MA Culture Industry

This module sets out the key theorisations of the culture industry. While incorporating classical figurations of the culture industry, the module is primarily concerned with assembling a clear engagement with contemporary research such as those spearheaded by leading researchers at Goldsmiths.

The organisation and substance of work and of precarious labour, of the developing debates and mechanisms of ‘intellectual property’ and cultural workers’ development of institutions and networks, as well as contemporary configurations of the professional, will be discussed. The globalisation of the culture industry will provide a persistent and ambitious point of reference.

This module will introduce the key conceptual frameworks for interpreting the cultural industries, starting with the classic macro perspectives of the ‘culture industry thesis’ developed by The Frankfurt School, and Political Economy; analyses concerned with the economic structure of culture, its mass production and resultant aesthetic and social forms.

These theoretical frameworks are read critically in relation to contemporary structural changes within the social and built world, primarily the shift from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy, and accompanied by related transformations of the city of production into the creative city. The rise of globalisation, reorganisations in the labour market, and the proliferation of cultural and symbolic goods, brands and logos provide key dimensions of this exposition.

As it continues, the module draws more broadly from contemporary cultural theory in order to develop a model of the cultural industries which remains attuned to the influence of economic structure and ‘the domination of the commodity’ while also being able to account for the complex texture of innovation, creativity, and restructured power relationships which are emerging.

One of the problems that the study of the culture industry presents is that - in its very nature, its key object of analysis - the culture industry as a whole has the status of a theoretical or policy-oriented fiction. Such a status does not negate its analytical use, but reflection on the particularly fragile and temporary nature of the field and its associated circumscription by notions of policy need to be brought into productive comparison with actual cultural practices. Equally, those active in the field described by this term recognise the term as belonging to a separate category of knowledge than that required to succeed in the production of culture. Culture involves complex networks of production ranging from the institutional and the transnational to the interpersonal and aesthetic. Here questions of genre, of variegated economic models and ultimately of existential and aesthetic rationale, break up any treatment of the culture industry as a coherent whole.

Driven by questions of practice, this module is organized around a series of more detailed analyses of specific cultural dynamics, where the theoretical models from ‘Theories of the Cultural Industry’ are brought to bear on individual areas of practice and the ways that they can and cannot be thought of in terms of ‘industry’. The section will focus on the empirical structure of particular methodologies for researching the culture industries, and the practice of cultural workers within these fields. In addition to lectures by academic researchers with particular expertise in music, fashion, radio and new economies, you will have access to practitioners from the fields of radio, film, music and art.

Major Placements

A more substantial, possibly overseas, placement could provide the major focus for your dissertation. Placements are organised by students, in dialogue with departmental staff, and will be supervised by the module convenor or an appropriate lecturer from within the department. Placements will result in a 10,000-word dissertation.

As such, the placement is not strictly focused on the delivery of training, but on placing you in a context within the culture industry in which you are able to make a study of specific practices. The written components provide a space for you to explore the connections between the practical issues concerning your placement and the theoretical issues addressed in the other parts of the degree. Reports may be submitted with a multimedia and/or visual component alongside the written part.

Major Projects

Alternatively, you'll be able to undertake projects towards your dissertation. These projects are self-initiated and are expected to engage with practices of culture in significant terms. Rigorous work within an interdisciplinary context will be crucial. While such self-initiated work can be of a purely experimental or speculative nature, you may also wish to establish some kind of connection with outside agencies, such as competitions, exhibitions, NGOs, and community groups.

Dissertation

Your research may also take the form of an academic dissertation of 10-12,000 words.

A key part of the MA is the Research Lab, a platform for experimental research and practice in culture. The Lab is a weekly space by which, through the use of a learning plan and in discussion with teaching and support staff, you customise your practical and theoretical skills in culture industry research.

The Research Lab is a key aspect of the support for Projects and Placements (see above).

Taught by Dr Josephine Berry