4/13 Week 2 Part 2 Journal Gramsci and Foucault

Angel Truong Week 2 4/13 Journal

Both of Antonio Gramsci’s and Michel Foucault’s readings are very dense and difficult to comprehend. In the end, I was conveyed that both readings relate to the abstract concepts of power and hegemony. Gramsci’s reading relates cultural hegemony towards philosophy and through this interplay, it suggests that culture is heavily influenced by the power of cultural hegemony. From my knowledge, cultural hegemony are the ideas of a dominant group in a society that are reinforced to be norms. An example would be gender roles. When philosophy is introduced, the article persuades the notion that knowledge or beliefs obtained through culture involves power that reinforces ideas to be considered common sense but in the end, it’s used to keep a social hierarchy. Moreover, Foucault’s reading emphasizes the relationship of power with truth. In the end, the author states that the power of truth should be removed in areas relating to society. I interpreted this statement to persuade the idea that people should open their eyes and realize the power of cultural hegemony to rid their minds the beliefs that are reinforced to maintain inequality. In other words, by knowing that a society’s dominant truth has power to control people’s beliefs, one will see how biased that society is. In the end, it relates to Stuart Hall’s statement that popular culture involves political power relations because cultural hegemony develops one’s culture through its power to create a society’s idea of knowledge or truth which tends to be biased towards a certain dominant group. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Laotian Daughter and Monkey Dancer

In the article “The Political of Race: Political Identity and the Struggle for Social Rights” by Bindi V. Shah, it mentions the struggles that the Laotian community faced in Contra Costa County.   Laotian community were one of the least represented community in the county due to the lack of representation via politics.   They experience racism through the structural “neighborhood race effect” of “underfunded and resource-deprived schools, environmental pollution and low-wage jobs.”   (53)   When it comes to the perception of model minority, it heavily affects the Laotian community negatively because they are not on the same playing field as other Asians who are economically success and assimilated.   So when the fire arose in the Contra Costa Valley, the Laotian elders were not aware that the fire happened until hours later.   The reason was because they could not understand the messages that were being said when they were informed.   So many elders e...
Read more

5/30- Fiske

In "Shopping For Pleasure", one point was raised "In shopping malls and department stores women's pleasure and desires are catered to, but only in so far as they serve the greater interest of the market". I somewhat disagree with this. While it may be true that the notion of shopping and the market is mostly managed by the predominantly male. The fact that women have a place to exercise a small resistances is important. It is also worth noting that it might be true that it is mostly managed by males, women are exercising the power to vote with their wallet. Also, it creates a space where women can be employ because of the fact that they belong to the group of the target audience, therefore, they have better knowledge of the market. So I argue that shopping malls might not be the place created by women, but it is a stepping stone for women to achieve equal right.
Read more

5/23 Kelly Loves Tony Part 2 Video Response

5/23 Angel Truong Kelly Loves Tony Part 2 Video Response             The documentary Kelly Loves Tony highlights the difference between second-generations Asian Americans who are either assimilated or not assimilated. Kelly wants a life where she is not restricted by traditional gender roles. However, Tony is not assimilated as Kelly since he values family more than Kelly’s well-being. This is depicted from his rant with his boss where Tony does not understand why Kelly is always upset with his family. He believes she should care for their baby and his family conveying that he wants her to be a domestic wife and daughter-in-law. Their conflict also ties to the model minority myth where Asian Americans are not as assimilated or obedient as the myth depicts them because Tony has a criminal record and both Kelly and Tony are struggling to live with his family who are very dependent on each other. This is displayed from the fact th...
Read more