The document discusses two views of how culture works - as a dominant ideology that tells people what to think, or as a toolkit of optional resources. It also examines why some cultural forms are more powerful or effective than others. Specifically, it outlines five dimensions - retrievability, rhetorical force, resonance, institutional retention, and resolution - that can help analyze why some cultural items are more influential based on their accessibility, persuasive content, relevance to social issues, support from institutions, and ability to provide further engagement. The goal is to use these dimensions to comparatively analyze how culture transmits values and influences people.

1. Theories of CultureTheories of Culture
February 17February 17thth

2. How Culture WorksHow Culture Works
• 2 views of what culture does:
Dominant
Ideology
Toolkit

3. Dominant IdeologyDominant Ideology
• A dominant ideology is a set of ideas that
prevail in a society in a given time period.
• As Marx says, “In every age, the ruling
ideas are the ideas of the ruling class.”
• In this view, culture tells us what to think
and do. Culture makes it very hard to
rebel and to do things differently.
Dominant
Ideology
Toolkit

4. Tool-KitTool-Kit
• A tool-kit is a set of resources—
knowledge, experiences, ideas—that we
draw from to make decisions, construct
our lives, and make sense of the world.
• This view of culture emphasizes human
agency and says that culture gives us a
set of optional ways to engage the world.
Dominant
Ideology
Toolkit

5. Culture Can Be PowerfulCulture Can Be Powerful
• Both of these views start with the
assumption that culture can be powerful.
It can tell us what to do, or it can serve as
a weapon in our arsenal.
• But they also recognize that culture might
not be powerful. It may tell us to do
something that we refuse to do, or it may
be an ineffective weapon.
Dominant
Ideology
Toolkit

6. Cultural PossibilitiesCultural Possibilities
Dominant
Ideology
Toolkit
Culture
that Works
Culture that
does not Work

7. The First AxisThe First Axis
• We cannot solve the debate about
whether culture is a dominant ideology or
a toolkit. The reality is that both are true,
depending upon the form of culture, its
relationship to the recipient, and the actual
experience the recipient has with culture.
• At times we are passive dupes to culture;
at times we are empowered by culture.
Dominant
Ideology
Toolkit

8. The Second AxisThe Second Axis
• Schudson wants to focus on why some
culture works and other culture fails.
• Culture that works may succeed in
producing a dominant ideology (it
actually influences us) or it may
succeed in being a useful resource.
• In my view, the video from this week
illustrates culture that powerfully
creates a dominant ideology, but does
entirely describe all popular culture.
Culture
that Works
Culture that
does not Work

9. The 5 Dimensions of CulturalThe 5 Dimensions of Cultural
PotencyPotency
• Schudson suggests 5 aspects of culture that can
help us to understand why some culture works
and other culture does not.
• This does not yield a quantitative formula where
we simply tally up the dimensions that are
upheld and culture with the biggest total wins.
It’s more complicated than that.
• But we need to think about all 5 dimensions to
make sense of why some culture succeeds
where some other cultural forms fail.

10. RetrievabilityRetrievability
• Key Question: Can you get it?
– How do you get access to this piece of culture?
– How does the access compare with other forms of
culture?
– How many people can get to it?
– Does wealth, race, gender, education or some other
issue produce unequal access?
• Location of analysis: where the item sits in
social structure.

11. Rhetorical ForceRhetorical Force
• Key Question: Is it powerful?
– Does it have anything eye-catching,
memorable or catchy in it, such as a great
beat, a sexy image, or a slogan you can chant
(wassup,
– How does the item communicate? What tools
does it use to communicate?
• Location of Analysis: the content of the
culture itself.

12. ResonanceResonance
• Key question: Does the item tap into an on-going
conversation?
– Is there some piece of the content that is “ripped from the
headlines?”
– Does the cultural item help us to explore an on-going social
issue?
– For instance, notice any messages about imperialism in the
last Star Wars movie, or about just war in The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe?
– Location of analysis: the content of the culture and its
relationship to the audience.

13. Institutional RetentionInstitutional Retention
• Key Question: are there any formal or informal
pressures to engage this piece of culture?
– Do formal institutions—schools, corporations, the political
system, etc.—push the cultural item on you in any way, such
as when a school assigns a novel?
– Do formal institutions discourage you from using this culture,
such as when a business refuses to give tech support to a
Mac user, or when a school bans a novel.
– Informally, has engaging this piece of culture become a
norm, or does it violate a norm?
• Location of analysis: Formal institutions and social
norms.

14. ResolutionResolution
• Key question: Does it give you something to do?
– Are there more products you can buy?
– Is there a sequel? A website? An event to go to? A
book to read?
– Does it give you a checklist to help you act on it?
– Do you finish with the cultural item and know what to
do next?
• Location of analysis: the message of the cultural
item and its relationship to other items and
activities.

15. SummarySummary
• Our goal, as students of the sociology of
popular culture, is to use these 5
dimensions of culture as tools in
conducting comparative content analyses
that examine how culture works as a
mechanism for the transmission of values.