Cultural Studies Essay

Semiotics: is the study of the presentation of an object, image or word that stands for something else also known as the theory of signs developed by Ferdinand de Saussure. It is the study of the ways in which everything we are surrounded with creates or constitutes meaning. In more simple terms, semiotics is the lens through which we live our everyday lives through representations. Semiotics is used to represent our realities by using signs, signified and signifiers. A sign is what creates a relationship between what the true meaning is and what is intended in its specific meaning. The signified is what an object can represent for example a Bentley vehicle can represent wealth while the signifier is what sends the first visual message, in the previous example the Bentley would be the signifier both of these concepts put together constitute a sign in semiotics.

Ideology: is the methodical assemblage of a society's concepts, values and beliefs which is what determines what its people do and what they see as valuable. Each ideology creates a certain way of seeing the world. A great example of ideology we see today would be religion which inserts different ways of viewing life in regards to different beliefs. Most religions impose or embed different ideas and values into people which have an effect on how they conduct their lives. Since it arose from a capitalist mode of production philosopher Karl Marx believes that ideology creates a state of false consciousness which hides a social truth in order to strengthen the higher social class.

Use value versus Exchange value: The use value of an object is its benefit or utility in regards to its user or consumers. The use value is also what usually fulfills the needs and wants of those that are using the commodity. The use value is often tied to the physical characteristics of a commodity. An example of use value would be that a car is great for transportation because it is fast and safe for the people especially for those living in the suburbs. The exchange value on the other hand is the consolidation of the use value and manual labor into economic standards. In this case the product is compared to other products in the capitalistic marketplace. In most cases the exchange value is the money we pay in order to use or benefit from the article of trade. Following the car example, the exchange value would be the actual price value of the car in the market. As shown in these examples both use value and exchange value are two important components of a commodity.

Consumer society: This is used to qualify a society that is increasingly organized through and around the utilization of goods and services instead of focusing on the manufacturing stages of goods and services. Societies are often forced to become consumer societies because of the firms that supply different commodities. This is done mostly through their advertisements which don't show the production stages of their products. Instead they tend to associate their products with different untrue characteristics that will entice their needs and want which cover up realities such as sweatshops and other unpleasant practices. An example of a consumer society would be our Western society which is dominated by this concept where the truth is hidden from the consumers and replaced by false qualities attributed to commodities that have nothing to do with its actual production.

Critical Thinker

Cultural study has become an interdisciplinary academic field grounded in critical theory and numerous criticisms. It has been faced with worldwide ongoing debates on what it is, what it does and even what it stands for? These debates were exposed and discussed by prolific philosophers such as Karl Marx, Mark Slouka and Dwight Macdonald, some of which have been discussed in our cultural studies class. One of the most important debates so far is to question, what does cultural studies have to offer to the contemporary world that we live in? After doing a critical analysis on multiple cultural studies texts and debates, I was able to build a certain understanding and response to this debate. This being that I believe the point of cultural studies is to increase our knowledge on different cultures by making us aware of the different meanings and significance of culture in its various contemporary forms. This will be discussed along with the point of view of prolific cultural studies philosopher's and the purpose of their critics.

Cultural studies give birth to multiple debates which help us understand our society more clearly and make us even more critical thinkers as oppose to critical followers. Most of the course materials discussed so far has been very critical of the directions in which our society is heading in regards to its practices. These critics can be seen as warning signs that our society needs a certain reform which will alter these concepts that are defining society today. Some society ways that have been criticized in our cultural studies debates include our society being a "consumer society", exposure to "commodity fetishism", the idea of "mass culture" and the underlying covert practices of advertising. After doing an in depth analysis on these debates I was able to develop a new way of seeing things which define our society by questioning its different practices. Each debate has a similar purpose for society which is, to make people aware of what is taking place at a certain time, creating a new level of consciousness in other words an eye opener.

The idea or discussion of a "consumer society" was expressed in a visual presentation with Annie Leonard called "The Story of stuff". She talks of our society being a consumer society, which means a society organized around consumption of goods and services instead of production. This