Section 1: Core concept definitions

Question 1

What is Interpellation? (Althusser)

Answer 1

Interpellation is the process by which ideology “hails” individuals, positioning them within a social system as subjects.

For example, being addressed as a “citizen” or “consumer” shapes how we understand ourselves within society.

Question 2

Define the Public Sphere. (Habermas)

Answer 2

The public sphere is a space (historical or metaphorical) where individuals gather to discuss issues of common concern, ideally free from state and market control.

Question 3

What is Technoscape? (Appadurai)

Answer 3

One of Appadurai’s five -scapes, technoscape refers to the global flow of technology, expertise, and infrastructure across borders.

Question 4

Define Pseudo-Individualization. (Adorno & Horkheimer)

Answer 4

The illusion of individuality in mass-produced cultural products. Audiences believe they have choice, but most products follow the same formulas.

Question 5

What is Anchorage? (Barthes)

Answer 5

Anchorage is when text (such as a caption) guides or limits the meaning of an image, shaping how the viewer interprets it.

Question 6

What is Deterritorialization? (Appadurai)

Answer 6

Deterritorialization refers to the separation of culture from specific geographic locations, allowing identities and practices to circulate globally and take on new meanings.

Question 7

What is the Culture Industry? (Adorno & Horkheimer)

Answer 7

The culture industry refers to the mass production of culture under capitalism. Cultural products become commodities, reinforcing conformity and distracting the public from critical thought.

Question 8

Define Constitutive Rhetoric. (Charland)

Answer 8

Constitutive rhetoric refers to speech or media that brings a political or social identity into being. It creates subjects by addressing them as if they already exist.

Question 9

What is the Panopticon? (Foucault)

Answer 9

A metaphor for modern surveillance where individuals internalize discipline because they might be watched. It produces self-regulating, “docile” bodies.

Question 10

What is Textual Poaching? (Jenkins)

Answer 10

Textual poaching is when fans reinterpret or remix media content for their own purposes, resisting or reshaping its original meaning.

Question 11

Define the Ritual Model of Communication. (Carey)

Answer 11

A model that sees communication as a symbolic process that sustains culture and shared beliefs, rather than simply transmitting information.

Question 12

What are Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs)? (Althusser)

Answer 12

Institutions like schools, media, and religion that maintain dominant ideology through consent, shaping individuals into subjects of the system.

Question 13

What is Media Ritual? (Couldry)

Answer 13

Media rituals are repeated practices (like watching the news) that reinforce the belief that media is central to social life and meaning.

Question 14

What is Myth? (Barthes)

Answer 14

A second-order signification in semiotics where cultural meanings become naturalized.

Question 15

Define Participatory Culture. (Jenkins)

Answer 15

A media environment in which audiences don’t just consume content but also produce, remix, and circulate it.

Question 16

What is Postfeminism? (Gill)

Answer 16

A cultural sensibility that suggests feminism is no longer necessary. It emphasizes individual choice and empowerment while ignoring structural gender inequality.

Question 17

What is Surveillance as Productive? (Foucault)

Answer 17

Rather than just repressing people, surveillance actively shapes how they behave and think. It produces certain kinds of subjects.

Question 18

What is the Transmission Model of Communication? (Carey)

Answer 18

A model that treats communication as the delivery of messages from sender to receiver. It’s focused on accuracy, clarity, and efficiency.

Question 19

What is Black Luminosity? (Simone Browne)

Answer 19

A concept describing how Black bodies are hyper-visible under systems of surveillance, yet still erased from dominant narratives of citizenship or legitimacy.

Question 20

Define Hybridity. (Kraidy)

Answer 20

The blending of cultural forms across global contexts. It can challenge cultural hierarchies or reinforce them, depending on who controls the exchange.

Question 21

What is the Oppositional Gaze? (bell hooks)

Answer 21

A critical gaze developed by Black women to resist dominant representations in media. It allows marginalized viewers to reject objectifying or stereotypical portrayals and reclaim agency.

