Culture and political transformation in Jesús Martín-Barbero and Fredric Jameson

Abstract

This paper explores the approaches regarding culture and political transformation in the works of Jesús Martín-Barbero and Fredric Jameson. Both authors, from different contexts and theoretical perspectives, offer analytical frameworks to understand the dynamics of domination and social struggles in the context of late modernity. In this regard, the present article examines their positions on the relationship between the social dynamics of the local and the global, the role of political subjects in late capitalism, and the function of culture in the processes of hegemony and counter-hegemony. Particularly, it analyzes how Martín-Barbero, from a Latin American perspective, emphasizes the importance of local cultural struggles and the construction of popular identities, while Jameson, from a more global perspective influenced by his analysis situated in the United States, examines the dynamics of late capitalism and its impact on culture. Special attention is given to how both authors approach the Marxist conception of totality and the possibilities for transformation that each stance allows to envision. This analysis seeks to contribute to the philosophical and sociological debate on the relationship between culture and politics, offering a comparative reading that identifies both the points of convergence, and the tensions present between the two theorists.