2/12/19

BF801  Reviewing  the  Literature  in  Business  Subjects  

Importance  of  extra-­‐disciplinary  literature  and  philosophy.  

Dr.  Derek  Bryce  

Dept.  of  MarkeJng  

Today’s  session  
  Business  and  Management  (B&M)  subjects  are  dimensions  of/are  
related  to  the  social  sciences  and  humaniJes.  
  B&M  both  impacts  and  is  impacted  by  wider  society  and  its  study.  
  There  is  usually  potenJal  for  B&M  PhDs  to  express  these  wider  
concerns  as  either  central  or  supplementary  foci.  
  We  will  begin  by  discussing  the  noJon  of  ideology  and  how  it  relates  to  
my  own  sub-­‐discipline,  MarkeJng.  
  We  will  structure  our  discussion  around  4  B&M  papers  which  use  the  
work  of  4  prominent  non-­‐B&M  social  and  cultural  theorists  to  build  
theory.  
  These  are  offered  as  examples  …  you  are  encouraged  to  explore  how  
this  ‘extra-­‐disciplinary’  literature  emerges  in  your  own  areas  in  your  
own  Jme.  
  So  …  sit  back,  take  a  taste  of  what  I’m  going  to  offer  today.  I  hope  you  
enjoy  the  flavour  …  if  not,  feel  free  to  spit  it  out  aXer  today!  

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Defining  
Ideology  
  DefiniJons  emerge  largely  from  the  
Marxist  tradiJon.  

  A  distorted  or  illusory  form  of  thought  

which  departs  from  a  criterion  of  
objecJvity  
  The  world  view  or  collecJve  beliefs  and  
a\tudes  of  a  class  or  social  group  
  Is  popularly  associated  with  totalitarian/
authoritarian  regimes  such  as  Nazi  
Germany,  Fascist  Spain  and  Communist  
(Stalinist)  states  like  former  USSR  and  
North  Korea.  
  However,  ‘Western’  liberal  democracy  can  
also  be  considered  an  ‘ideology’    (e.g.  US/
UK  ‘Neo-­‐liberalism’,  market  
fundamentalism,  etc)      

Class,  Capital,  and  Commodity  Form  

•  ‘Real’  relaJons  between  culture  and  society  take  

place  within  exisJng  modes  of  producJon  and  social  
order.  

•  One’s  class  posiJon,  in  strictly  economic  terms,  is  

determined  by  one’s  relaJon  to  Capital.  

•  Trad.  Marxist  analyses  separated  manual  from  

intellectual  labour.  

•  In  ‘post-­‐industrial’  socieJes  where  creaJve  and  

knowledge  industries  prevail  –  this  disJncJon  no  
longer  apparent.  

•  A  ‘white-­‐collar’  proletariat?    

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Commodifica9on  

•  Marx:  a  ‘commodity’  is  any  

given  object  that  has  both  a  
use-­‐value  and  an  exchange  
value.  
•  This  exchange  value  is  
rendered  abstract  in  the  form  
of  money.  
•  All  commodiJes,  including  
labour,  are  rendered  into  the  
abstract  and  stripped  of  the  
social  and  cultural  relaJons  
that  made  their  producJon  
possible.  
•  In  this  way  commodiJes  take  
on  almost  ‘supernatural’  
properJes  –  Marx  calls  this  
‘commodity  feJshism’    

Commodifica9on  of  symbols  and  

culture  

•  Some  theorists  (e.g.  Jameson,  

1991)  point  out  a  cultural  element  
to  commodificaJon  as  well  as  the  
more  strictly  economic    
•  Image,  brand,  logo  of  an  object  
are  commodified.  
•  Symbolic  content  of  commodiJes  
may  carry  ideological  and  cultural  
assumpJons.  
•  Marketplace  of  commodity  
exchange  and  the  media  of  image  
producJon/dispersal  become  
inseparable.  
•  the  products  sold  on  the  
marketplace  become  the  content  
of  the  media  image.        

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•  Theodor  Adorno  saw  culture  in  its  

purerst  ‘high’  form  as  something  
elevated;  separate  from  daily  life  
that  people  had  to  expend  effort  
and  applicaJon  to  gain  access  to.  

