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fandomhigh2013-02-01 01:34 am
thefearwasreal) wrote in fandomhigh2013-02-01 01:34 am
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Pop Culture: Everything I Ever Needed To Know I Learnt From... [Thurs, 1st Period]
Oz numbered off the students as they entered the classroom today.
"Right, hegemony," Oz said, once the entire class had arrived. "Like I said week before last, the concept of a cultural hegemony is a society where instead of the Man keeping you down directly, the cultural norms are such that it seems like common sense to keep yourself down. This in turn will often lead to counterhegemony, which as the name suggests is resistance or opposition to the status quo, people saying 'your common sense is neither of those things', sometimes they'll appropriate the tools of mass media to in order to convince other people of this, if any of you have ever heard of culture jamming, that's what I'm talking about. Enough people subscribe to your newsletter and might have a flow-blown counterculture on your hands."
Oz paused to sip his coffee. "But of course, since the Man benefits from having a nice orderly society where everyone thinks it's just common sense he's in charge, they're usually not going to respond to countercultural movements with 'good for you, have some pie'. Sometimes they crack down on it, which if the counterculture isn't actually harming anyone, is a total dick move, and can backfire if people start wondering why you're smacking the hippies down so hard, sometimes they don't react effectively enough and the balance shifts over to the counterhegemonic movement altogether, with the counterculture becoming the new cultural norm, which can be good or bad depending on what these new cultural norms are. But usually it ends up somewhere in the middle with the dominant culture either adapting to the sub- and countercultures, or co-opting it for their own ends. Which is why you kids can now buy symbols of countercultural rebellion at Hot Topic."
"Now for the class activity. Ones are counterhegemonic idealist, twos are loyal to the Man. Find a partner from the opposite side. Ones come up with a way to convince people to stick it to the Man, twos try to figure out how you're going to react to that, ones then react to that reaction, and so on. Halfway to the end of class, swap around."
"Right, hegemony," Oz said, once the entire class had arrived. "Like I said week before last, the concept of a cultural hegemony is a society where instead of the Man keeping you down directly, the cultural norms are such that it seems like common sense to keep yourself down. This in turn will often lead to counterhegemony, which as the name suggests is resistance or opposition to the status quo, people saying 'your common sense is neither of those things', sometimes they'll appropriate the tools of mass media to in order to convince other people of this, if any of you have ever heard of culture jamming, that's what I'm talking about. Enough people subscribe to your newsletter and might have a flow-blown counterculture on your hands."
Oz paused to sip his coffee. "But of course, since the Man benefits from having a nice orderly society where everyone thinks it's just common sense he's in charge, they're usually not going to respond to countercultural movements with 'good for you, have some pie'. Sometimes they crack down on it, which if the counterculture isn't actually harming anyone, is a total dick move, and can backfire if people start wondering why you're smacking the hippies down so hard, sometimes they don't react effectively enough and the balance shifts over to the counterhegemonic movement altogether, with the counterculture becoming the new cultural norm, which can be good or bad depending on what these new cultural norms are. But usually it ends up somewhere in the middle with the dominant culture either adapting to the sub- and countercultures, or co-opting it for their own ends. Which is why you kids can now buy symbols of countercultural rebellion at Hot Topic."
"Now for the class activity. Ones are counterhegemonic idealist, twos are loyal to the Man. Find a partner from the opposite side. Ones come up with a way to convince people to stick it to the Man, twos try to figure out how you're going to react to that, ones then react to that reaction, and so on. Halfway to the end of class, swap around."