Making Sense of Cultural Studies: Central Problems and Critical Debates

Front Cover
SAGE, 2002 M04 22 - 244 pages
'The book is an important read for persons who practice or study within the field. Anyone with experience or interest in the topic will come away with a deepened understanding of debates within cultural studies and with an array of nfew questions and ideas to pursue. The book would make a fine text for graduate level classes dealing with culture and media; the question/debate-orientated structure especially could provide the launching pad for a whole range of discussions, profjects, and papter topics'

The Southern Communication Journal

In this sequel to the best-selling text Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, Chris Barker turns his attention to the significance and future of the field. He analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of cultural studies, providing students and practitioners with an authoritative diagnosis of the subject and a balanced prognosis, and investigates the boundaries of cultural studies elucidating the main underlying themes of study.

Written with panache, and an understanding of classroom needs, Making Sense of Cultural Studies is the perfect teaching complement to Chris Barker's earlier textbook. It is a rich resource for seminar work and undergraduate and postgraduate thesis topics, yet it can also be read as a free-standing analysis of the condition of cultural studies today.

 

Contents

Investigating Problems in Cultural Studies
1
Truth Science and Ideology
45
Culture as a Way of Life
66
The whole divided
72
Global chaos culture
82
Subjects Agents and the Limits of Rational Action
86
The Politics of Gender
108
Global CultureMedia Culture
130
Transforming Capitalism
154
Issues of Politics and Method
176
New Resources for Cultural Studies
198
Keywords in Cultural Studies
221
References
229
Index
239
108
240
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About the author (2002)

Chris Barker is a teacher and researcher with over 25 years experience. He has worked in a number of schools and universities in both England and Australia. He is currently Associate Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia. Chris is the author of six previous books that are linked together by an interest in culture, meaning and communication. At present he is exploring questions of emotion in contemporary cultural life.

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