Social Subjectivites: How to Be Judgmental Without Even Knowing It

There are many social subjectivities, but the ones that come to mind are: Age, class, gender, race, religion, sex, and sexuality.

Due to the commonality of social subjectivities as well as its connection to ideologies, social subjectivities becomes an important phenomenon to discuss in media studies.

Social subjectivities occur in our everyday lives. It is how one person views another person and is tied to ideology because of how much value is placed on social subjectivities. For instance, we can look at how someone is dressed as well as their grammar and try to determine what class they fall into, we develop a narrative of their life, and we do it without evening thinking about it. For example with all of the signifiers in this picture, the missing tooth, the flannel, the cowboy hat, the guns, and confederate flag, are all signs that this is a redneck. So we social subjectify him as such.

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It’s strange that at this point in time, in my personal life, I am not experiencing social subjectivities. Many women find themselves as activists for feminism, I have yet to experience my gender holding me back from goals, jobs, etc.

Media in terms of its use for empowerment has definitely been used in the past couple of years. I have not personally used it for empowerment purposes, but those that have include, gay rights, black lives matter, woman’s rights and more.

A recent use of media for empowerment was the half-time show performance at the 2016 Super Bowl represented the Black Lives Matter movement and the Gay Rights movement. Coldplay based his part of the show around Gay Rights through symbolism, with vivid colors and the recurrence of the symbol for Gay rights the rainbow. 

                                          figure 2. 

The Black Lives Matter movement was shown through Beyoncé’s performance who is a powerful Black Women who showed her support through the dressing up in 

Black Panther attire and singing her song Formation that directly discusses race.

By referencing the Black Panthers in Beyoncé’s performance, she is using subject positioning and directly using popular culture to do so. The Super Bowl half-time show was one of the best times to make a statement through media to have access to the largest audience possible. Which was a smart move on her part.

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Those that viewed the half-time show had much to say regarding her performance on whether it was right or wrong and those beliefs and values that are reflected while ideological are basing their opinions on what was observed through social subjectivities.

Links: 

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http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Screen-Shot-2016-02-08-at-10.22.02-AM-620x413.jpg 

 https://kellygermaine.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/beyoncc3a9-superbowl-2016.png?w=568&h=307

Not Judgmental Just Interpreting: Hermeneutics

Much of your time spent on earth is spent trying to understand your surroundings, what your purpose is, how people interact and defining who you are as a person.

Unbeknownst to many there is in fact a method we use when trying to understand these elements of our lives.

Hermeneutics, what is it, why is this word relevant and why should you care about any of this? 

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In its simplest form hermeneutics is the science of understanding or interpreting.

So to say we spend most of our time on earth trying to understand or interpret, well then you are really practicing hermeneutics.

 But hermeneutics is broad, there are 5 types of hermeneutics to understand.

•            Natural
•        Normative
•           Scientific
•           Philosophical
•           Depth

Natural hermeneutics is interpreting everyday life. For instance, you meet someone for the first time, you  will probably “naturally” read this person intensely by their body language, how they talk, and how well they present themselves over all to make an assumption. This is interpreting in your everyday life and it is a normal function for human beings, thus the best example for natural hermeneutics. 

Normative hermeneutics is deliberate and rule based. If you are practicing normative hermeneutics you  will most likely follow strict rules or readings, and will wear a suit or maybe even robes depending on your career choice. This is because you will typically find normative hermeneutics being practiced by judges, lawyers, or priests. They are the prime example for those who interpret text.

Scientific hermeneutics, if you are in school, you have used it.  The scientific method is the key to understanding this type of hermeneutics, it is the foundation of most science experiments and how data is discovered and interpreted.

Philosophical hermeneutics is best explained in the classroom. It is a way of thinking and interpreting building a foundation of information and connecting with it somehow. When you read a text you interpret that text, it’s a constant cycle of reading and interpreting, finding meaning in the words on a page.

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Depth hermeneutics is what I believe to be the most complex. There are so many levels to this particular interpretation involving suspicion of various levels such as ideology, the unconscious, language, and discourse. Many of these levels flow into the other but it is all about assumption and liberation.

So why does this matter to you? By understanding how one interprets information, you will find it helps to pull as much information as possible as well as providing an explanation for the conclusions we come to on a daily basis whether intentional or not.

To discover more information on hermeneutics and its history check out: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/gadamer/