tripleC 10(2): 334-348, 2012 1 ISSN 1726-670X http://www.triple-c.at Marxist Theory in Critical Transitions: The Democratiza- tion of the Media in Post-Neoliberal Argentina Pablo Castagno Universidad Nacional de La Matanza, San Justo, Argentina,
[email protected] Abstract: This article contends that for socialist emancipation to advance it is crucial to investigate how political cadres conceal, regulate or displace the demands of citizens and workers in the context of the calamitous effects of global capital- ism. Analyzing the constitutive relationship between politics and the media is an essential component in researching those practices of state ideological production. Specifically looking into the transformation of media policy in the case of Argentina, this article problematizes the different political forms through which the state has cloaked its fundamental contradiction: alleged representation of the general interests of citizens, when explored in critical depth, reveals the state’s actual adjust- ment to a process of capitalist transnationalization that increases irrationality, social inequality and misery. Through this lens, the article emphasizes the value of Marxist dialectic method and theory in imagining a true democratic future. Keywords: Critical Political Economy, Global Crisis, Hegemony, Media Policy, Marxist Political Theory, Neoliberalism, Populism, Kirchnerismo 1. Introduction Examining Argentina, my purpose is to explore how state and political cadres endeavor to contain the social tensions spanning from states’ essential contradiction as institutions that claim to represent the general and national interests of citizens while reproducing the transnational class domination in which global capitalism is based.1 Specifically, I argue the media constitutes a key field of state ideologi- cal regulation and political struggle.