Week 5 - How to think about power

What is the primary concept of Raymond Williams' Marxist mode of thinking about culture?

Cultural studies as practices
Foucauldian concept of power
Idealist understanding of culture
Materialist understanding of culture (correct)

What does the 'base' refer to in Marx's base/superstructure diagram?

Social practices and relationships
Economic system underlying a society (correct)
Discourses and power
Institutions and culture

What is the primary concept of Michel Foucault's philosophy?

Marxist theory of the base/superstructure
Materialist understanding of culture
Relationship between institutions, discourses and power (correct)
Gramsci's concept of hegemony

What does Raymond Williams add to Marx's base/superstructure diagram?

Determinism (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary goal of capitalism, according to the provided text?

To produce a particular form of subjectivities (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the concept of hegemony associated with?

Antonio Gramsci (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of the superstructure in Marx's base/superstructure diagram?

Reflects the economic system underlying a society (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the relationship between the base and superstructure, according to Raymond Williams?

The base determines the superstructure (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main criticism of Williams towards the categorization of certain cultural activities?

They are dead-end (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the concept of 'totality' an alternative to?

The concept of base and superstructure (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the potential danger of using the concept of 'totality'?

It loses its essential Marxist content (A) Signup and view all the answers

What does the concept of 'totality' emphasize?

A social whole composed of various social practices (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the key question Williams poses regarding the concept of 'totality'?

Does it include the notion of intention? (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does the concept of 'intention' refer to?

The purpose or aim behind social practices and structures (C) Signup and view all the answers

Why does Williams emphasize the importance of recognizing the 'superstructural' elements?

They are crucial in understanding certain social apparatus (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the difficulty of revising the base and superstructure model?

Militants need to confront institutions and ideologies in addition to economic battles (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the concept of 'hegemony' related to?

The dominant influence of a particular class in shaping cultural processes (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the concept of 'social being determines consciousness' associated with?

The Marxist framework (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main distinction between the two meanings of 'to determine'?

One is about setting limits and the other is about predicting outcomes. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary role of culture according to Williams' propositions?

To resist and challenge the existing social order. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the concept of hegemony according to Antonio Gramsci?

The spontaneous consent given by the masses to the dominant group. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main focus of Marx's proposition regarding determination?

The role of human activities in shaping social relationships. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary meaning of 'determination' in Williams' revaluation?

The setting of limits and the exertion of pressure. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary role of the 'base' in Williams' revaluation?

A dynamic process of social and economic relationships. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the relationship between culture and the existing relations of production?

Culture can function as ideology to reproduce the existing relations of production. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main distinction between the concepts of 'base' and 'superstructure'?

The base refers to economic relationships, while the superstructure refers to cultural practices. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is one characteristic feature of repression mentioned by Foucault?

Affirmation of nonexistence (C) Signup and view all the answers

What spaces were created to make room for 'illegitimate sexualities' according to Foucault?

Brothels and mental hospitals (D) Signup and view all the answers

What does Foucault argue is still present in the discourse surrounding sex and sexuality after Freud?

Sterilized and clinical discussions (C) Signup and view all the answers

According to Foucault, what is necessary to fully free ourselves from repression?

Transgression of laws and lifting of prohibitions (D) Signup and view all the answers

How does development of capitalism relate to sexual repression?

It coincides with the age of repression, integrating with the bourgeois order (B) Signup and view all the answers

Why is sex considered incompatible with a general and intensive work imperative under capitalism?

It reduces labor productivity and focus (D) Signup and view all the answers

Foucault associates the demand for sexual freedom with what other cause?

Political honor (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does Foucault argue about the nature of truth?

Truth is conditioned by politics (A) Signup and view all the answers

Who are considered 'other Victorians' according to Foucault?

The prostitute, the client, and the pimp, together with the psychiatrist and his hysteric (C) Signup and view all the answers

What impact did modern puritanism have on the expression of sexuality?

Imposed a triple edict of taboo, nonexistence, and silence (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is required to free ourselves from the repression discussed?

Multiple denunciations (A) Signup and view all the answers

What does the text imply about the effects of liberation related to repression?

They are slow and not natural (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the 'first doubt' mentioned in the text referring to?

The authenticity of repression as a historical fact (B) Signup and view all the answers

How does the text describe the 'historico-theoretical question'?

It questions the mechanisms and exercise of power in societies (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the 'second doubt' according to the text?

Whether power primarily operates through repression (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is questioned by the 'third doubt'?

Whether repression is accurately depicted by critics (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is implied about the age of repression and the critical analysis of repression?

They are part of the same historical framework (D) Signup and view all the answers

What question does the text describe as 'properly historical'?

The establishment of a regime of sexual repression in the seventeenth century (C) Signup and view all the answers