•  He  saw  the  increasing  commercial  

character  of  culture  causes  the  
disJncJon  between  culture  and  
daily  life  to  disappear.    
•  He  saw  this  as  industrial  capitalism  
using  culture  in  its  commercial  form  
as  a  means  to  pacify  the  general  
populaJon  and  produce  a  docile  
working  and  consumer  populaJon  

Adorno,  (1941/1991)  

The  merging  of  commercial,  media  

and  poli9cal  branding.  

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Consump9on  
•  ConsumpJon:  spending  for  survival  or  
enjoyment  as  opposed  to  spending  for  
future  producJon.    
•  e.g.  basic  commodiJes  of  food/shelter  
as  disJnct  from  eaJng  in  expensive  
restaurants,  living  in  a  luxury  flat.  
•  When  the  act  of  acquiring/associaJng  
with  a  commodity  because  of  its  
symbolic  value  is  itself  valued  ...  then  ...  
•  The  act  of  consumpJon  becomes  a  
commodity  where  marketplace  and  
media  meet/merge.    
•  This  is  perhaps  best  illustrated  by  the  
commodificaJon  of  intangible  
experiences  –  films,  TV  programmes,  
concerts,  tourism  i.e.  popular  culture  

OBen  studied  through  lens  of  Cultural  

Studies  (Barker,  2004)  

  Study  of  the  pracJces,  insJtuJons,  and  systems  of  classificaJon  

that  allow  a  populaJon  to  generate  values;  beliefs  and  rouJnes  of  
daily  life.  
  Its  purpose  is  to  develop  ways  of  criJcal  thinking  about  culture  and  
power  that  enable  social  change.    

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Cultural  Studies  &  Popular  Culture  

  Argues  that  determinaJons  of  
what  separates  ‘high’  and  
‘folk’  from  ‘popular’  culture  
are  oXen  based  on  class  based  
power  assumpJons.  
  Such  disJncJons  may  serve  to  
maintain  the  status  of  high  
cultural  ‘elites’.    
  Argues  also  that  there  never  
was  a  truly  ‘authenJc’  folk  
culture  to  measure  popular  
culture  against.  

•  Popular  culture  is  mainly  commercially  produced.  

•  However  audiences/consumers  may  make  their  own  
meanings  using  popular  culture  texts.  
•  PotenJal  for  subversion  and  resistance.    

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Therefore  Popular  Culture  

can  be  redefined  as:    
  The  meanings  and  pracJces  
produced  by  popular  audiences  
at  the  moment  of  consumpJon.  
  Turns  the  quesJon:  “how  does  
the  culture  industry  turn  people  
into  commodiJes?”  into  …  
  “How  do  people  turn  the  
products  of  industry  into  a  
popular  culture  which  serves  
their  interests?”    

Barker,  2004)  

Cultural  Studies  understands  Popular  Culture  to  be:      

  An  arena  of  consent  and  

resistance  in  the  struggle  
over  cultural  meanings.  
  An  arena  where  cultural  
hegemony  is  secured  or  
challenged.  
  So  –  judgments  about  
Popular  Culture  are  not  
concerned  so  much  with  its  
aestheJc  value  but  with  
issues  of  classificaJon  and  
power.  

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Slavoj  Žižek  on  ‘ The  Matrix’  and  

postmodernity  
“If  Hitchcock’s  ‘Psycho’  confronts  us  
with  the  antagonisms  of  Modernity,  the  
Wachowskis’  “ The  Matrix”  speaks  to  
the  Postmodern    …The  thesis  of  “ The  
Matrix”  is  –  there  has  to  be  a  ‘Matrix’  
because  ‘things  are  not  right;  
opportuniEes  are  missed”  and  this  is  so  
because  a  ‘Matrix’  obscures  the  ‘true’  
reality  behind  it  all”.  

From  this  we  can  see  that  Žižek  and  other  

authors  are  treaJng  popular  culture  
products  seriously    as  lenses  into  how  we  
feel  our  society  may  be  structured  in  ways  
that,  previously,  would  only  have  been  
framed  around  High  Culture.  

‘Other’  cultures  as  

Commodity  fe9shism?    

