I enjoyed reading this article by Arendt because of its views of mass society and mass culture. I am currently taking a class called Reading American Culture that is all about the impact Disney has had and continues to have on American culture and globalization. Arendt begins her essay by stating that the chief difference between society and mass society “is that society wanted culture, evaluated and devaluated cultural things into social commodities, used and abused them for its own selfish purposes, but did not ‘consume’ them” (281). Arendt makes the point that mass society wants to be entertained, and entertainment is something that is consumed. The products that a company such as Disney creates are marketed for a mass audience, that in turn readily and happily consumes what is placed before it with little question of its value. This is how cultural objects have experienced what Arendt terms “devaluation” (281). Now that the current state of the modern world allows for rich and poor alike to experience free time, the entertainment industry has increasingly influenced the masses, who biologically have always “engaged in consumption or in the passive reception of amusement” (282). Mass culture appears to have no value, and remains only as empty entertainment to be mindlessly consumed. As America becomes increasingly a country of consumption, Arendt rightfully fears that this kind of society “does not know how to take care of the world and the things which belong to it” (286). Instead of preserving or encouraging a culture of our own that has value, the society which we live in is “obsessed with consumption” and therefore “cannot at the same time be cultured or produce a culture” (286). This idea is wildly upsetting to me, as it appears that the further we move towards completely embracing mass culture/society, the further we move towards society stripped of individuality and originality. I am excited to see what the rest of the class thinks about this essay, and to learn more about mass culture in this class and Reading American Culture.
Work Cited
Arendt, Hannah. "Society and Culture." Daedalus 89.2 (1960): 278-87. JSTOR. Web. 17 Jan. 2011.
Ms. Harper:
ReplyDeleteYour post reminded me of the moment in the Adorno and Horkeimer essay where they discuss the "false identity of the universal and particular." This seems to be building on some kind of Hegelian idea (which they probably receive via Marx) that I am not really all that familiar with, but if I had to guess I would say that they are making something like the following argument: modern mass culture provides for, even encourages, individuality. We are supposed to be focused on our own individual desires and needs, to exclusion of everything else and everyone else. And of course our pop culture heroes are always supreme individualists, to the point of being selfish egoists. In the end, however, these individuals end up looking awfully similar. Our individualism is not genuine individualism because the later would require some sort of distinction, and that is exactly what mass culture cannot allow, if it is to fit us into the mass production of homogeneous commodities.
Well that's rather depressing. I was struck by Arendt's faithlessness in individuality. At the start of her essay, Arendt discusses what the individual has meant in history. Thinking through my knowledge of historical events like the American Revolution or WWII, the names that pop into my head are of those that stood against the grain of society, Paul Revere (for his patriotism and "midnight ride") and Hitler (for his attempt at genocide). Today's individuals that come to mind are figures such as Lady Gaga and Oprah. One of the main differences between these two groups is that the first stand out for revolutionary and political actions while the second are figures of entertainment. While Oprah may give a few helpful tips about what books to read, she and Lady Gaga are seen mostly as icons. Individuals like Revere and Hitler seem to have been taken over by the icons of a mass society. It’s almost as if society has started asking for new heroes and villains – ones that rise only through the ranks of mass culture rather than by merit alone. The days of revolutionary heroes and villains seem to be over as society tells us through talk show hosts and pop stars what we should deem as individuality.
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