COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

Role of State and Media
“The political nature of capitalism and its fit within the world system of states, in
sum, expands the economic context to include the problem of governance” states Blim
(2000:32). Marx emphasizes that within state relationships, we find contradiction, power
struggles within the elites and between state and communities, and coercion. State
ideologies are the most effective in providing coherence to those power struggles (Gailey
2003:45). Areas of conflict, where social movements exist, often occur in urban renewal
areas, or suburbs (Jenson and Simonsen 1981:282). In order for the state to reproduce
itself socially, it must be able to accommodate the conflicting interests of different
classes, fractions, and geographical groups. A state system which can accommodate
these various class and group interests must be pluralist in structure (Jenson and
Simonsen 1981:282).
Local political systems are therefore faced with the problem of developing
methods to solve urban problems and the conflicts associated with them. The power of
the media is such that it has a role as a “vehicle of culture” and is often understood as a
force that provides audiences with ways of seeing and interpreting the world (Spitulnik
1993:294). The power of the media has progressively colonized the cultural and
ideological sphere. Public concern about ‘street crime’ and drug use is strongly
associated with government initiatives on those issues, which highlight the importance of
the role of government in their construction of social ‘problems,’ explains Beckett
(1994:426). Increasingly, street crime and drug use have become “politicized,” which is
also a result of their social construction by the mass media and state.
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