If  symbolism  and  experience  become  

commodi9es,  are  the  
the  cultural,  historical  and  social  factors  
that  gave  them    
‘meaning’  in  the  first  place  lost  from  view?      

If  the  cultures  and  symbols  of  

‘others’  become  commodified  as  
resources  for  fashion,  music  or  
tourism  does  this  empty  them  of  
meaning?  

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Foucault  and  Subjec9vity  

The  Human  ‘Subject’  

•  TradiJonal    ‘Cartesian’  concepJon:  

•  An  individual  who  is  fully  endowed  

with  consciousness    
•  An  autonomous  and  stable  enJty  –  
the  ‘core’  of  the  self  
•  The  independent  ,  authenJc  source  
of  acJon  and  meaning  
•  When  we  hear  ourselves  speak,  we  
feel  we  are  idenJcal  with  what  has  
been  said  
•  In  other  words,  we  are  the  source  of  
meaning  in  the  first  place    

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:     Michel Foucault
(1926 – 84): French
philosopher and
historian

Historian of ‘Systems of
Thought’ in ‘Western’ culture. What
conditions allow something to exist
as an object of ‘knowledge? What
structures and processes sustain
and reproduce that ‘knowledge’?

Wrote histories of ‘Madness’, ‘the

Clinic’, ‘the Prison’ and
‘Sexuality’ - the history of the
‘normal’ and ‘the excluded – the
‘other’ from Middle Ages to
Modernity

The  Human  ‘Subject’  

  The  ‘de-­‐centred’  subject:  

•  Displaces  the  subject  from  a  

privileged  posiJon  in  relaJon  
to  knowledge  &  meaning  
•  ‘Discourse’  produces  
‘knowledge’  &  parJcular  
types  of  ‘knowing  subjects’  
•  Subjects  idenJfy  themselves  
&  produce  knowledge  within  
‘structures  of  meaning’  or  
‘regimes  of  truth’  ...  or  ...  
‘discourses’.  

(Foucault,  1981;  1982)  

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Discourse

•  The  ‘unwriten’  rules  

and  procedures  that  
govern  how  an  area  
of  knowledge  may  
be  talked  about  or  
represented  during  a  
parJcular  historical  
period    

Power/Knowledge

A discourse creates ‘truth’ or

‘Knowledge’ through the function of
Power.

Power – not ‘top down’ State/legal power,

but the linking of diverse interests with a
common understanding of ‘truth’ or
‘knowledge’.

Power is not simply repressive. It is

productive because it encourages
statements within a given discourse and
supports contexts and institutions that
articulate and deploy them.

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Produc9ve,  docile  ‘bodies’.  

...  Again,  drawing  iniJally  on  Foucault  

The  ‘disciplined  
body’  

•  As  opposed  to  the  simply  ‘chasJsed’  

or  ‘tortured’  body  

•  Foucault  (1991)  talks  about  new  

‘technologies’  of  the  modern  age  
designed  to  regulate  and  observe  the  
movements  of  real  ‘bodies’  (people).  
E.g.  Modern  prisons,  schools,  
hospitals,  the  army.  

•  Peoples’  consciousness  of  being  

‘observed’  and  ‘regulated’  by  
insJtuJonal  authority  (or  experts)  
shape  their  acJons,  movements  etc.        

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The ‘Panopticon’

Awareness  of  constant  possibility  of  being  watched,  but  not  knowing    
when  or  by  whom  made  prisoners  ‘self-­‐regulated’  bodies.  

Foucault  was  principally  interested  in  the  Greeks’    

‘use  of  pleasure’  in  terms  of  sexuality.    

No  ‘moral’  proscripJon  against  male  homosexuality  or  visiJng  prosJtutes  as  such.    
It  was  a  mater  of  context,  social  posiJon  and  self-­‐restraint  in  the  name  of  good  taste.  

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Foucault  was  not  interested  in  

the  Greeks  for  their  own  sake  
(in  the  sense  of  ‘tradiJonal’    
scholars  of  the  Classical  
past)  ...  rather,  he  was  
interested  in  the  possibility  of  
being  something  ‘other  than  
we  think  we  must  be’  in  moral,  
ethical,  aestheJc  terms  ...  in  
the  possibility  of  ethical  self-­‐
creaJon.  

