10
Reconsidering Resistance
and Incorporation
Richard Butsch
or a century, American cultural elites and intellectuals have criticized commercial leisure
of
tainment and media, that is, mass culture. The more widely used term "commercialization,"
as well as the more technical "commodification have been used with negative connotations
by social commentators, reformers, and researchers warning of mass culture's corrupting
influences on aesthetics, community, and class consciousness.
Art and literary figures have long blamed commercialism, that is commercial enter
tainment, amusements and media, for undermining artistic taste and support of the arts.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's famous misogynous statement about "scribbling women" was
directed at popular novels and magazines. Actors, playwrights, and drama critics
bemoaned what they called the commercialization of theater in late nineteenth and early
twentieth century America, blaming the Theater Syndicate, and its commercial success in
particular, for low aesthetic standards in drama. Modernists and mass culture critics
through the twentieth century abhorred commercialization for aesthetic degradation
(Huyssen, 1986; Li, 1993), moral debasement (Boyer, 1978) and social disintegration
(Giner, 1976; Kornhauser, 1959).
Political economists use the more rechnical term "commodification to indicate an
ongoing expansion of commercial exchange into all areas of human activity, gradually
turning all of human intercourse into a "universal market" (Braverman, 1974). In recent
years, journal articles have described commercial inroads into areas that most people con-
wider inappropriate. These include such personal areas as renting
wombs and purchasing
pesanancies (Resnik, 1998; Rothman, 1987), the patenting of genes and animals (Berlan,
1989), advertising in schools (Molnar, 1996), the packaging of ethnic identity (Castile,
1996, Lee, 1992Richer, 1988) and privatization of public services such as policing
between development and conservation of parks and wilderness
(Swinnerton, 1999).
Reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd. (http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals).
From Bursch, R. (2001). Considering resistance and incorporation. Leisure Sciences, (23)2, 71-79.
87
90
PARI A CULTURAL STUDIES APPROACH TO Mato
Early classico del
mind the portance of incent
even when sot pursuing it. Die He
bw The Man of Syle 1
pp. 92-99 is probably the most
cond seaty of resistant subcultures, includ
(without wing that word in his
perennial, although the degree of it was
historically. The incompleteness,
and stare necessary concepe
account for historical chang
Unlike later resistance studies, Williams
continued to acknowledge the we
hegenic forces. He began his explanation
of his model with a description of her
monly as a central system of practice,
ings and values which we can properly call
dominant and effective ... which are
nized and lived
me of reality for
most people...beyond which it is very dit
ficult for most people of the city to
in mostras of their lives (1971
He cautioned that he mayo
static and therefore is capable of counter
ing resistance. He said, "We only
understand an efective and dominant
culture if we understand the real social
price on which it depends I mean the
process of cow the pro
cess whereby inces are corralled and
articulated within the work of
hemen Herred that hegemony it
"active and adap and flexible
Incorporation the dominant cuineral
response to challenges and the means to
ore them. Willame ever lost wicht
of the power of
his dominance
Yet at the me time, he limited that
there is a space,
andre. It became the pret
studies that celebrated subculturale
resistance. Yet Hebdige aldi
cheir incorporation in commodity
back into the dominant culture. Quora
Henri Lefebvre 1971. Hediyesi
oppositional de such as these we
mures, are often uvented by being
modified and mold as fashionable
stripped of the more dangerous
At the same time, an ideological for
incorporation is other sectors, especiale
media, translates the messages of
scultures inte trivia or meaningles
spectacle, in stripping away dangero
elements. News stories depict them
innocuous adolescent rebellion, blunting
the class and political content of the
mes. Other news stories character
them as dangerous and to be repened
Another study, Policing the Cow [Hall
Critches Jefferson Clarke & Robert
1978. examined this aspect of dominant
cune response
Unfortunately, Hebdige' treatment of
incorporation was secondary and
shadowed by his meie elaborate and per
presentation of resistance. Hehdiges
empless and its reception is understand
able in terms of the debate at the time, inc
tence was the side of the equation that
had been ignored and seeded cabocation
Domination, the power of hemos
already a well-developed topic of study and
needed line elaboration. The idea of
tance was nex, exciting and eye-opening
Studies and faculty at the University of
Birmingham Centre for Contemporary
Cultural Studies focs, birthplace of
murales, mered themselves in pro
The center work on resistance
introduced in Resistance Through Ride
1976 collection led by
all song dowel COCS
simple
who wear
them l umbes J Clarke, Pel
Curri, Chee Crnches Somos Ford
Tomy Anal Mobil
Mundoh, Paul Will Home
this work preceded Williams orginal
wytho Williams had been taking
ded
about the ideas for some time before
Recepted by wie J Clarke - wed
gist Herwandlermulation of tabe in the elementi
in theory and Phil Caben dio
them. These cathed
London scules than by Williams fententias
liced on device and proposed the way thered them with
new interpretation of dermaculum
and another be
as an expression of online dawn
und paraneed of a
penerational resistance to being that they who is
denied the declared and
et utrols the lives
themselves as deviant. Problem for the throuch scial when it and the
uthors was not the power of her
but the car o descant.
