Sociological view of culture jamming

http://www.csub.edu/~rdugan2/SOC%20577%20Pop%20Culture/culture%20jamming.pdf

This is a very long article, but had some interesting points on where culture jams may have came from, as well as how counter culture facilitates consumerism, but in a different better way. Also, that as a society, we focus on our consumer culture as a way of belonging. Here's my long winded summary:

The arthurs point out that culture jamming, in different forms, has been around since about the mid 18th century, originating perhaps with Rousseau and his writings, stating that he saw "civilization, ingrained in the formal pedagogies of European academies and the overly mannered rituals of its social institutions, corrupts humankind".

Following this was the English Romantic Movements, which Wikipedia defines as: A rev0lt against aristocratical social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music and literature". After this, Marx followed with his Communist Mannifesto which also speaks agains the hierarchy of capitalism. These are not jamming as we know it today, however still protested consumerism in their time in the way that culture jams do today.

The author points out that though culture jammers today are against the ways in which mass production is done (i.e sweat shops, low pay etc), they are also essentially creating new markets for products in doing so. An example is the boom of "green products" which are better on the environment, anti sweat shop produced products etc. However, even though it is still consumerism, the culture jams have changed the behaviours of some producers, as they are being more environmentally friendly, not using sweat shops or increasing pay for workers. What I found interesting here, is that he defines "Good culture" as natural, and things that are made from the Earth and "Bad Culture" as man made, or being made "from the top down". This stuck me as similar to the High culture and pop culture we discussed in class.

The author also points out that, with this view, no matter how much we protest against the mass production of things, it is in our social nature to consume. From the sociological perspective he is taking, as a culture we buy to feel belongingness to the culture or group. So even if we are not buying things produced in sweat shops, we look for other ways to do this.

I thought this was an interesting take on culture jamming, consumerism and the history of culture jams. A long read but still pretty cool.

-BritFan