- Models of Power and Ideology: How can Ideological Statemen...
Models of Power and Ideology: How can Ideological Statements Affect us as Individuals? Illustrate your essay with specific examples.
Introduction: Defining Discourse and
Ideology
There exists no universal definition of 'ideology' for theorists
interested in the analysis of cultural texts. Eagleton's summation
of current definitions demonstrates the multiplicities of meaning
that can be attributed to 'ideology', and the subsequent problem of
undertaking any kind of textual analysis without sufficient
consideration of its significance to that particular study. I am
primarily interested in how Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a
model for examining cultural texts might interpret 'ideology' as a
'structure' or 'system' of semantic associations woven by "social
conventions, norms, histories" (Fairclough, 1995, p. 71). This is
very close to Foucault's definition of discourse as "historically
contingent cultural systems of knowledge, belief and power" (1972).
This broad, non-linguistic, definition can be incorporated into
analyses of linguistic 'discourse', thus amalgamating cultural,
historically specific and contextually specific ways of using
language. This definition of 'discourse' can be used alongside
non-linguistic feminist approaches to textual analysis. 'Discourse'
and 'ideology' can therefore be used interchangeably in critical
analyses of cultural texts.
This essay has examined how women's magazines More and
Cosmopolitan linguistically construct and represent femininity as
an ideological statement for the reader, with a particular focus on
female sexuality. More's 'Sex Tips' article and
Cosmopolitan's 'Cosmo Sex' piece offers the reader two different
ideological constructions of women's sexual identity, although both
immediately create the 'naturalized norm' of heterosexual
discourse. More portrays women as sexually assertive, even
aggressive, and focuses on the physical, as opposed to emotional
aspects of sex. This is portrayed lexically through euphemisms for
parts of the female body and sexual acts, and ideological
assumptions such as the ownership of a vibrator. Vocabulary that
places women in a dominating position subverts male power, and
reveals a discourse of 'teasing', or sexual manipulation, in order
to achieve this power. Halliday's theories of language use are
shown to operate within critical analyses such as these, where
epistemic modality conveys the certainty of events detailed in the
'Sex Tips' article, and a combination of material actions and
relational processes reveals an assertive tenor. Conversely, the
'Cosmo Sex' article places a notably strong emphasis on female
sexuality as a psychological experience. This is presented through
a semantic field of the psyche, and the use of mental transitive
processes. The surprisingly high percentage of epistemically
non-modal clauses in this article suggests that consumerism also
operates within the realms of female heterosexual discourse. The
primary discourses identified in both magazines: hetero-social,
advertorial, testimonial, and instructional, demonstrate the
multiplicity of ideological statements, thus the multifunctionality
of language. What my discussion has demonstrated is how the reader
is linguistically positioned within these ideologies or
discourses.