Herwegs of the
mi dan
was arren. They showed how devine
understood as Wepene munity in the form
10 hegemony
focal hoolima
Like Williams, however, the authors of
Resistance never forget the significance of
hegemonic power. Indeed the book pre All the domeschool who always
sumed its dominating from do what they're mnd up being
which these wubcultures were trying to Cuppens wil we are really
win space, to avoid sucation so to they ding be your friend
peak. They wed the timesta They try to
do things and
instead of Williams' concept et alternative you don't do the they're the low
and oppositional culture, because they
wanted to avoid William' suggestion of were illo the desi
fully formed culture and more devringed on our backs. (19911, 100
class consciousness. Williams of
opposition in terms of the grand historical The one of being to
weep of classes and modes of production despond and demand and the
supplantint each other, for example, the
faltsut the core
bour cost of capitalis replacing the culturals ik that first appeared
aristocracy of feadalism. At COCS, they anayi Real Willar'
focused on the iurces of change the to Labor (1977),centered on Endlich work
microsocial level hence the interest in the ing des adolescent by fat coper
American sociology of deviance-a pro
me with school authorities from teachers on
ple live their everyday lives surrounded by mecting the wees and promise the
the dominant culture, but subverting it by
chool made as false and aming me
adapting this culture to their own put
te of their own hard Willis dently
poses. They had in mind something les
described the debate and mate in
Brand in scope and less fully formed than
proposta
Williams store begin
of mere ecologia
and overtly political moment when he
Come of them and oppostal
cuales
sont book, Cher
(1981), he described the
a movements of the tenth and
Raphacles and the Boy Groups
as oppositional canal bovements. The
w bield of all is was likewise
concerned with opposition to hegemonty
bur they were focused on popular com
mercial, os what youth is particu
lar with commodities, are
88
• PARTI A CULTURAL STUDIES APPROACH TO MEDIA TRONY
Chapter 10 Becoming to cope 19
fales by then just
slunce and leare were particularly pro
ally related by values that transcend Seats in this respect, the new pate
them. Working class resistance, whid
was presumed to our in political
conomic real political parties and
production of false consciousness the
de into the analysis side
Trading in identity, bodies, and personal
or public services cross a moral threshold 1973; Swingwood, 1977
and transforms social relations tradition
money into exchange relations related
by money. As part of this change, leisure
instead of being a haven from alimated
Labor unions), wax prevented by cultural
was work, now becomes like work, at
environment of commodity consumption
realm of levure. Workers did not the
in which treasured aspects of social rela-
off their chaine" because they were per
tions based on attachment and commit
suaded from watching television and enjoy
ment rather than self-interest and personal
ing their new car that capitalism was goed
Identity based on character rather than
for them. This was a rather pessimiste
clothes are lost
model since it left little room for popular
During the twentieth century, critic
of commercialisation and commodifica resistance to evolvie.
