Imagined Communities

Benedict Anderson:
'Imagined Communities'

This week’s reading was a little less ambiguous as opposed to the later two; however this week consisted of a shorter abstract. This week’s reading was about ‘Imagined Communities’, written by Benedict Anderson and the short abstract known as ‘Cool Cymru, Rugby Union and an Imagined Community’, written by John Harris. The Cool Cymru text was an example of Wales being asserted as an ‘Imagined Community’. (A little more on this later on in the blog.)

As in other blogs, I will look at the most intriguing of the reading and give my own opinions on the matter. One of the main thoughts of the term 'Imagined Communities' is how ideologies or identities can create an imagined community. An example of this could be an English person defining themselves as English as opposed to British. Quite similarly, the German nationality is separate from French. This is an obvious notion, however this links quite nicely into the idea of Wales being a 'imagined community'.

From Anderson's work on 'Imagined Communities', he defines a 'nation' as 'an imagined political community and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.' In a way, this is correct as due to current politicians of nation and their beliefs as they shape the nation as the public begin to listen to those with power. However, this notion can be argued with more relevant features that have helped to shape nations. A prime example for the UK, is the fact that it is built up on many years of history. Many foreigners find the UK very interesting and therefore want to learn about the culture(s). Anderson clearly suggests that nations are built up on cultures of a nation and laws that are enforced. This is completely different to other definitions. 

Wales can be seen as an 'Imagined Community' as it has its own language and it is part of the law that their language must be taught within all schools. This is a lot different to Scotland and Ireland as not all schools learn their nation's language. In other words, their national identity is kept pure as all road signs are in Welsh and then English, for the non-native speakers. These ideas are given in the 'Cool Cymru' abstract. Harris pragmatically delivers the ideas that the Welsh have pride and a passion for being Welsh. He states how the Welsh rugby teams and Welsh culture have had a massive effect on the fact that the Welsh society to being proud of their homeland. Personally I find this very fascinating as the Welsh culture is celebrated quite a lot, in comparison to the English. That said, the Scottish and Irish culture is celebrated just as much as the Welsh. However, there is rivalry between all countries in the UK but it only adds to the competitiveness. The 'cool' feature about Britain, is the fact that there are so many different cultures and it is very diverse.

Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer: 'The Culture Industry: Enlighntenment as Mass Deception'

Adorno & Horkheimer

This week's reading consited of Adorno and Horkheimer's ideas of 'The Culture Industry: Enlighntenment as Mass Deception'. This reading was a lot difficult than the last, (McLuhan: Medium is the Message, (See last week's post)), as it was very long and loquacious. Before reading, it was important that we understood the background of both Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer as it would help with the analysis of this reading. The two writers were part of the Frankfurt School, along with Walter Benjamin, Herbert Macuse and Erich Fromm. It is vital to remember that the Frankfurt School consists of Marxist theories in which main are study is Social Development.

From what I have learnt in the past about Marxism, it is clear that the Marx's are influenced by a number of different aspects, consisting of; the relationship between people who own the means of production and the rest of society, (Producers V.S. Audiences) and the concern about culture in which is colonized by capitalism, (Manipulation V.S. Enlightenment).

Diagram from Fredric Jameson's Late Marxism

For this reading it was important to understand the definition of the world 'Culture'. Culture, as a definition is a society in which follow the same norms and values in a community. This can mean that they all share the same fashion style, music genres and/or even similar beliefs. The norms and values need to come from somewhere. But the question is; where can they come from? This question links to the idea of ideology. Ideology is the ideas or manners of a thinking group, individual or social class. So from this it is clear to see  that the ideologies from certain cultures need to come from a powerful source. A relevant idea of a 'powerful source', are political leaders. They pass their ideas/beliefs to society in order for the public to decide whether or not they are good enough to lead the country. The political leader's ideas/beliefs then become what society dwells on. This can also link to Antonio Gramsci's idea of Hegemony.

Antonio Gramsci

Now that the theory behind the reading is cleared up, let me begin by briefly explaining the reading. In brief terms, Adorno and Horkheimer noted the main topic of the chapter was the 'industrialisation of culture'. According to what I had learnt in lecture and from further reading, i found that industrialisation is when social and economic change occurs and then transforms a human group from an agrarain society into an industrial one.


An aspect of Adorno and Horkheimer's studies suggested that the media can change a culture's mind and sometimes pragmatically state what beliefs that culture should follow or abide by. This can be seen in some advertising materials. The more we see the same thing over and over again, the more likely we will see this as correct and therefore, changing our views on society (and media). In a way, this is on the equivalent with politics as we are persuaded to vote for political parties.


I stand by my first feeling about the reading as I found this reading extremely difficult at first, however when I had finished the long strenuous text, I felt, myself, some 'enlightenment' as what Adorno and Horkheimer was trying to sa had finally clicked. In the words of Adorno and Horkheimer; 'To standardise media is to standardise people'. In simpler terms, if we continue to believe in dominant ideologies, and what the media says, we will all begin to act similar and therefore producing a 'standardised society'.

Marshall McLuhan: The Medium is the Message

Marshall McLuhan

This week’s reading consisted of Marshall McLuhan’s idea that “The Medium is the Message” in which is the first chapter of McLuhan’s book, “Understanding Media”. I will be looking at specific aspects of this chapter and interpreting what I find the most intriguing about his statement. Personally, it was a very complicated text, however I found some aspects of it to be very intriguing and I wished to find some actual definition of his statement.

“We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.”

McLuhan, M. (2001 [1964])

The medium more important
than media content

In the first chapter, McLuhan describes how the medium is more important than actual media content. He makes several relevant points to make this point stand out. Actual media content can not tell us how the media works or how we are affected or how we respond and or act due to the media. McLuhan believed that, ‘the reconstructing of human work and association was shaped by the technique of fragmentation that is the essence of machine technology’. McLuhan here suggests that the use of new technology has shaped society and by doing so has also affected society. This could also touch on the idea that due to the changes in modes of communication in which shape human life, (i.e. from the uses of print (Print Age), right up to the Electronic Age and then to the invention of social networking websites (Facebook)).  Due to the addition of new technology, it has helped shape society and human life.

Artful Communication

Another way in which McLuhan looks beyond the idea that media is something that connects and also has to do with the relaying of information is the fact that the media can be seen as an amplifier. This is an extension, (according to McLuhan) of some human faculty. He refers to these types of mediums as “Technological Extensions” in which amplify our senses and allow us to find deeper meaning. A number of examples are, the camera being the sense of sight; the phone a sense of hearing etc. Technological extensions allow us to enhance our senses. (In other words ‘amplify’ our senses.) McLuhan also formed four laws of extensions in which describe the different types. I was able to recognise different types by following his four laws.

Technology as extension to ourselves

From the idea of Technological Extensions, we can refer to Harraway (1991: 150) idea that human beings are cyborgs. A cyborg is hybrid of machines and organisms. This idea was very complicated to get my head around, but through tuition and the breaking down of ideas, it became clear that the simplest of things in actual fact suggest that we, as human beings, could be cyborgs. For example, a hearing aid to help someone with a hearing impediment is seen as a machine, therefore does that not make that person a cyborg? At first, I was not convinced by this idea, however looking into the subject in a little more depth helped my understanding.

I stand by my first point that McLuhan’s writing was somewhat unclear; however being able to write about it was the harder part. With the process of studying deeper meanings of what McLuhan was trying to say about the idea that ‘the Medium is the Message’. I personally agree with most of his points that he was making, however I do think that there was some irrelevancy about the topic.