As someone who leans strongly towards socialism, I can see the merits in Adorno and Horkheimer's argument that asserts that the economic base is the primary determining factor for how our material surroundings present themselves. Capitalism has definitely succeeded in injecting its beneficiaries' values into all aspects of culure; even a little into those aspects that consciously aim to defy the "culture industry". There is simply no escaping it completely. Even though I've chosen not to get cable television, I still feel shot at every day with values that are not mine, in newspapers, public space in general, and in conversations with people who also live within the same superstructure.
Maybe I sound paranoid and hyper-critical, but I suppose I do have that side of me. Is this side of me might be the agency that White speaks about? I very much appreciate White's referrencing of Gramsci, who wrote about how the masses give consent to be passified. There is definitely a certain enjoyment in being entertained and told what to aspire to, and I definitely enjoy watching TV (Oz and Coronation Street being my favourite shows, FYI).
I know I have agency to watch television, or read magazines, billboards, and newspapers with a critical perspective, however sometimes I wonder if I am able to do so because I have been fortunate enough to be able to be taught to do so. Taking university classes on media politics and literacy is not something most people can do. Not that one is only able to be critical if one attends university, but I know that I myself, personally, would not be as observant to the ideology of media texts and discourses had I not taken these classes.
Through this rambling I am trying to bring up how Adorno and Horkheimer have great- although expressed in a rather pretentious manner- insight into the deep permeation of bourgois ethics within our culture(s). However, I also agree with White that agency exists within the hegemony... although I'm unsure as to whether that agency is also somewhat privileged.
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‘Agency’ seems like a placebo to me. We check in with our local educators and ask for some truth (true needs?) and if we are lucky enough we are encouraged to critically engage with our experiences. So we pop those agency pills imagining that somehow we will become aware of our false consciousnesses, thus freeing ourselves from the grips of some hegemony. As a consequence of being told that we have agency, we take greater responsibility for our actions and seek to satisfy our true needs, rather than supposedly submitting to our own oppression. What the fuck is a false need anyway? My mom used to say to me, “life sucks and then you die,” and television has always helped me pretend that she wasn't right. I can't often say that agency does the same thing for me, so I'll take television or many of my other false needs.
That was gratuitous use of the word 'fuck'. ☺
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