Legitimation, Hegemony and the Media: a Grarnscian Account of The
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Legitimation, Hegemony and the Media: A Grarnscian Account of the Rise of the New Right in the US- and Canada A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of .Arts in Social Studies University of Regina by Mi tch Diamantopoulos Regina. Saskatchewan December 13,2000 The author claims copyright. This work may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without permission of the author. National Library Bibliothèque nationaIe l*l ofCanada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et 8ibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395,nie Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence a310wIng the exclusive permettant à la National Librw of Canada to Bibliothèque nationde du Canada de reproduce, loan, dism%uteor seil reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in rnicroform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fonne de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thése ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othemise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract This study argues that Gramsci's theory of hegemony provides valuable conceptual tools for analyzing contemporary political movements. The rhesis elaborates the basic theoretical concepts used in hegemony analysis and situates the rise of the New Right in the larger histoncal context of struggles for hegemony. Finally, case studies provide a basic overview and institutional analysis of the strategies. structures and techniques which facilitated the rise of New Right hegemony in the US.and Canada. Due to their critical role in struggles for hegrnony. special attention is also paid to the role of newspapers. The rise of Conrad Black's press empire, and the central role of New Right organic intellectuals like Black and his editorial staff in the movernent's rise to cultural and political power. are highlighted in an appendix. This project would not been have possible without some key people to whom 1 am very grateful. First arnong those to whom I have theoretical debts to pay is Bill Livant who taught me to think crïtically and act generously. Without Bill's personal intervention, patience and generosity 1 am confident that 1 would never have embarked on this exercise. Thanks are also due to my advisor, John Conway, who encouraged me, by both his advice and his academic and public examples, to keep it relevant. C. Wright Mills, Ralph Miliband, Wallace Clernent, Car1 Boggs, James Curnn, Michael Apple and, of course, Antonio Gramsci have influenced this work considerably. Outside the discipline, I have also been deepl y influenced by contemporxy journalist-historians like Myrna Kostash, Ron Verzuh, R.T. Naylor, Pierre Berton, Stephen Dale, Linda McQuaig and Murray Dobbin. 1 also recognize the important influence of successive waves of media-activists in this region, particularly the founders of -rVexr Year Country and Briarpatclz magazines, and the Prairie Fire weekly. The example of Michael AIbert, Lydia Sargeant and Cynthia Peters at South End Press and Z Magazine to advance and expand the alternative media have also encouraged me in this effort. This project is more than an academic treatise. It is also an artifact of my lifework of the last decade. As such, it depends on many. These include, first and foremost, rny parents. They taught me an appreciation of the tmth and a respect for knowledge. My father instilled in me a patriotic devotion to the democratic tradition, an interest in history and the determination to achieve. My mother shared with me her love of language and culture and her passionate cornmitment to freedom, equality and human decency. 1 Iargely credit them for what might be worthwhile in this work. 1 must also recognize the many exceptions! people with whom 1 have had the great pleasure and deep satisfaction of working at Regina's only independent newspaper, prairie dog magazine. My CO-workershave played a crucial role in helping me broaden my analysis, helping me rnove from the contemplation of media systems in the abstract to an appreciation of al1 the concrete subtleties which emerge only from practical engagement and real world media struggle. I must single out two of these people for special mention, Terry Morash and April Bourgeois. They are rny closest partners in work and arnong my best frïends in life. I dedicate this work to them. Others who have made special contributions to Our work and to rny thinking are Guy Marsden; Adriane Paavo, my first editor; Michelle Kowalski, a CO-founderof prairie dog and a dear fnend; Shannon Avison, Ar10 Yuziccipi-Fayant and finally Leonzo Barreno. 1 would be remiss not to mention our partners in the social movements and the Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation (CWCF) who taught me the importance of thinking historically, strategically and boldly. In particular 1 thank the CWCF board and braintrust for the propaganda of their deeds. Thanks also are due to the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Regina. Without Faculty funding support, this project simply would not have been possible. Table of Contents Abstract 1 Acknowledgements Table of Contents Introduction: Analyzing Media-Power in a Propaganda System 1 Chapter 1: Nature and Scope of the Work: Gramsci's Theory of Hegemony 9 Chapter 2: Precedents and Parallels: The Histoncal and Global Context of Communications Struggle 21 Chapter 3: The Theory and Strategy of Hegemony: Gramsci Applied 40 Chapter 4: A Popular Revolution: The U.S. Case Chapter 5: A Silent Revolution: The Canadian Case Chapter 6: Conclusion and Discussion References Appendix A: The New Right's Newspaper Revolution and the Rise of Conrad Black, an Organic Intellectual of the New Right 154 Introduction: Analyzing Media-Power in a Propaganda System Just as clerîcal authot-ity was revered in the IMiaddle Ages, today's journalistic and academic elites have also gained relatively unquestion ~edauthority. Like clerics, however, the professional power of knowledge-workers is only "relatively autonomous' from the institutional orders and patronage systems within which they work. Like the doctrine of divine inspiration which underpinned the authonty claims of the mediaeval church and its representatives, the professional monopoly of modern academics and joumalists over . 'objective truth' is central to the hegemonic role of madern-day joumalism and scholasticism. Occupational ideologies of objectivity provide these highly-educated strata privileged authority clairns against the non-expert masses whose perspectives are tainted by self-interest and unprofessionalism. Professional id*.eologies, by contrast. suggest that the technical and rational accounts of modem experts are disinterested, objective, and socially neutral (Wexler: 1976). This doctrine therefore provides modem professional knowledge elites, who largely represent corporate and state power, with tremendous leverage in opinion-leadership, decision-makîng and pwblic policy-setting. The doctrine of objectivity assigns the academiic inteilectuaI and joumalist the role of detached 'observer,' presumably stepping 'outside' social reality into a value-free and interest-free zone of professional neutrality. It sanctioms a restricted fom of criticism under the rubric of disinterested academic inquiry, or abjective and balanced newsgathering and commentary. Studies have demonsErated, however, that the production of knowledge is not as random and arbitrary as the libezral-professional ideology of 'knowledge for knowledge's sake' would suggest. Studiles demonstrate that modem research professions are profoundly shaped by historically specific social relations, forms of institutionalization and the level of technological advance, whether car-edout by journalists working within mass media systems (Bagdikian, 1992; Gitlin, 1980; Herrnan and Chomsky, 1998; Kent, 1981; Nelson, 1989; Schiller, 1969; Simpson, 1993; Warnock, 1975; Winter, 1990 and 1997) or by scholars working in higher educationa1 institutions (Boggs, 1993; Giddens, 1991 ; Newson and Buchbinder, 1988; 07Nei11,1972; Simpson, 1993; Wexler, 1976). Knowledge produced in the universities and the mass media actually "derive from the wider structure of society, which embodie(s) a particular set of values and political and economic interests" (Wexler,l976:20), including the professional self-interests of this social stratum itseIf. This critique raises a substantial challenge to the objectivity and truth claims of modem experts and to the specific professional ideoIogies of modem journalism and science. In contrast to the ideological claims of professional knowledge-workers to socially-neutrd, objective fact, sociological theory contends that knowledge is always sociaIly constructed. The conception of knowledge as a social artifact dso suggests chat the institutionalized predominance of dominant class values and interests has important impiications for the production and circulation of ideology and information- Professional elites' claims that they are impartial observers of social reality, and therefore the best qualified to interpret