Question Details

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

Television is a cultural commodity. It works within an economically determined capitalist economy. but when we have said that about it we have said both much and remarkably little. There is a financial economy within wealth circulates, and a economy within which meanings and pleasures circulate, and the relationship between them is not as deterministic as some theorists have proposed. In the financial economy, television symbolises programmes and advertisements, not textuality. A programme i is a commodity produced and then sold to distributors. In distribution, its role changes and it becomes not a commodity, but a producer, and what it produces is a new commodity. the audience which is then, in its turn, sold as a commodity to advertisers. The ramifications of this financial economy are fascinating. Here the role shift undergone by the programme in the financial economy-that from commodity to producer-is now undergone by the audience, who are left as a commodity sold to the advertiser. But in the cultural economy the audience rejects its role as a commodity and becomes a Producer, a Producer of meanings and pleasures, and at this moment stops being an audience and becomes different materialisations of the process that we call "viewing television". While the metaphor of a cultural economy is a productive one, we must not let it blind us to differences between it and the financial. Meanings and pleasures do not circulate in the cultural economy in the same way that wealth in the financial. In the first place there is no exchange of money at the point of sale or consumption. Television appears to be free, however, it may be actually paid for. Payment has no direct relationship to consumption people can consume as much as they wish and what they wish with no thought of what they are to afford.


What is unique about television audience in a cultural economy?

Options

A

They are non-stop producers of meanings

B

They cannot fathom the finer nuances of financial economy

C

They do not pay for content consumption

D

They can consume as much sans affordability

Show Answer

Correct Answer :

Option A

They are non-stop producers of meanings

Solution :

The correct option is: They are non-stop producers of meanings.

To understand why this option is correct, let us analyze the passage step-by-step:
1. Identify the key concept: The question asks about the unique characteristic of the television audience within the context of a "cultural economy."
2. Locate the relevant text in the passage: The passage states: "But in the cultural economy the audience rejects its role as a commodity and becomes a Producer, a Producer of meanings and pleasures, and at this moment stops being an audience..."
3. Analyze the transition of roles: In the financial economy, the audience is treated passively as a commodity sold to advertisers. However, in the cultural economy, the audience actively shifts from being a consumer or commodity to being an active "Producer" of meanings and pleasures.
4. Conclusion: This active production of meanings is what distinguishes the television audience in the cultural economy, making the option "They are non-stop producers of meanings" the correct explanation.

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