A Study On Western Cultural Production Theories In 20th Century

China's Cultural Industry Study has completed conceptual enlightenment and border exploration,and has entered a stage of rapid development.However,the pursuit of basic issues and the construction of basic theories have not received due attention,and there is still a deep crisis in the academic legitimacy of Cultural Industry Study.In addition to the problem of "how to do" in practice and operation,we should pay more attention to the question of "what is" at the historical and logical levels,as well as the question of"why" at the level of value and legitimacy.Cultural industry is a historical stage and a special form of human cultural production.The exploration of cultural production is more universal and basic.Many theoretical explorations of Western cultural production have provided basic academic resources for the study of cultural industries.The Cultural Production Theory is the basic of Cultural Industry Study.A systematic study of the Western cultural production theories in the 20th century can provide a foundation for the construction of the theoretical system of cultural industry in China,as well as an entry point for the establishment of the relationship between Cultural Industry Study and other humanities and social disciplines,which will help to strengthen the academic legitimacy of Cultural Industry Study and promote the construction and improvement of the disciplinary system of cultural industry."Western Cultural Production Theories in the 20th Century" refers to those theoretical resources and discourse forms related to cultural production that mainly arise and prevail in Western Europe and North America.Its extension runs through the whole 20th century and involves many theoretical traditions such as Germany,France,Britain and the United States,so it is difficult to determine a clear boundary.Even so,we can still grasp the outline through several landmark events.Such as the birth of Western Marxism and the Frankfurt School in 20s and 30s,the rise of Cultural Studies and Culturalism in 50s and 60s,and the advent of Post-structuralism and Post-modernism after 70s and 80s.In terms of connotation,"cultural production" refers to either "the production of culture" or "cultural production" Traditional humanities and Social Sciences regard"culture" as substance,so the cultural production refers to "the production of culture"actually.Since 1950s,cultural theory regards "culture" as a concept,so cultural production mainly refers to "cultural production",including all the "meaningful" actions and process.Strictly,"cultural production" is a special case of "cultural production".In addition,cultural production also represents a way of cultural observation which is opposite to the traditional humanistic cultural concept,that is,"culture from the perspective of production"."Cultural production" or "culture from the production perspective" is generally regarded as Marxist assertions.Although Marx-Engels' exposition on culture is fragmented and not a "theory" their research on productive and unproductive has opened up a serious economic discussion on the "productive" of culture.Although Marx-Engels did not carry out the Historical Materialism in their political economics to culture,Historical Materialism was the common source of many Western cultural production theories in the 20th Century.How to apply Historical Materialism to culture is still a ticklish problem.The cultural production theory under the guidance of historical materialism is still being explored.It is necessary to reveal the historicity of the autonomy myth of culture by reflecting on the conceptual history of culture,so as to disenchant culture and clear up the obstacles to the construction of cultural production theory.Historical materialism is a refutation to the "autonomy" of culture,which originates from the deep-rooted concept of "art autonomy" formed over a long period of time in human history.Most works of art history and theory still regard art as a natural thing,and the use of "Art"without reflection and criticism has become the biggest obstacle to understanding art.Therefore,it is necessary to carry out a historical reflection on Art,so as to grasp the historical formation principle and influence of art autonomy.The formation of the "Art" has gone through three stages.Firstly,the artists gained independence in the Renaissance.Secondly,Aesthetics was born in the Enlightenment.Finally,the art gradually moved towards myth with Romanticism and Aestheticism.Of course,the myth of Art has also been attacked and destroyed in the 20th century,the most important of which is the Avant-garde in arts practice and the Analytic Aesthetics in art theories.The conceptual history of culture is far more complex than art.From the beginning,the Culture is an abstract concept complex,which has strong criticism and reflexivity.The Culture gradually formed from the middle and late 19th century to the early 20th century,and developed into an important theoretical tool for Humanities and Social Sciences.The Culture is formed in a specific time-space framework,especially related to modernity and nationalism.Culture is also the product of various modern myth-making movements launched in response to the decline of religion.Culture is a kind of modern myth,which reflects the human needs and dependence on myth.The philosophical reflection on mythology such as Ernst Cassirer provides an excellent perspective for understanding culture.Adorno's "Dialektik der Aufklarung",Roland Barthes' "Mythologies" and