Comms marxist

A way of understanding Marx's view of the relationship between the economy (the base) and the social/cultural sphere such as family, politics and law (the superstructure). It's rather like a house in which the foundations (the base) are invisible, but without the rest of the house (the superstructure) would collapse.

The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs.

Gramsci used the term Hegemony to describe the process by which we are encouraged to adopt dominant ideologies even when they are designed to keep us under control.

To tell the truth is revolutionary.

‘Hailing’ or Interpellation: a concept of Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser to describe the process by which ideology addresses the individual, thus effectively producing him or her as subject proper. In simple terms we are ‘called’/‘hailed’ by ideological meaning whether we recognize or accept them as such. Advertising, for example, explicitly performs this function: Galbraith called it “a relentless propaganda on behalf of goods in general”. 

Ideology... is indispensable in any society if men are to be formed, transformed and equipped to respond to the demands of their conditions of existence.

Pseudo-individualisation - popular culture products give us the illusion that we are being free agents and being individual, but as all these products are standardised, none of us are really free.

Adorno considered consumers of popular culture to be "infertile and retarded."

-He believed we crave standardised and cultural products that would validate our own "standardised" lives.

-Cultural products are as understanding, dull and repetitive as work and the idea of freedom of choice and self expression is illusion- we simply immitate others.

-Our comsumption of popular culture makes us docile and apathetic which makes us easier to manipulate.

The poor are prevented from thinking by the discipline of others, the rich by their own.

Conspicious Consumption
He respectively developed the social status (prestige) relationship between the producer of consumer goods and the aspirations to prestige of the consumer. To avoid the status anxiety of not being of or belonging to "the right social class", the consumer establishes a personal identity (social, economic, cultural) that is defined and expressed by the commodities (goods and services) that he or she buys, owns, and uses; the domination of things that communicate the "correct signals" of social prestige, of belonging

Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.

False Needs: We are made to believe that we need stuff that we dont.

The people recognize themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment.

 The Great White Male’s combination of good education, manners, charm, confidence and sexual attractiveness (or “money”, as I like to call it) means he has a strong grip on the keys to power. Of course, the main reason he has those qualities in the first place is what he is, not what he has achieved. John Scalzi, in his blog Whatever, thought that being a straight white male was like playing the computer game calledLife with the difficulty setting on “Easy”. If you are a Default Man you look like power.