Concept Post: Power

For my concept task, I was asked to explore the concept of power in society.  Power is defined by Wikipedia as,

“a measurement of an entity's ability to control it's environment”.  Power can be viewed through a variety of perspectives; it is not limited to a simple notion of manifesting itself through violent control or accumulation of wealth.   Wikipedia lists power as manifesting in the following ways:

• Delegated authority (for example in the democratic process)
• Social class (material wealth can equal power)
• Resource currency (material items such as money, property, food)
• Personal or group charisma
• Ascribed power (acting on perceived or assumed abilities, whether these bear testing or not)
• Expertise (ability, skills) (the power of medicine to bring about health; another famous example would be "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" – Desiderius Erasmus)
• Persuasion (direct, indirect, or subliminal)
• Knowledge (granted or withheld, shared or kept secret)
• Celebrity
• Force (violence, military might, coercion).
• Moral persuasion (including religion)
• Operation of group dynamics (such as public relations)
• Social influence of tradition (compare ascribed power)
• In relationships; domination/submissiveness
  

Major philosophers/sociologists have debated the nature of power in the last 50 years. The largest figure in this debate was Michel Foucault (1926-1984). Foucault argued that complex power operated within society and its institutions. He also showed that the organization of power is necessary for society to function, as opposed to a common view that demonizes power. In this way power is seen as both enabling and constraining rather than merely one or the other. For example, school systems are power structures that enable by give students knowledge, but simultaneously constrain young people by requiring their attendance. All individuals and groups participate within a multitude of complex networks of power. Networks can range from your relationship with your significant other to the prison system. Within our projects, it's necessary to identify the way power is enacted between the different groups we are studying and the way that this either enables or constrains these participants.



 
Major philosophers/sociologists have debated the nature of power in the last 50 years. The largest figure in this debate was Michel Foucault (1926-1984). Foucault argued that complex power operated within society and its institutions. He also showed that the organization of power is necessary for society to function, as opposed to a common view that demonizes power. In this way power is seen as both enabling and constraining rather than merely one or the other. For example, school systems are power structures that enable by give students knowledge, but simultaneously constrain young people by requiring their attendance. All individuals and groups participate within a multitude of complex networks of power. Networks can range from your relationship with your significant other to the prison system. Within our projects, it's necessary to identify the way power is enacted between the different groups we are studying and the way that this either enables or constrains these participants.

For my particular project on youth media empowerment organizations, I will look at the meaning of "empowerment" in terms of my new understanding of power.  Knowing what I do now, I would define empowerment as addition of new power to those who do not have it.  From this perspective, I will look to determine what aspects of power are raised in young people's lives by youth media organizations.

“Power - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia”, n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power.

Foucault, Michel. Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Second Vintage Books ed. Vintage, 1995.

Reel Grrls & Media Concentration

Reel Grrls  (http://www.reelgrrls.org/) is a non-for-profit that provides media literacy for young girls ages 13-19 based in Seattle.  Reel Grrl's mission is to "empower young women from diverse communities to realize their power, talent and influence through media production[...] to cultivate voice and leadership in girls at a vulnerable age in their development".  Reel Grrls teaches young women "specific skills including animation, cinematography, script writing and more." Their programming is divided into different meeting times whether after school, on the weekend, or during day or summer camps.  Current programming includes a graphic design class, a short film class based on disability justice and breaking down representations of persons with disabilities in the media, and their general class for young women to tell their own stories through video.  Currently, Reel Grrl's general video editing programming appears to cost 275 dollars.  However, participants unable to pay that fund are never turned away, they are asked to pay what they can and scholarships are available.  Reel Grrl's staff includes women with real professional experience in the media world.  Reel Grrl's programming puts an emphasis on understanding and deconstructing representations of people in the media, whether it be women, young people, racial groups, or as mentioned above, people with disabilities.  Thus, it provides young people with valuable skills in literacy and critical awareness of media.

Reel Grrl's represents a particular community that has a voice pertinent to the issue of media concentration.  One student film, Generation of Consolidation (discussed in another post here), specifically addresses the issue.  Because one of the effects of corporate media control is a lack of diverse voices, particular those of women or minorities, Reel Grrl's is working in direct opposition to concentration through empowering young women to create independent films.  Reel Grrls also gives young people professional opportunities and skills that can be used to change the media landscape and create the independent programming that challenges big media.  As I continue my project, I hope to look at how Reel Grrls and other youth media empowerment programs across the nation challenge media concentration.