Question 22

What is the Myth of the Mediated Centre? (Couldry)

Answer 22

The belief that media connects us to the center of social and cultural life. It reinforces the authority of media institutions and positions them as gatekeepers of truth and importance.

Question 23

What is Identification in communication theory?

Answer 23

A process by which individuals align themselves with others or with media figures. It can foster connection or persuasion, but also reveal power relations and exclusions.

Question 24

Define Hypervisibility. (Simone Browne)

Answer 24

A condition where marginalized groups, especially Black bodies, are excessively visible to surveillance systems, yet excluded from full social recognition or rights.

Question 25

What are Repressive State Apparatuses (RSAs)? (Althusser)

Answer 25

Institutions like the police, military, and courts that maintain state power through physical force or coercion, unlike ISAs which operate through ideology.

Question 26

What is Agitation vs. Integration Propaganda? (Ellul)

Answer 26

Agitation propaganda seeks to stir unrest and change the status quo. Integration propaganda aims to stabilize and unify society by reinforcing existing norms and values.

Question 27

Define the Five -scapes. (Appadurai)

Answer 27

Appadurai’s five frameworks for global cultural flow: ethnoscape (people), technoscape (technology), finanscape (capital), mediascape (media), ideoscape (ideologies).

Question 28

What is Relay? (Barthes)

Answer 28

When text and image work together dynamically, each contributing to the creation of meaning. Common in comics, film, and multimedia storytelling.

Question 29

Define Docile Bodies. (Foucault)

Answer 29

Individuals who have internalized discipline and behave in regulated, controlled ways due to institutional power (e.g., students, workers, prisoners).

Question 30

What is Pre-Propaganda? (Ellul)

Answer 30

The background conditioning that prepares audiences to accept propaganda. It relies on myths, stereotypes, and cultural narratives already in circulation.

Question 31

What is Soft Propaganda? (Welch)

Answer 31

Subtle, often entertainment-based messaging that reinforces dominant ideology without overt political content. ## Footnote Example: war glorification in Hollywood films.

Question 32

Define Creative Industries. (Rodríguez-Ferrándiz)

Answer 32

Cultural sectors (e.g., media, design, advertising) where creativity is commodified and workers face flexible, precarious conditions under capitalism.

Question 33

What is Relational Labor? (Brooke Erin Duffy)

Answer 33

The emotional labor creators perform to build and maintain relationships with audiences—often unpaid and gendered—especially on social media platforms.

Question 34

What is Speaking Into the Air? (John Durham Peters)

Answer 34

A critique of the fantasy of perfect communication. Peters argues that communication is always partial, haunted by miscommunication, and shaped by longing, not clarity.

Question 35

Define Digital Dark Sousveillance. (Peterson-Salahuddin)

Answer 35

The use of digital tools by marginalized groups to document, resist, and expose surveillance, often reclaiming visibility in empowering ways.

Question 36

What is Surveillance as Racialized? (Simone Browne)

Answer 36

The idea that surveillance disproportionately targets racialized bodies. Surveillance practices are not neutral—they are historically and structurally shaped by race.

Question 37

What is Evasion in communication? (various scholars)

Answer 37

A subtle tactic of resistance where marginalized individuals avoid or subvert dominant narratives—through irony, silence, withdrawal, or reinterpretation.

Question 38

What is Gender as Ideology? (de Lauretis)

Answer 38

Gender is not natural but constructed through social discourse, media, and institutions—it's a learned system of norms and power.

Question 39

What is Vertical vs Horizontal Propaganda? (Ellul)

Answer 39

Vertical propaganda is top-down from institutions or elites. Horizontal propaganda spreads laterally through peer groups, communities, or social media.

Question 40

Define Banal Populism. (Almendra)

Answer 40

Everyday media representations that use populist logic—framing issues as 'the people vs the elite'—without explicit political language. Often found in tabloid news or talk shows.