Communications and Culture Quiz

1. Which of these is the correct definition of 'bricolage'

The idea that the author's original intentions are irrelevant. The only thing that matters is how the audience interprets the text themselves. "A text is a tissue of quotations... Drawn from inumerable centres of culture."
The idea that some texts can be superficial. They are based more on appearance rather than meaning.
Comes from the collapse of cultural value. It's the recycling of old, historical ideas, language and products to often create a new, sometimes subversive, meaning and context.
The belief that Western society rejects metanarratives because we have become obssessed with knowledge at the base of all truth.

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'Possessions are usually deminished by possessions.'
Companies manipulate consumers by appealing to their subconscious desires, 'subjecting them to the engeneering of consent'.
'Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or not influence on society.'
A possession will 'content your spirit for the moment'.

Dominant Ideology: A philosophy followed by everyone / the masses / society. Allows the bourgeoisie to stay in power through hegemony (Gramsci).
Commodity Fetishism: People fixate on money and commodities - they are fetishes that prevent the prolatariat from seeing the truth about economics and society; that one class is being exploited by another.
Narcotizing Dysfunction The bourgeoisie use mass media to trick society into thinking they are acting against something unjust, when really they are just being fed information on the subject.
'Invisible Hand': A metaphor to show how consumers are guided by their own self-interest. Individuals can make profit, and maximize it without the need for government intervention.