Generation of Consolidation

"Generation of Consolidation" is a film by Brooke Noel and Sami Muilenburg released in 2008.  The film was created as part of the youth program, Reel Grrls (http://www.reelgrrls.org/).  Reel Grrls is a non-for-profit that provides media literacy for young girls ages 13-19 based in Seattle.  The program empowers women with media tools in a world in which much of the media is controlled by men.
"Generation of Consolidation" is one of the films created by teenagers through the Reel Grrls program.  It begins by outlining the basic problems of media consolidation and how the FCC regulates the media.  It then turns to a specific event that occurred in which the FCC board traveled to Seattle to hear the public's concern about a new change in media regulation.  Much of the film documents the perspectives of the public that attended this hearing.  Despite being given too short of a notice to organize (only one week), the event was packed with people who wished to express their discontent with the potential changes.  The filmmaker's speech and personal experiences are highlighted in the film.  She talks about how disturbing it was seeing the event misrepresented on her own local media.  The film also includes captivating interviews with teenagers of different races, sexes, and religions and how they feel their identities are skewed by the media.  The film concludes with various people's ideas on how to fix the problems with media, including a desire for more accurate reporting, broader view points, better local media, media empowerment programs such as the Reel Grrls, and more practical news.
"Generation of Consolidation" and Reel Grrls are extremely interesting in regards to the problem of media consolidation.  They highlight how media consolidation leads to less opportunities for minorities and women as well as poorer content for these groups. Reel Grrls takes practical action to help rectify the sexism of the media industry by providing young women with the tools they need to generate their own media.  The impressive professionalism of the film proves that young people are able to generate their own content in a world that generally ignores their ability to do so, creating an interesting argument against ageism.  Although, "Generation of Consolidation" exists on the internet as an independent project it asks us to rectify the problems with for-profit media by providing opportunities for women and minorities rather than relying entirely on internet media to provide these alternative outlets.

 Noel, Brooke and Muilenburg, Sami
2008 Generation of Consolidation. 11 min. Reel Grrls. Seattle.

Three Peer Blogs

I recently read three interesting blog posts by my peers working on new social problems through the study of folklore.

First of these was Andrew's post about the ethical issues of bioengineering and disability.

Next I read Maggie's post on the film, Another World is Possible.

Finally, I read Katie's summary of the issues involving Farmer's Rights.

I commented on each of these posts, briefly sharing my own perspective on these issues.

Media Concentration and the Rupert Murdoch Scandal

      This blog post is a response to the article, "Murdoch Scandal Stirs U.S. Debate on Big Media", published online by the New York Times on July 19th, 2011.  The article refers to the U.S. reaction to a scandal that occurred within a British tabloid, "News of the World".  This tabloid allegedly hacked the voice mail accounts of individuals in order to gain news information. "News of the World" is owned by the News Corporation, which also controls Fox Broadcasting company, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post, as well as many other holdings. It is one of the massive media corporations that is criticized by those who are concerned with the negative effects of media concentration. It receives derision in particular because of the perceived conservative bias of Fox News Corporation.  The article talked about how groups and politicians were using the tabloid scandal incident as evidence of the dangers of media concentration.

      I felt that the way in which Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, is the primary target of criticism is interesting. Surely a corporation's operations as massive as The News Corporation's are a massive network that no one individual can be the sole cause of them. I would be more interested in learning from a comprehensive report of The News Corporation's operations globally and how its massiveness causes issues such as this scandal. However, Rupert Murdoch is still the representative and face of the corporation and it makes sense to look towards him for a response. I also understand that, for supporters of independent media, placing blame on Murdoch keeps visible the troubling absurdity of one individual being the head of so much. To expand on this topic, I would look for more information on Rupert Murdoch's actual role in operating The News Corporation as well as the way power is structured and distributed between it's various news firms.

Brian Stelter, “Murdoch Scandal Stirs U.S. Debate on Big Media,” The New York Times, July 19, 2011, sec. Business Day / Media & Advertising, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/business/media/murdoch-scandal-stirs-us-debate-on-big-media.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/business/media/murdoch-scandal-stirs-us-debate-on-big-media.html.

Another World is Possible Film

       Another World is Possible (Bullfrog Films) is a film that documents the World Social Forum of 2002.  Of special interest to me about the film is how the meeting of the World Social Forum overcomes barriers of a nationalism to create international dialogue. In particular, I wonder whether or not individuals were able to overcome language barriers during these conferences.  It seems many of the official speakers of the film presented in English. However, it seems likely there were varying degrees of ability in speaking English fluently within the forums attendees and speakers.  Because the film is recorded for an English speaking audience, it is difficult to know what the conference is like for an attendee for whom English is not their primary language.  Were translators in place to aid in communication?  How were differences in language overcome within the small group discussions that are featured in the film?  Did certain individuals feel excluded from participation because of language barriers?  How does the World Social Forum effectively criticize globalization without replicating its inequalities?  Surely, the event organizers employed complex planning in order to address these issues, and it would be valuable to explore their methods in order to better understand the proccess needed to generate a productive international forum.
        Obviously speech was not the only communicative practice utilized in the World Social Forum; the visual arts, music, dance, and theatre were all employed in voicing the participant’s concerns.  How did these nonverbal forms of communication help to cohere national differences between participants?  Were these artistic practices more easily internationally understood than speech, or did elements of these practices still exclude particular nationalities in comprehension?