Marxism and Hegemony

 Marxism & hegemony: blog tasks

Task 1: Mail Online review of Capital

1) Re-read the Mail Online review of Capital. Why does it suggest that Capital features a left-wing ideology?

It sees immigration as positive, mentioned that the hardest worker on the street was an illegal immigrant (Quintina), mentions that the Polish builder had a heart of gold and his Hungarian girlfriend was as honest as Mother Teresa; which shows that most characters that has a positive impact on where those who immigrated to London for a better life.

2) Choose three quotes from the review that are particularly critical of Capital and paste them into your blogpost. Do you agree with the criticisms? Why?

• Some unknown anarchist was posting ominous cards through the doors in a gentrified London street, where property values and parking permits were all-important.

Properties rising in value is still a problem London goes through to this day.

• Everything British came in for a dose of loathing. When investment banker Roger muttered something self-deprecating, one of the immigrant characters snarled, with real anger: ‘Ah! The Great British understatement!’

The quote was mentioning the attitude of understatement and that this is characterised as part of the English cultural attitude to life.

• The hardest worker on the street was an illegal immigrant, determined to pay her way and not touch a penny of benefits. 

This shows that immigrants are hard working people that are determined to make their future better.

3) What scenes or characters from Capital could be read as promoting left-wing ideology?

Scene 4: Asylum 

Scene 6: Life at the corner shop

Characters that promote left wing ideology are: Quintina, Rodger(when he said to move out of the city and live a simpler life in the countryside), and Bogdan

4) What about the other side of the argument - are there any aspects of Capital that reinforce right-wing or capitalist viewpoints?

Scene 4: What use is 30 grand?

• Roger completely destroyed by 30 grand bonus shows his white privilege laid bare.

• Scene 3: Which of those isn’t absolutely essential?
  Shows how privileged the richest Londoners are

Task 2: Media Factsheet - Applying Marxism 

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #66: Applying Marxism. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level or online here (you'll need your Greenford Google login to access). Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What does Marxism suggest regarding power in society?

Deals with social and economical power relationships and have been influential in economics, politics and sociology.

Key ideas of marxism were that:

• Power was held by a minority who had access to capital and could use their money and power to generate more wealth.
• The majority of the population had only their labour to help make a living.
• Industrialisation had meant that he elite were the only ones who had access to the means of production.
• Without the ability to produce for themselves, the mass were dependent on the elite for survival.
• To maximise profits, the elite needed to get as much labour from the mass for as little cost as possible.
• The elite needed the mass to accept their position as powerless workers. 

Society act to support the financial power-base. There are two main ways this can occur via repression or ideologically. Repressive structures are those that threaten to act with force if rules are not upheld. Ideological structures are those that act to construct the values and ideologies which govern the way people behave.

2) Why is The Apprentice a good example of the media reinforcing capitalist values and ideologies?

The fact that Sugar has all the power reinforces the superior position of the capitalist elite. He has power as he used the system to create wealth and hee is shown using this power to provide a livelihood for the winner of the competition.

All of the contestants are dependant on him for their survival in the show. The prize for the winner is a well-paid job and the winner will need to display the qualities that identify him /her as a potentially successful businessperson. Through the tasks and the judgements

offered afterwards some clear values are identified. Successful people need to be outgoing but not too extrovert. They must be adventurous in business terms but not reckless; confident but not arrogant and be both good leaders and team players.

3) Come up with two examples of media texts (e.g. TV programmes, newspapers etc.) that either fetishise working class life (e.g. EastEnders presents quite a harmonious East End community which probably doesn't accurately reflect East London life) or demonise working class life or poor people (e.g. The Daily Mail and The Sun newspapers regularly demonise people living on benefits with headlines referring to 'scroungers'.) Explain what meanings these texts communicate to their audiences.

Superstore: Superstore appears to be a light-hearted workplace comedy, but it tackles some of the most important topics of our company culture including maternity leave, job security, mental health, and discrimination. The show’s ensemble becomes a dysfunctional family, blending and re-defining work-life balance, which feels a lot like the future of work. 

9 to 5: This is about a 1980 feminist revenge comedy who kidnap their misogynist boss. The sequences showing the three women’s weed-fuelled fantasy sequences of what they’d like to do to their boss are almost avant garde and their action plan is incidentally pretty radical too. Once they’ve got their horrible manager tied up, they fake his signature on memos decreeing job shares, a creche, an office redesign that accommodates access for wheelchair users. Pretty bold stuff, and not every 2018 workplace has as much, but 9 to 5 finally seems to lose its nerve, on the equal pay issue

4) Look at the bullet points on page 4 of the factsheet:

When making a Marxist reading of a text, look out for representations that:

• show the values of the power elite as beneficial to the mass
• show queries or challenges to the base as meaningless, foolish or anti-social via ‘failed revolt’
• show the subdominant position of the masses as a naturalised idea
• show the values of the power elite as ‘natural’ or ‘right’
• show that being a member of the mass is a good thing
• show the masses accepting the values of the power elite
• show the values of the power elite as being ‘for the good of the masses’ (even when unpleasant)

Now try applying those bullet points to Capital. Think about the setting, characters and narrative strands - how many of the bullet points apply to Capital? Does Capital reinforce or challenge the values of capitalism? Give examples from episode 1 to support your points.

• show the values of the power elite as beneficial to the mass
• show the values of the power elite as ‘natural’ or ‘right’
• show the values of the power elite as being ‘for the good of the masses

In scene 1 “Bonus season” - and £75m profit - emphasises the crazy money in banking and therefore the inequality at the heart of London. 

In scene 3 “You’d be surprised at how little £1m covers these days.” Shows how privileged the richest Londoners are.

In scene 5 Roger completely destroyed by 30 grand bonus shows his white privilege laid bare.

Optional extension: Media Magazine feature on BBC drama The Casual Vacancy and ideology

If you'd like to further understand Marxism, Hegemony and the media, go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature 'The Beeb, The Mail and JKR' in MM53 (page 20). This focuses on the politics of The Casual Vacancy, another BBC three-part drama based on a book by JK Rowling.