Cultural studies / Chris Rojek.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rojek, Chris.

Series:

Short introductions

Polity short introductions series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Culture--Study and teaching.

Culture.

Culture--Sociological aspects.

Physical Description:

ix, 173 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; Malden, MA : Polity Press, [2007]

Summary:

What has the death of Corporal Patrick D. Tillman of the US Army Rangers in an incident of 'friendly fire' in Afghanistan in 2004 got to do with culture? How has the study of ideology, coding, theming and representation by Cultural Studies helped us to understand Reality TV, the Internet, mobile phones, the iPod and leading brands in 'neat capitalism' like Virgin, The Body Shop and Apple?

This lively and assured book provides a concise and authoritative critical guide to Cultural Studies. It demonstrates that the field has moved through four 'moments': the 'National/Popular', the 'Textual/Representational', 'Global/Post Essentialism' and 'Governmentality/Policy'. It illustrates the meaning of each of these moments by a discussion of representative texts and concrete examples from popular culture. As such, it achieves a novel and accessible account of the origins and development of the field.

The book also shows how the reader's personal experience can be systematically situated in cultural forces and used as a resource to clarify how culture works, through the analysis of on-location practice, embodiment, emplacement and context. Packed with illuminating examples, and a clear and compelling prose style, the book is the antidote to abstract, hazy accounts of the meaning and value of Cultural Studies. It is the ideal text for readers new to the field, but it will also be appreciated by established practitioners as 'good to think with'.

Contents:

1 Culture Counts 1

The local and the global 2

Media genre and cultural representation 4

The meaning of culture 5

The culture of 'friendly fire' 7

2 Doing Cultural Studies 10

Doing Cultural Studies 1 The case of Reality TV 12

Doing Cultural Studies 2 The internet 18

Doing Cultural Studies 3 The mobile phone 21

Multiple modernities 22

3 Culture is Structured Like a Language 24

The imaginary 25

The 3 D's 27

4 Zeroing in on Culture 29

The origins of Cultural Studies 30

Postwar Cultural Studies 33

Culture is ordinary 37

5 The Four 'Moments' in Cultural Studies 39

National-Popular (1956-84) 40

Textual-Representational (1958-95) 48

Globalization/Post-Essentialism (1980-) 55

Governmentality/Policy (1985-) 61

Cultural Studies at the crossroads 66

6 Situating Yourself in Culture 69

Location 70

Embodiment 76

Emplacement 85

Modernity and postmodernity 97

7 Cultural Distortion 101

Cultural representation, ideology and hegemony 103

Ideology 104

Cultures are not monolithic 105

Mechanical reproduction and aesthetic culture 106

Imaginary illusion and symbolic fiction 108

Lara Croft/cyborg culture 110

8 Neat Capitalism 115

The emergence of neat capitalism 119

The meaning of neat capitalism 122

Generation X and Y 126

The Body Shop 127

Apple 129

Neat capitalism: the basics 131

9 Neat Publishing 135

Cultural Studies and the anti-establishment 138

The Urbana-Champaign conferences 141

Routledge 143

10 Conclusion: The 'Long March' of the Cultural Imaginary 151

The market solution 153

The state solution 154

Another culture 157.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9780745636832

0745636837

9780745636849

0745636845

OCLC:

80134809