Suchergebnisse

Discussions of popular culture commonly suggest that the imputed poor quality of such material is due to the application of mass production techniques to the creative process. However, while mass production technologies are widely employed in the reproduction & dissemination of artistic products, the actual act of creation may still be performed in traditional ways. DofL is widespread in popular culture agencies, but may not affect the creative process. Large, bur'tic org's do not necessarily stifle creativity, & are indeed characteristic of theatre, ballet & musical performance. Popular artists are not necessarily alienated from their work. They may internalize the norms of the producing agency, or be effectively insulated from other reference groups. Specialized marketing operations allow scope for the development of specialized & quasi- professional skills. Alienation may be a graver problem for the more `serious' creative or performing artist, since direct contact with the audience is being rendered progressively harder by the rise of middlemen. Greater attention needs to be paid to the relationships between product quality, org of production, creative activity & the artist's att's. AA.

Although the purpose of science is objective analysis & interpretation of events, science as we know it today has been greatly influenced by capitalism. Popular practices such as plant medicine are declared unscientific, while those practices beneficial to a capitalistic system are usually supported by government agencies & the academic culture of the ruling class. Science has become integrated into the capitalist relations of production & social control. Its main goals are the accumulation of capital & defense against enemies. The social role of the scientist is to appear neutral & rational while helping the ruling class develop new ways of exploitation & oppression. The development of science into a capitalistic tool of production was greatly influenced by the advances in electricity, steel, & coal petroleum & the internal combustion engine during the late nineteenth century, which overlaps the period in which modern imperialism began to rise. In the Third World countries today, educational opportunities in the sciences & aid in the form of equipment, finance, technical assistance, & training programs are very often controlled by advanced capitalist countries, which are the ultimate benefactors of such aid. Instead of helping ease the problems of poverty & malnutrition, the introduction of capitalistic advanced technology into Third World countries helps the rich get richer while unemployment & inequality increase. M. K. Razo.

In Jan 1981, a coalition of U-trained intellectuals & members of a local Lapp community chained themselves together in an effort to prevent the flooding of thousands of acres of forest land in northern Norway. The structural & ideological background that made this joint effort possible is analyzed. A main figure on the side of the intellectuals present was the Norwegian philosopher & political activist Arne Naess. Naess's works on science, philosophy, & ecology are discussed in connection with an argument about the changing role of intellectuals in relation to popular discontent. Since the time of V. I. Lenin & J. H. Kautsky, Marxist theory has stressed that intellectuals come to popular social movements from the outside -- from other social strata. It is concluded here that this view does not apply to modern social movements. AA.