Marshall McLuhan's "Media Ecology" have transformed this myth into a cultural study method,which provides a powerful theoretical tool for solving cultural myths.The Culture is the result of theoretical reflection on individual survival and social development.The conceptual history of culture is also a history of "the theory of culture" and "cultural theory".Generally,the cultural theory in 20th Century experienced three stages,namely,budding period(1900-1950),development period(1950-1980)and expansion period(1980-2000).The systematic construction of cultural theory started around 1950 contains three ideological trends,namely,the Critical Theory derived from German philosophy-aesthetic tradition,the Cultural Study derived from British Culturalism tradition from literary criticism,and the Structuralism and Post-structuralism mixed with Central European Linguistics,Russian Formalism,French Semiotics and Anthropology.Marxism is an important link between the three trends and a main thread running through the development of cultural theory.After the 1980s,the three trends tended to merge and dissolve together in the new situation of "Post-modernism".Cultural theory has been applied to many Humanities and Social Sciences,and has triggered a wide "cultural turn".Culture has gradually occupied the center of the Humanities and Social Sciences.In this process,"production"has gradually changed from a marginal perspective to a subversive philosophical methodology.As a unique field,cultural production theory has gradually emerged with the development of the whole cultural theory.Generally,the current research on cultural production can be divided into four branchs,namely,Sociological path,Historical path,Communication path and Economic path.Traditional Humanities and Social Sciences,such as Philosophy-aesthetics,Literary-art,Linguistics-semiotics,History,Economics,Anthropology,Sociology and Communication,have formed strong academic traditions in the 20th century.Although they have discussed culture and provided abundant soil for the growth of cultural theory,culture is almost always subsidiary.The culture is either purified as an abstract label representing the ancient sacred value,or it is generalized into a huge pocket that encompasses all artifacts,or simplified as an insignificant appendage on the economic or political basis.Until the 1970s and 1980s,the expansion of cultural theory provided a new perspective,new methods and new tools for Humanities and Social Sciences,and triggered a wide range of "cultural turn".A lot of new research centered on culture has emerged.Different from the traditional cultural studies of humanism or economism,the new cultural studies take culture seriously from the perspective of production and history.One hundred years before and after 1900,the rapid industrialization of human cultural production has taken place.Cultural production has undergone key changes in technology,media,market,organization and power relations.Western cultural production theories in 20th century are the response to this drastic transformation.The four theorists,Walter Benjamin,Raymond Williams,Edgar Moran and Pierre Bourdieu,have irreplaceable nodal significance for cultural production theories,representing the four perspectives of cultural production theories,namely,the technical perspective,the public perspective,the organizational perspective and the power perspective.Walter Benjamin's entry point is production technology,which can lead to efficient production of mechanical reproduction technology,which is the most important condition for cultural production to turn to cultural industry,and constitutes an important foundation for modern cultural production.Raymond Williams's entry point is popular culture as a new cultural form that gradually leads people's daily life,which is an important cultural change caused by the transformation of cultural production mode,and is the main form of modern cultural production.Edgar Moran's entry point is the industrial organization.With the increasingly intensified specialization,capitalization and systematization in the market framework,the contradiction between production and creation is more and more prominent.The dialectics of production creation has become the core contradiction of modern cultural production.Pierre Boudieu is concerned about human culture,the power relationship behind symbolic practice.Through the construction of the cultural production field model and the revelation of symbolic alchemy,Bourdieu is committed to building a political economy on cultural production.By systematically combing the methodology source,conception premise and theoretical context of the Western cultural production theories in the 20th century,as well as the four branchs and four perspectives of cultural production study,we can draw conclusions:Firstly,historical materialism is an important method basis of cultural production theories,and it should be our basic perspective of culture.Secondly,the core principle of cultural production theories lies in the contradictory relationship between cultural production and cultural myth.Thirdly,from the production perspective of historical materialism,we can re-express the history of culture and give a historical performance of Western cultural production.Fourthly,modern cultural industry is not only a special organizational form of cultural production,but also an efficient deepening manufacturing mechanism.Finally,the Western cultural production theories in the 20th century has opened up a broader space for our cultural industry study.