Cultural Theory: Jenkins & Williams

• "Common sense" reinforces the status quo.
• Dominant idelology during the 1960s.
• The death of the author is related to post-structuralism.
• Reception Theory is related back to Williams' decoding.
• Writing without intention can be compared to therapy.
• Say whatever during writer's block.

Jenkins (Participatory Culture) 2014

• It explores the evolution of participatory culture and its effect on marketing and societal change.
• Participatory culture involves active content creation and sharing, fostering collaboration and lowering barriers to artistic expression and civic involvement.
• Consumers co-create brand meanings, which transforms traditional marketing.
• Participatory culture can drive social movements and empower communities.
• There is a shift from passive consumption to active participation, leveraging media platforms to influence commerce and society.

Williams (The Meaning of Culture) 1961

• Culture includes everyday meanings, values, and social practices, not just art and literature.
• Cultural analysis can be broken into 3 categories:
  • Ideal Culture: Culture as human perfection, emphasizing artistic and intellectual works.
  • Documentary Culture: Culture as recorded achievements of human thought and creativity.
  • Social Culture: Culture as a way of life, encompassing traditions, social norms, and lived experiences.
• Critique of purely literary or elite-focused views of culture, advocating for a more comprehensive and democratic approach inclusive of both high and popular culture.
• Emergent, dominant, and residual cultures, which highlights how cultural forms evolve over time with some fading and others newly developing.
• Culture is dynamic and connected to historical and social contexts rather than being a static collection of great works.

Regan (Unsettling the Settler Within) 2010

• Dialogue circle is also known as camaraderie sharing circle.
• Meaningful reconciliation in Canada requires settlers to confront their complicity in colonial violence.
• Mainstream Canadian approaches to reconciliation often focus on Indigenous trauma rather than settler responsibility. – True reconciliation requires settlers to understand history and their role in ongoing colonial structures.
• Calls for "unsettling" settlers, pushing them towards active engagement with decolonization rather than passive guilt or sympathy.
• Settlers should participate in truth-telling processes that lead to transformative change, drawing on Indigenous perspectives.
• Reconciliation is not just about Indigenous healing but also about settler responsibility and systemic change in Canada

Barthes (The Death of the Author) 1967

• The interpretation of a text shouldn't be limited to the author's intentions or biography.
• Meaning is created from the reader's interpretation through reading, which makes the reader central.
• Language shapes meaning independent from the author.
• Writing becomes a "performative act," rather than a medium for the author's voice.
• Meaning is not fixed; it is produced through the reader's engagement.
• Influential in post-structuralist & deconstructive literary theory, challenging notions of authorship & authority in interpretation.

Adorno & Horkheimer (The Culture Industry) 1944

• Mass media and popular culture function as instruments of control in capitalist societies.
• The "culture industry" standardizes cultural goods like films, radio, music, and entertainment, which reduces art to mere commodities which maintains the status quo.
• Mass-produced culture pacifies audiences, reinforces ideological conformity, and discourages resistance rather than promoting critical thought or genuine artistic expression.
• Modern entertainment involves repetition and predictability rather than genuine creativity, which fosters passivity instead of intellectual engagement.
• The illusion of choice in consumer culture masks the fact that all options sustain capitalist interests.
• Mass media manipulates emotions, creating artificial satisfaction that prevent people from questioning social structures.
• The culture industry is a tool of domination that shapes consumer desires and reinforces systemic inequalities, under the guise of leisure and entertainment rather than enlightening individuals.

Exploration of cultural theories, focusing on Jenkins' participatory culture and Williams' meaning of culture. Discusses participatory culture's impact on marketing and social movements. Also covers Williams' emphasis on everyday meanings and social practices.