英语论文网

eing of the object, but also creates what our perceptions of that object are. This is where I see the origins of discourse and simulation. Production creates discourse aimed at objects, the media, and individuals in the form of advertising. It is however the discourse aimed at the state which is the most important for it is this that validates production9. It is the state that validates which objects are acceptable within society and production must therefore show that its object is worthy of validation. If the product of production is acceptable then production is validated. The web of discourse which creates hegemonic control can be illustrated in a diagram such as figure 1 on the next page. Fig.1. The role of production in the creation of objects. Figure 1 illustrates how the flow of discourse, in the form of advertising, aimed at various in stitutions by production, at once creates an assumed reality regarding an object, whilst also validating its existence and creating new markets via the creation of commodity fetishism. The diagram is simplified in order to merely outline the argument put forward. Have we really moved into a postmodern era? I tend to think not. We are still living in a society that is dominated by the will of production and our relationship to it and our consciousness is still dependent upon that specific relationship. The next chapter will look at this question and illustrate the argument that we are currently in a state of modernity and that production still transcends all other institutions within society. 5. The stuff of nostalgia. "For the nostalgic the world is alien." (Turner 1987:149) "...what the bygone object encapsulates is not real time, but the signs or cultural indices of time." (Baudrillard 1990:36) "...any artistic manifestation that is meant to satisfy the taste of individual wealthy buyers, to 'embellish' their lives as they say, should always be called industrial." (Gramsci 1988:402) 5.1. Defining nostalgia. Classical philosophy defines nostalgia in terms of its relationship with melancholy and humour. It was seen as a pathological sickness, a spiritual and physical lacking resulting in the withdrawal from social customs1. The nostalgic person was therefore ill at ease with the world because their reality was a mere illusion - nostalgia was negative in its effect. It was Kant, writing in 1764, who identified nostalgia as a virtue, as a force which propelled the individual to seek out knowledge, for nostalgia was the phenomenon which made us conscious of our own mortality (Cassirer 1981). If one looks to the dictionary for a definition of nostalgia there are three clear definitions: "Nostalgia. 1. A sentimental yearning for a period of the past. 2. Regretful or wistful memory of an earlier time. 3. Severe homesickness." (Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1990). The first two definitions are outlined above whilst the third neglects the sociological importance of nostalgia. My own sociological interpretation of nostalgia is that it is a phenomenon which takes a historically specific event and re-works it. That is to say nostalgia links to a historically specific event and reconstructs that event but in a selective manner and, most importantly, only in that event's wider structural context2. In addition I submit that it is the object which acts as the catalyst for the manifestation of nostalgia. Now, working with such a definition of nostalgia I would argue that it has great impact within bo