Question 8; Political Economy and Cultural Studies

Political economy is the idea that influence is spread via power. One example of how that influence is spread is through media. The positive basis of political economy is the power of economics to shape our world. It’s the idea of how our world is structured by money and cooperate power by an economic standpoint. Political economists study “the cultural producers and the organizational sites and practices they inhabit and through which they exercise their power” (Grossberg, 268). Mouse Trapped 2010 serves as a direct example of political economy. The video interviews numerous employees who all have the same argument—that because Disney pays them so little they cannot afford a satisfactory standard of living. For example, an older male employee discusses that in order to feed his two-year-old granddaughter, the other members of the household may not be able to eat at all. Furthermore, another man cannot afford adequate dosage of insulin to fight his diabetes while a woman is faced with bankruptcy. In this sense, the employees argue that the lack of money directly and negatively impacts every aspect of their lives, supporting the notion that influence is based on economic power. In other words, Disney cares about profit before people. Mickey Mouse Monopoly approaches political economy in the second half of the film, when the narrator explains that Disney is a “transnational media conglomerate, owning TV and radio networks… magazines…sports teams”…etc. This shows Disney’s success in terms of power, as Disney penetrates the media market and other markets, such as the sports network, and continues to grow (for example, how Disney bought ABC). Disney owns so much of the media, and is therefore able to shape what we hear and see, presenting us with a limited worldview “skewed and dominated by corporate interests.” Thus, Disney’s power from shear size, influence and prevalence in the market, and financial success make the economics of the company the most important factor. Political economy is linked with cultural studies when the narrator concludes, “as a result, Disney exerts a tremendous influence on national and international popular culture.” Grossberg challenges Garnham's history of the relationship between cultural studies and political economy, arguing that political economy and cultural studies have “always been divided over the terms of an adequate theory of culture and power” (Grossberg, 262).

The basic idea of cultural studies is how culture shapes our world, and that economics isn’t the basic factor of the world. It’s the idea of how people and culture structure our world, and how we think about the world in terms of those structures when defining ourselves. Grossberg discusses how the commodification of culture is never complete. He argues that “part of what cultural studies has always been about…is the self-production of culture--the practices by which people come, however imperfectly, to represent themselves and their worlds” (Grossberg 629). In Mouse Trapped, the employees argue that the managers of Disney make a conscious decision to leave cast members in a “perpetual state of poverty,” creating very negative and spiteful feelings for such managers. While they know Disney can afford to pay their employees more (effectively disproving economics as the most important factor), those who run Disney limit their employees to near minimum wages--showing how people have the power to shape our world. One woman directly claims that Disney’s “source” is its people. Mickey Mouse Monopoly approaches cultural studies from the start by describing its cultural impact on children, as it promotes innocence, fun and magic. A man speaks of how Disney is important in terms of culture and identity, stating that children are often “raised on Disney,” for example the college student who can sing a foreign song from “Little Mermaid” by heart. Additionally, a young woman discusses how she associates Disney with family love and bonding, yet again reinforcing the power of people and culture to shape our world view.