Culture/Power/History A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory / Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley, and Sherry B. Ortner, ed.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Ortner, Sherry B., 1941-

Eley, Geoff (Geoffrey H.), 1949-

Dirks, Nicholas B., 1950-

Series:

Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History

Princeton studies in culture, power, history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social sciences.

Power (Social sciences).

Culture.

Sciences sociales.

Pouvoir (Sciences sociales).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (640 p.) : 18 halftones 1 line illus.

Edition:

5th print.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [ca. 2004]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The intellectual radicalism of the 1960s spawned a new set of questions about the role and nature of "the political" in social life, questions that have since revolutionized nearly every field of thought, from literary criticism through anthropology to the philosophy of science. Michel Foucault in particular made us aware that whatever our functionally defined "roles" in society, we are constantly negotiating questions of authority and the control of the definitions of reality. Such insights have led theorists to challenge concepts that have long formed the very underpinnings of their disciplines. By exploring some of the most debated of these concepts--"culture," "power," and "history"--this reader offers an enriching perspective on social theory in the contemporary moment. Organized around these three concepts, Culture/ Power/History brings together both classic and new essays that address Foucault's "new economy of power relations" in a number of different, contestatory directions. Representing innovative work from various disciplines and sites of study, from taxidermy to Madonna, the book seeks to affirm the creative possibilities available in a time marked by growing uncertainty about established disciplinary forms of knowledge and by the increasing fluidity of the boundaries between them. The book is introduced by a major synthetic essay by the editors, which calls attention to the most significant issues enlivening theoretical discourse today. The editors seek not only to encourage scholars to reflect anew on the course of social theory, but also to orient newcomers to this area of inquiry. The essays are contributed by Linda Alcoff ("Cultural Feminism versus Post-Structuralism"), Sally Alexander ("Women, Class, and Sexual Differences in the 1830s and 1840s"), Tony Bennett ("The Exhibitionary Complex"), Pierre Bourdieu ("Structures, Habitus, Power"), Nicholas B. Dirks ("Ritual and Resistance"), Geoff Eley ("Nations, Publics, and Political Cultures"), Michel Foucault (Two Lectures), Henry Louis Gates, Jr. ("Authority, [White] Power and the [Black] Critic"), Stephen Greenblatt ("The Circulation of Social Energy"), Ranajit Guha ("The Prose of Counter-Insurgency"), Stuart Hall ("Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms"), Susan Harding ("The Born-Again Telescandals"), Donna Haraway ("Teddy Bear Patriarchy"), Dick Hebdige ("After the Masses"), Susan McClary ("Living to Tell: Madonna's Resurrection of the Fleshly"), Sherry B. Ortner ("Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties"), Marshall Sahlins ("Cosmologies of Capitalism"), Elizabeth G. Traube ("Secrets of Success in Postmodern Society"), Raymond Williams (selections from Marxism and Literature), and Judith Williamson ("Family, Education, Photography").

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART ONE: CULTURE / POWER / HISTORY

CHAPTER ONE Teddy Bear Patriarchy: Taxidermy in the Garden of Eden, New York City, 1908-1936

CHAPTER TWO Cultural Feminism versus Post-Structuralism: The Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory

CHAPTER THREE The Exhibitionary Complex

CHAPTER FOUR Structures, Habitus, Power: Basis for a Theory of Symbolic Power

CHAPTER FIVE Two Lectures

CHAPTER SIX After the Masses

CHAPTER SEVEN Family, Education, Photography

PART TWO: CULTURE / POWER / HISTORY

CHAPTER EIGHT Authority, (White) Power and the (Black) Critic; It's All Greek to Me

CHAPTER NINE Women, Class and Sexual Differences in the 1830s and 1840s: Some Reflections on the Writing of a Feminist History

CHAPTER TEN Nations, Publics, and Political Cultures: Placing Habermas in the Nineteenth Century

CHAPTER ELEVEN The Prose of Counter-Insurgency

CHAPTER TWELVE Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties

CHAPTER THIRTEEN Cosmologies of Capitalism: The Trans-Pacific Sector of "The World System"

PART THREE: CULTURE / POWER / HISTORY

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Living to Tell: Madonna's Resurrection of the Fleshly

CHAPTER FIFTEEN Ritual and Resistance: Subversion as a Social Fact

CHAPTER SIXTEEN The Circulation of Social Energy

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The Born-Again Telescandals

CHAPTER NINETEEN Secrets of Success in Postmodern Society

CHAPTER TWENTY Selections from Marxism and Literature

NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Oorspr. uitg.: cop. 1994.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691032207

0691032203

9780691228006

0691228000

OCLC:

1247659670