(Re) Presentation and (Re) Production of Ideology: the Case of Grand
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A Thesis entitled (Re)Presentation and (Re)Production of Ideology: The Case of Grand Theft Auto IV, a Framework for the Analysis of Culture and Violence, and the Role of Critical Media Literacy in an Education for Democratic Citizenship by Jeffery H. Warnke Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Education Degree in Educational Theory and Social Foundations _______________________________________ e J. Martin, Committee Chair _______________________________________ Dr. Lynne Hamer, Committee Member _______________________________________ Dr. Dale Snauwaert, Committee Member _______________________________________ Dr. Patricia R. Komuniecki, Dean, College of Graduate Studies The University of Toledo May 2012 Copyright 2012, Jeffery H. Warnke This document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no parts of this document may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author. An Abstract of (Re)Presentation and (Re)Production of Ideology: The Case of Grand Theft Auto IV, a Framework for the Analysis of Culture and Violence, and the Role of Critical Media Literacy in an Education for Democratic Citizenship by Jeffery H. Warnke Submitted to the Graduate Faculty as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Education Degree in Theory and Social Foundations of Education The University of Toledo May 2012 The intersection of culture, ideology, power, identity, and violence are explored and interrogated through the lens of media literacy in this study. A transdisciplinary framework is developed for the purpose of an ideological analysis of violent media and employed in a case study of the Grand Theft Auto IV video game. The ubiquity of media and the representation and reproduction of ideologies inconsistent with the democratic ethics is a necessary site for education. Popular/mass culture and its meanings have implications for media literacy as response/resistance to a culture of violence within the traditions of democratic education, social reconstructionism, and peace education. iii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 A. Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................... 1 B. Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................ 17 C. Research Questions .................................................................................................. 17 D. Theoretical Frameworks .......................................................................................... 18 II. Review of Related Literature and a Framework for Interrogation ............................... 24 A. Situating the Study ................................................................................................... 24 B. Culture, Ideology, and Power ................................................................................... 25 C. Identity: Social Construction and Multiple Positionalities ...................................... 32 a. Social identity theory. ........................................................................................... 33 b. Identity theory and symbolic interactionism......................................................... 35 c. Social constructionist approaches to identity. ....................................................... 37 D. Violence ................................................................................................................... 44 E. Democratic Ethics .................................................................................................... 48 iv F. Ideological and Societal Threats to Democracy ....................................................... 52 a. Patriarchy. ............................................................................................................. 52 b. Capitalism, militarism, and propaganda. .............................................................. 55 G. Video Game Studies................................................................................................. 65 H. Critical Media Literacy ............................................................................................ 68 I. Social Reconstructionism .......................................................................................... 69 III. Research Design and Methodology ............................................................................ 72 A. Rationale for Qualitative Research .......................................................................... 72 B. The Site and Setting ................................................................................................. 73 C. Research Questions .................................................................................................. 74 D. Research Design ....................................................................................................... 75 E. Data Management ..................................................................................................... 77 F. Data Analysis ............................................................................................................ 78 G. Validating the Research ........................................................................................... 79 H. Limitations ............................................................................................................... 80 IV. Analysis and Interpretations ....................................................................................... 82 A. A Brief Synopsis of the Story .................................................................................. 84 B. Emergent Themes ..................................................................................................... 84 a. Neoliberalism and materialism. ............................................................................ 84 b. Identity – hypermasculinity. ................................................................................. 88 v c. Players meanings associated with gender and violence. ....................................... 96 d. Violence. ............................................................................................................... 97 e. Linking the themes. ............................................................................................... 99 V. Implications and Conclusions .................................................................................... 100 A. Implications of GTA IV and Violent Media ........................................................... 100 B. Implications for Democracy ................................................................................... 103 C. Implications for Education ..................................................................................... 105 a. The necessity for transdisciplinarity. .................................................................. 105 b. Democratic conceptions of education. ................................................................ 106 c. Social reconstructionism in education. ............................................................... 107 d. Implications for peace education. ....................................................................... 111 e. A critical media literacy for democracy and peace. ............................................ 113 D. Suggestions for Future Research and Conclusions ................................................ 114 References ....................................................................................................................... 116 Appendix A ..................................................................................................................... 131 List of Final Coding Stucture .......................................................................................... 131 Appendix B ..................................................................................................................... 132 A list of videos documenting the completed missions in GTA IV .................................. 132 Mission 05: First Date: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1PdaCTKyxI........... 132 Appendix C ..................................................................................................................... 137 vi Computer generated screen print copies of the website contents. .................................. 137 Appendix D ..................................................................................................................... 141 Output of Coding Frequency of the Primary Documents Related to the Narrative of GTA IV .................................................................................................................................... 141 vii List of Tables Table 1. A typology of violence (Galtung, 1990, p