Theories of Representation – Stuart Hall
- The idea that representation is the production of meaning through language, with language defined in its broadest sense as a system of signs.
- The idea that the relationship between concepts and signs is governed by codes
- The idea that stereotyping, as a form of representation, reduces people to a few simple characteristics or traits
- The idea that stereotyping tends to occur where there are inequalities of power, as subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or ‘other’ (e.g. through ethnocentrism).
- The idea that the media provide us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our identities.
- The idea that whilst in the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offer us a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas.
- The idea that gender is constructed through discourse, and that its meaning varies according to cultural and historical context.
- The idea that the display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture.
- The idea that in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are used to construct the male body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female body.
- The idea that feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination.
- The idea that feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice.
- The idea that race and class as well as sex determine the extent to which individuals are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed.
- The idea that identity is performatively constructed by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results (it is manufactured through a set of acts).
- The idea that there is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender.
- The idea that performativity is not a singular act, but a repetition and a ritual.
- The idea that colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.
- The idea that civilisationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.