Marxist Theory in Critical Transitions: The Democratization of the Media in Post-Neoliberal Argentina

Abstract

This article contends that for socialist emancipation to occur it is crucial to investigate how political cadres conceal, regulate or displace the demands of citizens and workers in the context of the calamitous effects of global capitalism. Analyzing the constitutive relationship between politics and the media is an essential component in researching those practices of state ideological production. Specifically looking into the transformation of media policy in the case of Argentina, this article problematizes the different political forms through which the state has cloaked its fundamental contradiction: alleged representation of the general interests of citizens, when explored in critical depth, reveals the state’s actual adjustment to a process of capitalist transnationalization that increases irrationality, social inequality and misery. Through this lens, the article emphasizes the value of Marxist dialectic method and theory in imagining a true democratic future.