WESTERN THEORY a Critical Commentary

What is Western Theory? Basically it comprises of Feminism-Queer theory, Frankfurt School, Post-Modernism, Marxism, Birmingham School.

"Postmodernists believe that the West’s claims of freedom and prosperity continue to be nothing more than empty promises and have not met the needs of humanity. They believe that truth is relative and truth is up to each individual to determine for himself. Most believe nationalism builds walls, makes enemies, and destroys “Mother Earth," while capitalism creates a “have and have not” society, and religion causes moral friction and division among people.

Postmodernism claims to be the successor to the 17th century Enlightenment. For over four centuries, “postmodern thinkers” have promoted and defended a New Age way of conceptualizing and rationalizing human life and progress. Postmodernists are typically atheistic or agnostic while some prefer to follow eastern religion thoughts and practices. Many are naturalist including humanitarians, environmentalists, and philosophers. " - http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/postmodernism.htm
Post Modernism has no belief in the universal truth, it is unbiased meaning both sides of the story are considered.

Marxism is an economic and social system based upon the political and economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. While it would take veritably volumes to explain the full implications and ramifications of the Marxist social and economic ideology, Marxism is summed up in the Encarta Reference Library as “a theory in which class struggle is a central element in the analysis of social change in Western societies.” Marxism is the antithesis of capitalism which is defined by Encarta as “an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods, characterized by a free competitive market and motivation by profit.” Marxism is the system of socialism of which the dominant feature is public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange. - http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/what-is-marxism-faq.htm

Marxism is all about social class, it is similar to racism wherein dominance is a key factor in this philosophy. For example, a rich American man that owns a mining company, he hires only mexican workers because they are known for labour.




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Cultural Studies/Birmingham School

-often concerned with articulation and intervention (making sense of the broader context of a social phenomenon, and attempting to alter it if it reveals an unjust power structure)

-also often centre around studies of ethnicity, gender, socialization

-the popular conception of the term began with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in Birmingham, under the direction of Stuart Hall

-began with the phenomenon of lower classes voting for Margaret Thatcher’s conservative government, which went against their own best interest. Their aim was to articulate the contextual reasons behind this and to intervene critically -

-http://cmns110.blogspot.com/2007/12/cultural-studiesbirmingham-school.html
Birmingham school is more concerned about is something like a chain reaction for people. What people see, they follow whether it might be good or bad. Something that is applicable for Filipinos, us Filipinos always base our expertise based on other countries, it might be better if we start our own.

To the uninformed, feminism is about women gaining equal rights with men. This is a simplistic way of looking at it but feminism is more complex and profound than just a matter of equality with men. The philosophy of the feminist movement encapsulated the hidden and unexpressed desires of all peoples everywhere for human equality. Yes, feminism is a movement that stands for women’s rights but it does not end at simply claiming equal rights with men. It is a movement which knows that every human being was created equal and pushes for the expression of that certainty in every sphere of life from professional to public life and also in personal life. - http://feminism.com/
basically Feminism is female empowerment, up to today, people still sometimes believe that the males are the dominant race since they are the carriers of families and the harder workers, but women are also as capable as men and sometimes even more, they are more patient, neat, orderly and have softer hearts then men do.

                  The "Frankfurt School" refers to a group of German-American theorists who developed powerful analyses of the changes in Western capitalist societies that occurred since the classical theory of Marx. Working at the Institut fur Sozialforschung in Frankfurt, Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s, theorists such as Max Horkheimer, T.W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Leo Lowenthal, and Erich Fromm produced some of the first accounts within critical social theory of the importance of mass culture and communication in social reproduction and domination. The Frankfurt School also generated one of the first models of a critical cultural studies that analyzes the processes of cultural production and political economy, the politics of cultural texts, and audience reception and use of cultural artifacts (Kellner 1989 and 1995

- http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/papers/fs.htm
Basically, the Frankfurt school is about mass society, it is not for the Philippines which has unnamed elitism as a virtue, and it is similar to Marxism where there are social classes.