Ideology (11/2/2013)

For this session we looked at a power point presentation entitled 'Ideology'. You can read my notes on it below although, the lecturer pointed out that he wanted us to reread during reading week as there is a lot to take in (I agree with this).

• The lecturer is wanting us to think critically about what he says in order for us to form our own opinions.
• Ideology? What does it mean? Our nature and nurture perhaps?
• Ideology = You're not the boss of me. I'm the boss of me. I act on my opinions. My opinions are natural. Aren't they?
• Talked about 'The Panopticon', a round prison in which all the prisoners can't tell when they are being watched as the guards are in a tower in the middle. Therefore the guards do not need to be there 24/7 because the prisoners have to assume they are. This appears to force the prisoners to conform to behaving well all the time and as a result behaving becomes second nature. 
• Britain has 1% of the world's population and yet contains 20% of the world's CCTV cameras! Thus this similar to the prison example above as we can never tell when a security or speed camera is switched on or even working and therefore we have to assume like the prisoners that we are constantly being watched.
• People react to both written and unwritten rules almost as if it is common sense or logical e.g. you don't have to read the rules, but you are expected to.
• Context is a huge part of Ideology e.g. people can't murder someone with a gun without being arrested, whereas soldiers are allowed to kill enemy soldiers. Does this stack?
• Who is in control of my actions? Others? Or the system I have been brought up in?
• Looked at examples by Karl Marx, Gramsci and Althusser.
• During the cold war the Americans made sure to always paint the Russians as 'the bad guys' or 'evil'.
• TV is a really powerful Ideology or means of Ideology. I guess this is because its so influential and biased at times.
• Would Ideology exist without a class system?  
• Who owns Bagsy's art (a well established graffiti artist)? Bagsy for creating it? The town that owns the street with the graffiti on it? Or the person who owns the building it is drawn on? 
• The term Hegemony means 'Impossible to act against as its just there or happens'.
• 'Blackadder goes Forth' is a good example of classes in World War 1 e.g. upper class on the back lines and the lower class on the front lines.
• An easy and popular thing for most children to do is go to McDonalds as it is advertised so much and is a part of their lives. Although you could pay the same amount of money for better/healiter food somewhere else.
• Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs). RSA/ISA = Gandhi and Henry David.
• News: After the 'bad' news we then get the 'good' news which tends to make people feel less bad or better and prevent them from switching TV channels. For example, we often get the words "And in other news..." which is followed by something happy.   
• Looked at a quote by Tony Benn who is a part of the British Labour Party.
• Politics may be portrayed in a boring way so as to make sure the public doesn't pay attention to everything politicians do.

Using these notes I hope to one day put together a piece of work that will demonstrate my understanding of ideology.