Cultural studies rejected this model and
tion has usually pre umed that such pro
tead offered a more optimistic model in
cues and their agents control those who
consume these products and services, which people were not suffering from false
shaping and corrupting people thoughts, consciousness, but rather contended
behavior and relationships s they par against cultural institutions and elites,
ticipate in monetary exchanges and often reinterpreting commodities to pro
inhabit the cultural environments baile duce their own solsculture serving the
for the purposes. Critics, in other words, own interests. Other scholars disputed the
tend to emphasie domination of the significance of such cultural resistance and
and eat people as victime of continued to emphasize the overwhelming
commercial culture
power of capitalist institutions to control
In the mid-1970, the new field of cul- culture and create false consciousness
al studies hmke ranks with those who Since that time the concept of cultural
short this prome. Cultural studies into resistance has been under regular attack
duced the idea that, while commodity cal from many quarters, including from within
tre powerful, the victory is never total, cultural studies, and there has been endless
and people regularly resist the domination debate over comodification verstis resi
that is so feared. In particular, they w tanor, what Richard Johnson two decades
this mistance in the leisure activities of
working daw south-ahling, dancing,
age called "intellectual ping-pong.in
which sides have taken absolutist partisan
des motorbiking drug use, hanging positions, each oversimplifying the an
wur Hall & Jefferson, 1976).
Cultural de roses a reaction to
mient of the other side and dimissing
tradicional Marist critici o popular cul
Johnson, 1981.p.386). In response to the
une Orthodox Mars as well as human
ancorous debate there also arose recut
Marsch as the Frankfurt School,
ring calls for an end to the debate and a
Search for a synthesis (Clarke, 1990,
pened the questa dominance of
Grossberg. 1995; Johnson, 1981).
My purpose here is to repeat this call
for a truce and suggest an avenue for w
thesis of the foci
of both sides of the
debate. The path 1 propose first is to
acknowledge the validity of both the
strength of hexemony and of the signifi
cance of resistance. Second, 1 propose to
seck a differentiated vocabulary for dilter
ent levels of resistance. Third, I seek to
educam, mons
whose pure was the production,
of hegemony proposed by
வாயா மன் application atians
Raymond Williams, but generally neglected
Both the creation and the des
in cultural studies. That ide is incorpora
they propagated werden by the
base. The hotel the per
non process that in many ways telles
ructure destinal te the tra
the concerts of those critical france
model, them of the wentracture
studies and that overlaps the process of
and then the desto
commodification. To describe this putut ety, are determined by these. In the
will retrace some of the theoretical foot words, the perdominant we are on
of cultural studies to retrieve this concepe trolled by and justify the ting der
of incorporation and reinstate it in the
and, thus, the existing
framework as originally conceived
Such ideas are so dominant that
people most of the time are duped into a
false consciousness that prevent appos
Retracing Forgotten Paths
tion In more determi, comma
cialized in dopes most people into
acceptance and coperation with the
Studies of the ideological power of monop enterprise of monopoly capitali
oly capital and studies of resistance both William argud that this one of
lave contributed greatly to aut under ideological control wong and to
standing of modern society. At the same cute. He did not dispute the power of
time, domination dies have found too minopoly capital to shape the prevailing
narrowly on the admittedly great power ideas of unctaBut herecede sump
of corporations and media monopoly, and tion of inevitability and totality. Instead he
cesitance studies have been too singularly Nuggested more flexible concept of col
focused resistance or alternate readings tural hemm that acknowledged con
Now, we need to take the next step, to centrated power, but at the bow
analyze the relationship between resistance pace" in which people might create and
and incorporation, to look at their interac sustain their own ideas different from o
tion. We need to understand not simply oppened to and, on occasion, prevailing
domination or resistance, but domination over those promoted by concentrated
and resistance
power. He conceived of alternative and
Both concepts ate central to Raymond oppositional cultures resisting domina
Williams'essay, "Base and Superstructuretion, he considered these cultures dieser to
in Marxist Caltural Theory, first pub be a given, but always contingency in his
lished in New Left Review (1973) and
later elaborated into his book, Marxism
and Literature (1977). In this way, We have to emphasize that hegemony is
Williams first introduces an idea of col not singular, indeed that its own internal