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Group  Discussion  

  Skim  the  paper  that’s  just  been  handed  out.  

  Look  for  areas  in  it  that  menJon  the  author/literature  
we’ve  just  been  discussing.  
  IniJal  reacJon  –  how  does  the  paper  ‘use’  that  author’s  
ideas?  To  theorise?  To  go  beyond  the  strict  boundaries  of  
context?  As  an  ‘object’  of  study  in-­‐and-­‐of  itself?    
  Note  your  reacJons  down    for  discussion.    

Privileged  
Mobili9es  
•  Engagement  and  estrangement  
arJculate  contemporary  cultures  of  
travel  

•  The  privileged  ability  to  move  from  

one  exoJc  sight/site  to  another,  
but  always  able  to  withdraw  to  the  
security  of  the  familiar  

•  What  Derek  Gregory  (2004)  calls  

evidence  of  ‘the  Colonial  Present’  

•  The  privilege  of  certain  countries  

to  ‘compress’  and  ‘expand’  the  
scope  of  travel  almost  at  will            

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• Gregory  (2004:  256–7)  ‘modern  

metropolitan  cultures  privilege  their  own  
mobility’  (Gregory,  2004:  256–7)    

•   Their  passports  and  access  to  economic  

resources  rendering  permeable  (relaJvely  
non-­‐reciprocally)  the  poliJcal  
boundaries  of  other  socieJes,  folding  
distance  and  difference.  

• The  ability  to  access  much  of  the  world  by  a  

privileged  secJon  of  humanity  largely  on  its  
own  terms  (Bryce,  2007:  171)  

‘Orientalism’.  

The  ‘Western’  
 
imaginaJon  of  
 the  ‘East’:  Edward  
Said  &  
‘Orientalism’  

‘Orientalism’,  and  
the  recepJon  of  
culture  and  
heritage.    

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Inter-­‐cultural  representa9on:  is  

‘objec9vity’  possible?  

‘It  is  perfectly  natural  for  the  

human  mind  to  resist  the  
assault  on  it  of  untreated  
strangeness;  therefore  cultures  
have  always  been  inclined  to  
impose  complete  
transformaEons  on  other  
cultures  not  as  they  are  but  as,  
for  the  benefit  of  the  receiver,  
they  ought  to  be’    
(Edward  W.  Said,  1978:  67)  

Edward  W.  Said  &  ‘Orientalism’  

Edward  W.  Said  

1935-­‐2003
PalesJnian-­‐American  cultural  
theorist.  

Interested  in  the  ‘West’s’  

‘imaginaJon’  of  the  
‘East’  (the  Orient)  from  
AnJquity  to  the  modern  era.  

Drew  heavily  on  Foucault  to  

conceive  of  the  discourse  of  
‘Orientalism’.      

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‘Orientalism:  the  corporate  

insEtuEon  for  dealing  with  
the  Orient...by  making  
statements  about  it,  
authorising  views  of  it,  
describing  it,  teaching  it,  
seLling  it,  ruling  over  it...a  
Western  style  for  
dominaEng,  restructuring,  
and  having  authority  over  
the  Orient’.    
Said  (1978:  3)  

From late 18th Century ‘Western’ powers

begin to exert influence
over ‘the Orient’:e.g. North Africa, Middle
East, India, China, SE Asia.

Said argued that the West formulated a

discourse – Orientalism - a way of
producing/representing knowledge
about the Orient - that legitimated and
aided imperial rule.

The idea that ‘superior’ Western

civilisation had the ‘right’ to rule
‘uncivilised’ peoples reinforced in
academia, art, literature etc .

Desire for knowledge of the Orient

linked to desire to rule over it.

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Orientalism ‘constructed’ the

Orient
as a negative comparison to
Western culture/civilisation
using themes including:

Oriental cultures are stagnant or

decaying – only the ancient past
is admirable.

Oriental government is ‘despotic’

Oriental peoples as sub-

categories and ‘types’.

Orientalism  assumes  that  …    

  The Orient and its

people are exotic
and sensual but
not rational, and
related to this...

