with the 'problem' that confronts it."
• Quadrophenia is a striking and evocative reminder of a
bygone age when Britain was … well, basically exactly
the same as it is now.
• To what extent do you agree with this? A good
statement to use in your exam as part of your
argument.

3. Media Theory
• We will now explore some more media theory
and theorists.
• You will use these theories and theorists to
back up your point/argument in your exam.
• Please take notes
• We will look in to Marxism, Althusser and
Gramsci

4. Marxism
• Marxists/ Karl Marx are interested in
• “How dominant social groups are able to
reproduce their social and economic power”
Taylor and Willis (1999)

5. Marxism
• One of Marx’s core ideas about society was that
all societies have an economic base. This is seen
to be the central core and focus of any society –
what makes it function.
• In Western cultures this economic base is
essentially capitalist – in other words, the whole
system is based on the pursuit of wealth.
• The problem is that this does not benefit all – the
rich get richer and the poor poorer in this type of
system. It leads to social inequality.

6. Marxism
• Marx sees a capitalist society as a split society.
Those who control or have power are called
the bourgeoisie.
• Those who do not and who have to sell their
labor for minimal pay and often no share of
the profit are called the proletariat.

7. Super structure
• Marx saw that the economic base supported a super
structure
• The institutions that exist in a society such as those
linked to the law, education, politics and the media.
These are shaped by the economic base and exist to
support, serve and legitimise the base to society –they
partly exist to convince people that the way the
country works is the right way.
• To make society believe in which society is run is the
correct way and they feel safe in this society so do not
want it to change.

8. Marxism
• How does Marxism apply to media texts?
• You can look at who owns a media production and who
benefits the most financially
• Texts can be examined to see if they promote
ideologies that support the ruling classes/ the status
quo – is it being used to control – ask what ideologies
are being pushed? Who do they benefit?
• Do texts promote inequality between groups based on
power – are men privileged over women? White
groups over other cultures? Upper class youths over
lower class youths?

9. Althusser
• Althusser says we are subjects of what we are
made to believe.
• Ideology has been created for us and we can only
consume what we are made to believe, by doing
so we are ultimately subjects of ideology that has
already been created for us.
• We accept ideology and how its created as we
build our ideas on previous assumptions created
on what we have made ourselves to believe.

10. Ideology and Althusser
• Ideology is not “false consciousness.” Rather
ideology structures what we do and makes our
reality.
• Althusser is a structuralist we cannot exist
outside of culture or ideology. It provides
meaning to our lives, the systems that we live
through.
• In short, we have no reality beyond our ideology
we ‘adopt’ an identity from a shared set within
society.

11. Starter task
• Write down the following deadline in capital
letters in your book.
• ANCILLARY TEXTS ARE DUE ON FRIDAY 13TH
MARCH 4PM SUBMITTED ON TO BLOGS. YOUR
LAST TWO POSTS ON YOUR BLOG BY THIS
DATE NEED TO BE TITLED AND POSTED.

12. Althusser
• For Althusser, it is impossible to access the “real conditions
of existence" due to our reliance on language.
• Our language structures our experience of the world –
(semiotics) and our language is a consequence of the social
world.
• We have no way of engaging with the world apart from
language. Because of our being inside language we can’t
see external reality only the ideological interpretation of it -
we can only see the representation of reality, not reality
itself.
• However, through a vigorous study of economics, history
and sociology, we can come close to perceiving ideological
systems and how we are placed in specific sets of relations
by those systems.

13. Althusser
• Adopting a set of beliefs or ideology from a system of
beliefs we come to think that our beliefs are our own,
that they originate from ourselves. i.e. My beliefs
emerge from my conscious decisions, I have free will
and can choose what I want to do.
• However what Althusser argues is that these beliefs are
not really our own – they are social. We are taking part
in shared societal ideas but think they are our own
private ideas. We internalise social beliefs and see
them as our own.

14. Althusser
• The beliefs/ideology come to us through the
Ideological State Apparatus, the devices by which
ideology is transmitted. Family, Education,
Media, Religion, Culture, Arts.
• Our consciousness, what we are emerges from
these. We exist from a system of beliefs and we
internalise these beliefs and they become our
own. We then in turn play a part in reproducing
them. Therefore people are the producers and
determine how society is ruled.

15. Gramsci Hegemony
• Hegemony is the way in which those in power
maintain their control. Dominant ideologies
are considered hegemonic; power in society is
maintained by constructing ideologies which
are usually promoted by the mass media. We
are shown representations of groups of
people and consume them, we are made to
believe how society is structured is correct.

16. • Hegemony tends to more often refer to the
power of a single group in a society to essentially
lead and dictate the other groups of the society.
This may be done through communications,
through influence of voters or of government
leaders.
• In the media the institutions essentially make the
audience view the world from their point of view
making them have the same opinion as the
producer giving them control over identity and
the public consumer.

17. Gramsci Hegemony
• Gramsci uses the idea of hegemony By this he meant
the spreading throughout society of a system of values,
attitudes, beliefs and morality that has the effect of
supporting the status quo in power relations.
• Dominant relations of power become seen as common
sense so that the philosophy, culture and morality of the
ruling elite comes to appear as the natural order of
things.
• The values that maintain the power relations infiltrate
all levels and aspects of culture.
• A hegemonic belief is something we all concur with, its
normal and is spread throughout society. Its something
that we have accepted as part of life.

18. Gramsci
• Because we all concur with these beliefs and
share them we actively contribute to their
maintenance.
• Rather than a passive public we give consent to
power systems. EG - The ruling groups present
themselves as the group best able to provide us
with the means to pursue our needs and to
maintain power the dominant groups constantly
realign themselves and adopt different critical
concerns.

19. Gramsci
• Hegemony is about getting us to actively
agree to the system of
oppression(authority/power). Ideology is not
imposed but a system of choices and ideas.
These are grouped together into set which we
choose to adhere

20. Marxism/Althusser/Gramsci
• Marx sees us as being ruled by the wealthy.
• Althusser sees us as subjects.
• Gramsci sees us as willing if not complicit
participants in our own subjectification.

21. Task 1
Your opinion on how youth is
represented in the media
Societies opinion on how youth is
represented in the media
The press’s opinion and representation
on youth
Why/how these opinions/ideologies have
formed
Give at least 5 points in each area and back up your points with texts we have studied
in lesson or any other media examples you have noticed while studying collective
identity and deem to be relevant.

22. Task 2 summary
• To what extent does Karl Marx theory impact
on how society understand youth and the
representation of youth culture?
• How does Althusser’s theory and concept of
ideology have an impact on the future
representations of youth and youth culture?
• How does Gramscis theory of hegemony apply
to the media texts that we have explored in
lesson?

23. Task 3
• Timed response:
Analyse the ways in which the media represent
one group of people that you have studied.
Or
‘The media do not construct collective identity,
they merely reflect it.’ discuss