tural opposition, though he does not use structures are highly complex, and have
to be continually renewed, recreated and
the term resistance. Williams purpose in
defended; and by the same token, that
this essay to critique the traditional
Marxist concepts of base, superstructure
and ideology as to deterministic. The
base referred to the economic structure,
the mode of production. The superstruc
ture included the other institutions pre-
sumed to be derivative of the baseles, law,
own words,
shared abuse and superstructure model dat
dea legmating the existing socialt
toe William, 1973. According to this
nimic model the comic structure
would be a culture that
fied it and its beneficiaries, and the mass
of the population would be duped into
they can be continually challenged and
in certain respects modified. (1973, p. 8)
He apued that hegemony is always
contingent and in a continual struggle that
is nevet certain or final, that resistance
PARTI A CULTURAL STUDIES APPROACH TO MEDIA: THEORY
Chapter 10 Recomence and portion •
ce and the need take
account. This was made worse by the
undifferentiated concept of divergence from
wenal application of standa
che dominant clure. Even Williams
"oppositional" catures faded into the back
al distinction between alternative
rond, as those two concepts were
the delinquent acts of the boys at school,
leisure pursuits and work. He showed how
the lads in and around Birmingham England
incorporated themselves into the hierarchy
of work and class through their very acts of
resistance. In resisting they were learning
te labor" Their very rebelliousness helped
to consign them to their place in the des
structure. It did provide them some space to
sustain their own self-constructed identities
something that can be very important
subordinate groups amempting to save their
self-respect. We book continues to be
one of the best examples of attending to the
relationship between resistance and incor
poration. Unfortunately it did not inspire
emulation or extension to other areas
besides education and work
The director of CCCS at the time,
Smart Hallalso consistently acknowl
edend the power of the dominant culture
while arguing that this power was tested
Is "Encoding Decoding" 1980, 1994)
originally given as a talk in the 1970s,
Hall included category of "preferred
reading the intended meaning of media
meg. Alative or oppositional
where sociali, social care
tally formed be simply expre
is akin to proces that are the heart of
but it is one of the places where social
olmadification, but is also
might be continued 1981, p. 2391
integral to the form of opposition
The failure of our clary to diller
by Raymond was not
te levels of real made it to
early for a cultural studies
Hopefully such
as will
lump all resistance de sted intes buth wides to this date and bad
extremes, and left to chan either
political economy or cultural wudies
mually exclusive and hostile camps. This
in turn closed of explorations of
approaches incorporating both views
Tracing a New Path
There followed genre of ways call-
ing for a more balanced appenach. I will What would such combined approach
mention only three John Clarke (1990) look like ander, for emple, then
charactered the two extreme positions portion of miscares imash
as populism versus pesimism. He pre- sohle new commodities. Incorporation
sented a simple but clear map of the basic often takes place the commodification
differences, noting positive and negative that incorporating at whate or
aspects of both positions, and then called opportul idea in a commodity, ohen
for a synthesis that puts an end to our using the idea to sell or advertise the pred
oscillation between the two. The same uct by presenting i ant garder dit
sensitivity to both forces was exposed by en from the man. The universal market is
Justin Lewis and Sue Jhally 1994 and by e marching for new commodities and
Herman Gray (1994) in his response to new package Alternative and op
them. All three claimed cultural studies as tional cultures are trad by corporations
their ground, all agreed that one extreme as simply source of products or styles
or the other is inadequate and that we The dialectic of resistance and incorpo
med take account of determination as ration, particularly in the form of cum
well as wmiotic space for resistance and modification, has been explored in terms
Vision
of the path of avantgarde movements
Yer years after several such calls for Critiques of modernists have argued that
synthesis, we still lack an approach that the abog stance of moden
integrates the forces. We need to was incorporated quickly into commodity
focus on this nexus instead of looking capitalism (Huyu, 1986, L, 1993;
exclusively at the resistance or the domi Williams, 1982). These wudies have
nation side of the equation. We need to emphad the victories of commodifica
return Williams' concept of incorporation
Toner resistance
to its place in the equation without displa Another example is the incorporation