  ...the Orient is
passive and
‘feminine’ and
available for
appropriation to
the ‘rational’,
‘active’, ‘masculine’
West.

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The ‘Original’ Orient (in Western eyes) was

the Islamic ‘Near East’

Only  the  Orient’s  ancient  &  

biblical  past  was  considered  
‘admirable’  

 …  inserted  into  the  West’s  

historical  narra9ve.  
Achievements/heritage  of  later  
(e.g.  Islamic)  civilisa9ons  
marginalised  in  Western,  
‘Orientalist’  eyes.  

Discussion  

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Group  Discussion  

  Skim  the  paper  that’s  just  been  handed  out.  

  Look  for  areas  in  it  that  menJon  the  author/literature  
we’ve  just  been  discussing.  
  IniJal  reacJon  –  how  does  the  paper  ‘use’  that  author’s  
ideas?  To  theorise?  To  go  beyond  the  strict  boundaries  of  
context?  As  an  ‘object’  of  study  in-­‐and-­‐of  itself?    
  Note  your  reacJons  down    for  discussion.    

Can  we  extend  our  

no9ons  of  ‘class’  and  
‘Capital’?      

•  French  sociologist  Pierre  Bourdieu  

proposes  other  forms  of  capital.    

•  Access  to  ‘Cultural  Capital’  as  well  as  

economic  capital  
•  determines  social  mobility  and  
maintains  class  privilege.  

•  By  being  educated,  entertained  and  

travelling  in  insJtuJons  separate  from  
working  class,  the  middle/upper  classes  
maintain  their  dis6nc6on    in  maters  of  
taste,  language,  consumpJon  etc.  
(Bourdieu,  1984)          

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•  So,  if  modern  ‘post-­‐industrial’  forms  of  consumpJon  are  ‘democraJsed’  how  
does  class  disJncJon  occur?  

•  Of  course,  economic  cost  is  sJll  a  key  variable  which  excludes  certain  categories  
of  consumers.  

•  However,  if  one’s  peers  are  also  ‘recognised’  by  a  shared  aestheJc  sense  or  
‘taste’  (their  access  to  Cultural  Capital),  then  other  groups  may  be  excluded.  

•  Bourdieu’s  no6on  of  Habitus:  ‘unconscious  internalisaJon  of  objecJve  social  

(class)  structures  appearing  spontaneous  and  natural  but  which  are  in  fact  
socially  condiJoned’.          

Discussion  

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Group  Discussion  

  Skim  the  paper  that’s  just  been  handed  out.  

  Look  for  areas  in  it  that  menJon  the  author/literature  
we’ve  just  been  discussing.  
  IniJal  reacJon  –  how  does  the  paper  ‘use’  that  author’s  
ideas?  To  theorise?  To  go  beyond  the  strict  boundaries  of  
context?  As  an  ‘object’  of  study  in-­‐and-­‐of  itself?    
  Note  your  reacJons  down    for  discussion.    

Postmodernity?  

  First  -­‐  what  is  Modernity?  Actually  

an  ancient  term.  

•  From  the  LaJn  modernus:  ‘of  

pertaining  to  today’  
•  Implies  a  progressive  shiX  or  
departure  from  something  earlier  
(i.e.  modernity  vs.  tradiJon)  
•  Assoc  with  areas  from  philosophy  to  
sociology  to  aestheJcs  
•  Cartesian  noJon  of  the  centrality  of  
the  ‘knowing’  human  subject:  ‘man’  
as  master/possessor  of  nature  
•  Enlightenment:  ‘reason’  and  science  
dispelling  shadows  of  supersJJon,  
religion,  tyranny  etc        

23  
 2/12/19  

What  is  ‘post-­‐

modernity’?  

•  A  break  from  the  ‘illusory  

grand  narraJves’  of  
modernity  (e.g.  Lyotard)  
•  An  emphasis  on  ‘the  
now’  as  a  break  or  
rupture  in  history  –  not  
part  of  a  linear  historical  
narraJve  
•  An  acceptance  of  
compeJng  or  co-­‐exisJng  
forms  of  raJonality      

What  is  post-­‐

modernity?  
•  ‘The  cultural  logic  of  late  
capitalism’  (Jameson,  
1991)  
•  InformaJon  technologies  
have  ‘industrialised’  the  
producJon  of  culture,  
meaning,  symbols  and  
ideas.    
•  Consequence?  The  means  
by  which  we  arJculate  
‘truth’  become  compeJng,  
marketable  commodiJes.  

