Discursive formations
Bat020 on Lenin has an interesting [as ever] discussion
regarding way[s] in which speech and news of political class is positioned as normal and natural and absurdly "non political"
"Of course, right wing ideology has long held an aversion to the "political", preferring instead to present its actions as "sensible" or "pragmatic", mere expert technical administration."
This is classic discourse in action, where the values of elite systems of power are considered non partisan and neutral. The discourse of the high modaility form of "realism/news" are a tissue of conventions that typically mask their ideology. A close analysis of the discursive formation of [in this case] TV News remind us that there is nothing 'natural' about our values; they are social constructs in which we are enmeshed.
This is fairly standard semiotic/image/cultural analysis. The continuation of the BBC charter is reliant upon their news being seen to be objective [for objective, read giving voice to both sides Tory and Labour, as if there are only two sides, and even more, as if Tory and Labour are different in any meaningful way[s]]. Both 'common-sense' and positivist realism insist that reality is independent of the signs which refer to it, analysis emphasizes the role of sign systems in the construction of reality. Although things may exist independently of signs we know them only through the mediation of signs. We see only what our sign systems allow us to see.
With this in mind, are there no ideologically 'neutral' sign systems? Signs function to persuade as well as to refer. Sign systems help to naturalize and reinforce particular framings of 'the way things are', although the operation of ideology in signifying practices is typically masked. So therefore analysis always involves ideological analysis. If signs do not merely reflect reality but are involved in its construction then those who control the sign systems control the construction of reality. At this point, I feel I ought to make clear that this is not some conspiracy theory. This is the way discourse functions -- by convention as opposed to clearly defined boundaries.
So then, the discourse of TV news typically reinforce and naturalise elite positions as normal. The rest of us are polemicists, raging against the system and typically positioned as irrational, fuming, angry lefties "out of touch" with reality! This is particularly handy as if "we" are considered out of touch, irrational and angry then we can be marginalised and excluded from the discourse.
One of the political projects of the progressive thinker should be to mark out, explain and make clear the systemic ideological bias of the representational economy....
regarding way[s] in which speech and news of political class is positioned as normal and natural and absurdly "non political"
"Of course, right wing ideology has long held an aversion to the "political", preferring instead to present its actions as "sensible" or "pragmatic", mere expert technical administration."
This is classic discourse in action, where the values of elite systems of power are considered non partisan and neutral. The discourse of the high modaility form of "realism/news" are a tissue of conventions that typically mask their ideology. A close analysis of the discursive formation of [in this case] TV News remind us that there is nothing 'natural' about our values; they are social constructs in which we are enmeshed.
This is fairly standard semiotic/image/cultural analysis. The continuation of the BBC charter is reliant upon their news being seen to be objective [for objective, read giving voice to both sides Tory and Labour, as if there are only two sides, and even more, as if Tory and Labour are different in any meaningful way[s]]. Both 'common-sense' and positivist realism insist that reality is independent of the signs which refer to it, analysis emphasizes the role of sign systems in the construction of reality. Although things may exist independently of signs we know them only through the mediation of signs. We see only what our sign systems allow us to see.
With this in mind, are there no ideologically 'neutral' sign systems? Signs function to persuade as well as to refer. Sign systems help to naturalize and reinforce particular framings of 'the way things are', although the operation of ideology in signifying practices is typically masked. So therefore analysis always involves ideological analysis. If signs do not merely reflect reality but are involved in its construction then those who control the sign systems control the construction of reality. At this point, I feel I ought to make clear that this is not some conspiracy theory. This is the way discourse functions -- by convention as opposed to clearly defined boundaries.
So then, the discourse of TV news typically reinforce and naturalise elite positions as normal. The rest of us are polemicists, raging against the system and typically positioned as irrational, fuming, angry lefties "out of touch" with reality! This is particularly handy as if "we" are considered out of touch, irrational and angry then we can be marginalised and excluded from the discourse.
One of the political projects of the progressive thinker should be to mark out, explain and make clear the systemic ideological bias of the representational economy....
9 Comments:
At 9:19 AM,
Rosa Lichtenstein said…
Nice blog, Chris.
However, I think you might be confusing a system of signs, with a system of symbols.
I'll say more about that another time.
At 11:49 AM,
Rob said…
Reminds me of... Althusser:
"what .. seems to take place outside ideology .. , in reality takes place in ideology. What really takes place in ideology seems therefore to take place outside it. That is why those who are in ideology believe themselves by definition outside ideology: one of the effects of ideology is the practical denegation of the ideological character of ideology by ideology: ideology never says 'I am ideological'."
(Yeah, Louis, be great if it did though!)
At 12:57 PM,
Rosa Lichtenstein said…
By the way, Chris, what are you doing research on?
At 1:14 PM,
Chris R said…
Thanks for comments.
Rob, nice convoluted Althusser stuff there. Always a breezey read wasn't he?
Rosa, cheers for coms. I am doing research in a cultural studies dept at University in South London. Specialising in the TV Studies field. Analysis of news narrativisation techniques, appropriation of the dramatic conventions. News being a discourse, representations of the Other and textual analyses of conflict [Iraq war]
C
At 1:13 PM,
Matt said…
Hi Chris,
Am loving the blog but...
If there are no ideologically neutral sign systems, what are the semiotic implications of a fetching two-tone pink blog design?
M x
PS: 15 down today is insulin.
At 1:21 PM,
Charlie said…
Blimey Chris... I will start making comments soon, but i need to get my head round all this academic talk again... it seems a far cry from what I hear everyday in school now! I'll pick it all up again soon, just wait and see! I'll enjoy reading and deciphering though, but do forgive me if i can't make any useful comments!
At 11:25 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hello Chris, I'm glad you're outside of the box and I will wander with you. It makes me feel so happy that what is in your head is not understood in mine. Thankfully I will rage at the machine even if I am in the machine.
Love you loads George.
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