ing some concept of resistance. We need a of two explicitly oppositional subcultures,
more nuanced concept of resistance, per
classic examples of resistance, American
haps several distinct terms for different hippie whiculture in the 1970s and hip:
levels of refusal or opposition. Most impor
hop subculture in the 1990s Frank, 1997,
tant, we need to focus on the connection
Watkins, 1998). They were quickly com
between resistance and incorporation, to
modified by corporation. The dothing
transcend a focus on either one individu industry adopted hippie and hip-hop
ally and look at how they operate together
dress styles, stripping or timing their
how the balances and tensions between the original symbolism and substituting values
Two processes work, how the contradictions compatible with consumption. Advertise
of their relationship operate. Incorporation ments of large corporations co-opted their
planted in the scholarly discourse by
undifferentiated resistance. By the 150
lacking munced vocabulary fordi
kinds of resistance such as
Butsch, 2000, pp. 292-294), wome,
within cultural studies, begin to
use of label that had been used to describe
nificant cultural action for relative
trial and self-indulgent behavior
Some cultural studies scholars adopted
Michel de Certes (1984) idea of me
do to describe oppositional stance
significant enough to warrant being called
resistance, but still continuing a reful
complete subordination. According to de
Certe, people carve out space of their own
in a cultural sense and make do with what
cultural autonomy they can hold one. Thes
may live in a world of adversing and
produced products, but they can
world with these products in ways not pre
determined by the products or produces
Nor are they duped by ads and media imag
ery. They do not overthrow this world of
corporate power. But they do make a place
of their own within it. A range of term for
different levels of refusal would help realy
to clarify analysis and reduce critic
Hall's Restamce Through Riwa
11976, pp. 42-45) talks about resistance in
similar terms of "winning space from the
dominant culture, not in terms of explicit
political opposition. Stuart Hall, in
"Deconstructing the Popular" (1981)
wrote about popular culture and leisure
not so much as explicit opposition, but as
a ground to prepare opposition. Resistance
in the early formulations, then, was
peoposed as some grand assault on the
status quo, but as the ground from which
might arise me political force. In Hai
words, popular culture is not sphere
Deconstructing the Populat presented
in the late 1970, Hall echoed was
words that popular care partly
where hegemeyes, and where it
Sected. Thuto where the for
and culture of the powerful
mord (1981, p. 239. His formation
begins and ends with recogniting the
powst of the dominantne, as well as
te domination. He ses popular
as especially important area
where this rule takes place in today's
Losing Our Path
Cultural studies began to go off the track
when new converted incorporation
und failed to bring it back into the equation
we had established the dece of
94. PT ACTUAL STUDES APPROACH TO MO
Chapter 10 Reconsidering and incorporate
power. Can cultural power been
tomic power the de
to buy or not a cultural decisant 1
shout resisting a heavily hyped cultural
product like a movie, hook,
OCD
Movie has spend tens of mi
dermined by word of mouth. How do
movie ads and yet successes
this work? Who in control Are the
resistive and incorporative forces at work
Here is where the future of leisure
ies and cultural studies lies, weaving
regether the threads of domination,
tance, and incorporation in order to under
stand leisure and popular culture in an
of hyper commodification and consum
tion. We have examined the individual
threads enough. They are conceptually and
empirically sound. Now we can weaver
tapestry of power and struggle
wubcultural slogans Music of both
moments that advocated revelt wis
distributed by major record companies
Most studies however continue to focus
on either incorporation or resistance, but
not the relation between the row. For
example. Thomas Frank's The Conquest
of Cool (1997) and S. Craig Watkins
Representing (1998) are outstanding new
pieces of scholarship on incorporation,
but they focus on ehalf of the relation
ship. Heldige Sune (1979)
acknowledged, both books recognise
estane ber that ovenhadowed by
concentrating on incorporation. Neither
takes as the central purpose understand
ing the relationship between resistance
and incorporation. What is missing in
most research is the next step of analysis
after incorporation. We should not pre
sume that corporation is the end of the
story of resistance, but should rather pose
its empirical question. Is there are
tance to incorporation call a new stage
of me, so to speak! Does one resis
tance de this incorporation, with new
een emerging chewhere Are they
mirporated, and som? Wherever
we off telling the story, we should
make it appear that this is the end. but
tapes the posibility of continuation
Awam, hermany is ever com
pletissistance. Such ach is