24  
 2/12/19  

Does  interface  of  News  and  ‘entertainment’  –  Debord’s  ‘Society  of  the  
Spectacle’    &  Baudrillard’s  statement  that  the  Gulf  War  and  9/11  ‘never  
happened’  –  mean  that  real  events  exist  as  media  simulaJons  for  most  
people?  

•  The  loss  of  history.  As  Baudrillard  

puts  it  in  "History:  A  Retro  
Scenario,"  "History  is  our  lost  
referenJal,  that  is  to  say  our  myth."    
•  MediaJzaJon  -­‐  various  "retro"  
recreaJons  of  the  past  is  merely  a  
symptom  for  the  loss  of  history.  
•  The  proliferaJon  of  ‘kitsch’:  trashy,  
kitsch,  mass-­‐market  products  
contribute  to  our  society  of  
simulaJon  and  consumerism.  
•  Consumer  society:  all  reality  is  
filtered  through  the  logic  of  
exchange  value  and  adverJsing.  
•  The  "cool  smile"  –  our  
“knowingness”  aids  in  our  
complicity.    
•  Simulacra  and  simulaJon  

25  
 2/12/19  

Group  Discussion  

  Skim  the  paper  that’s  just  been  handed  out.  

  Look  for  areas  in  it  that  menJon  the  author/literature  
we’ve  just  been  discussing.  
  IniJal  reacJon  –  how  does  the  paper  ‘use’  that  author’s  
ideas?  To  theorise?  To  go  beyond  the  strict  boundaries  of  
context?  As  an  ‘object’  of  study  in-­‐and-­‐of  itself?    
  Note  your  reacJons  down    for  discussion.    

26  
 2/12/19  

References
•  Baudrillard,  J  (1998)  The  Consumer  Society.  London:  Routledge.  
•  Bourdieu,  P.  (1984)  Dis6nc6on;  a  social  cri6que  of  the  judgment  of  taste.  London:  
Routledge.  
•  Bryce,  D.  (2007).  Repackaging  orientalism:  discourses  on  Egypt  and  Turkey  in  BriJsh  
outbound  tourism.  Tourist  Studies,  7(2),  165-­‐191.  
•  Bryce,  D.,  &  Carnegie,  E.  (2013).  ExhibiJng  the  ‘Orient’:  historicising  theory  and  curatorial  
pracJce  in  UK  museums  and  galleries.  Environment  and  Planning  A,  45(7),  1734-­‐1752  
•  Foucault,  M.  (1979)  Discipline  and  Punish:  the  birth  of  the  prison.  London:  Penguin.    
•  Foucault,  M.  (1989)  The  Archaeology  of  Knowledge.  Abingdon:  Routledge.  
•  Jameson,  F.  (1991)  Postmodernism:  or  the  culural  logic  of  late  capitalism.  London:  Verso.    
•  Lyotard,  J.F.  (1979)  The  Postmodern  Condi6on:  a  report  on  knowledge.  Manchester:  
Manchester  University  Press.  
•  Østergaard,  P  &  Fitchet,  J  (2012)  RelaJonship  markeJng  and  the  order  of  simulaJon.  
Marke6ng  Theory.  12(3)  233-­‐249.  
•  Said,  E.  (1978)  Orientalism.  London:  Pengiun.  
•  Saatçioğlu,  B  &  Ozanne,  J  (2013)  Moral  Habitus  and  Status  NegoJaJon  in  a  Marginalized  
Working-­‐Class  Neighborhood.  Journal  of  Consumer  Research.  40(4)  692-­‐710  
•  Wood,  D  &  Bell,  K  (2013)  Brandscapes  of  control?  Surveillance,  markeJng  and  the  co-­‐
construcJon  of  subjecJvity  and  space  in  neo-­‐liberal  capitalism.  Marke6ng  Theory.  13(1)  
47-­‐67  

27