debut secary to progress
understanding comption culture and
wer
her approach ist ein
which ones www to discover
the relation between dominando
called for corpo
tai dance. One approach looks
the proces beginning with
do
and moving toward the other
hem with
mr and more on
doch incorporate
to the com
product, the video dire. They failed became
menumpfwed to ry them
Busch, 2000. Prople comic
Afterword: Changes
in Media and Audience
Studies Over the Past Decade
that Williams' concept of my
which benced to explains
hot in understanding in What
people do with media and the
form of donation in power Westem is inhed by the station within which
democracies
they do it, whether the humeur de
Our understanding of media industry wher, alone or with whers, and
and especially of audiences has own while for making
well, is was that enable a synthesis of Second, the idea of city har
hegemony and dance in the production actes a new wachoma
and reception of media text. The concept companies that in the virtual and
of active audiences that accompanied the physical location of a Garden
idea of resistance has led us alte todos de Sousa e Sils, 2001) and has begull
cover a good deal more Resistance and its We analysis of Internet users
companion communication model of Canadience) behar with studies of the
encodedecoding Hill, 1980 were organa and as a media com
targely conceived within the framework of panies. This research pally hinders
-short-term media effects, focusing on the macro approach of police
the impact of a single media mesta and the men any of us
More recente rearch into audience his
responses. It places the interface betwem
sory stadies of entire seneste sitcom,
audieners and med industrial the
selentela, reality shows, and the impact very center of its focus, and shows pro
of media per se has provided a picture of ne for further integration of ideas about
long-term." cumulative effects of repeti- hegemony and de
tion time and media that are pre Athird new idea focuses on audiences
sumed in the concept of hegemony and in on macro level, is collectivities such
critiques of media monopoly
publics in a democratic polits, crowds
In hindsight, resistance can be seen as that potentially contesto
conceptual passage that led from the corporate authority, or communities
study of effects to a broad the retical and Busch & Livingstone, 2011, Carpentit,
empirical plain with a far richer under 2011; Harindranath, 2009. Livingstone,
standing of audiences and audiencing than 2005). This macro level is the same tur
either effects of resistance enabled. This political economy, the presenting por
new framework more readily allows stro sible convergence. It is in
rural and macro considerations that typify larger framework where they are prou
concerns about media monopoly and thus tioned in the centralized power of
connect our understanding of adiences hegemony and domination
with those of media industry and produc- Additionally, the new areas of research
tion. Resistance was conceived in a cultur have begun to explore link between pro-
alist framework and as a result lent itself duction, text and consumption, connect
broader cultural explorations such as ideas ing our knowledge of media industries
of "embeddedness, et locality, and col ext, and codice (1) cinal produc
lective concepts of audiences.
tion studies, 12) global media sund
The first idea that of embeddedness 13 discourse studies. These show promise
Silverstone, 1994) grew from addressing for further convergence of our understand
family Lull, 1990, Morley, 1986) and ing of active sudiences with that of media
group structure at the micro level of televi monopoly influence over audiences
sion viewing. It places media experience Critiques of cultural imperialism and
within the living context of audiences media monopoly (adikan, 2000, Haken
understanding media as part of the whole
2007, Schiller, 1976) have presumed that
immediate social environment, and has
concentration of cultural production trum
motably contributed to this broadened cates the range of ideas to those that are
In 2001, 1 framed the issue a subcultural
resistance of active audiences facing the
framing power of centralized mass media,
including its power to incorporate and co-
npt audiences. Since then much has
changed. The media landscape has changed
remarkably. Digital convergence, the
Internet, and mobile media have created an
everywhere, everon environment and
changed audiences into users, of what
some have called "prosumers, both pro
ducing and consuming media content
Industrial convergences and concentration
have created multimedia plants with global
reach much greater than once envisioned
by sociologist Herbert Schiller (1969
Politics have changed, too. Across the
globe, neoliberal politics has priced
public media and supplanted the public
service model with a market model to
til deregulation and enable media mener
my theory seems more appropriate
In the 1930. dctronics Corpo
als in womecare an older power elite
Purchase answer to see full
attachment