Cultural Studies Summary
each subject: definition, explanation and use them in an analysis
Underlined when it’s mentioned in the syllabus
Cultural studies, is an interdisciplinary field which perspectives from different disciplines can be selectively
drawn on to examine the relations of culture and power
Culture Dynamic, changing, continually contested. Don’t ask what culture is, ask what it does and how
it’s used.
High Culture The best of what a society produces: literature, fine arts, ballet, classical music
Ordinary Culture (“culturalism”) Culture is a society’s way of life: everyday lived experiences of a
community, their traditions and habits.
Cultural Materialism (Raymond Williams) Explores how and why meanings are inscribed at the moment
of production. Connections between cultural practice and political economy. (based on Marxism)
- Lived culture
- Recorded culture
- Selective tradition
Capitalism
Karl Marx’s Historical Materialism Ideology
Marxism: culture is always determined by materialism Culture only becomes possible under certain
material circumstances determined by economic factors (if you’re poor or sick, or working a lot, there’s no
time for creativity). The material circumstances are formed by society, and their organisation of production
(long working days).
Totality of the relations of productions everything is connected to everything, but some things have more
impact than others.
Pro systemic change
Economic determinism economic structure of society is the base and determines the production of
relations in society. Superstructure culture, politics, etc. (the rest)
Culture according to Marx: is political because it has a function: expressive of the social relations of
class power the ruling / higher class of society is (economically) dominant (material dominance) and
intellectually dominant (immaterial) because they have time (not working all day)
Function of culture is to naturalise a social order and obscure the underlying relation of exploitation
Criticism from Cultural studies on Marxism economic determinism things/society are/is always complex
and multidisciplinary; this theory is too primitive.
Capitalism
Stuart Hall Founding father of cultural studies, opinion Marxism economic determinism Social formation
is not the result of a single factor / culture is not a totality: it is a complex concept structured in
dominance (which one is dominant? The determining factor)`
Ideology maps of different meanings on how to understand the world, a universal truth: how it should be
(historical worldview).
Louis Althusser opinion Marxism economic determinism: economy determining in the ‘last instance’:
culture is complex, but when it comes down to it economic decisions will be the most important.
Ideological State Apparatuses the authority (teacher, police, priest, government) creates awareness of
“a sense of self” / “me” in society and how you should behave, without them society would fall apart (their
function). A subject (person) that is part of society and behaves as it should has a true experience (where
they’re convinced they would behave like this anyway) (Karl Marx disagrees anything outside economic
determinism is misguidance).
, Hegemony A dynamic theory that implies there is always a dominant meaning of culture / the process of
making, maintaining and reproducing (forcing) the governing set of meanings of a given culture (consent
by society) (in the complexity and diversity) (example: a teacher tells you which books to read)
Antonio Gramsci
Globalization 1) Intensified compression of the world, 2) Increasing consciousness of the world
1) Intensified compression of the world economic interactions, communication technologies and
transportation technologies.
2) Increasing consciousness of the world (more related to cultural studies) of global economic flows,
(travelling is much easier because of) transportation technology, globalisation
Globalisation & Cultural Studies awareness and experience of globalisation in culture and the
interconnection internationally.
Culture (religion for example) can determine & influence economics and politics
60’s 70’s change in global economy from Fordism to Post-Fordism & from Industrial Society to Post-
industrial Society
Fordism use the same time, amount and model of products: advertise to create an incentive to buy the
product (inflexible)
Economic crisis of overproduction, solution:
Post Fordism move away from mass production (Fordism) to small scale specific production: listen to
the market, see what the demand is and then produce based on this (post Fordism) which made the
economy much more flexible (who wants to buy this product, and why)
Industrial Society inflexible production through machines, from 9 to 5
Post Industrial Society increasingly hard labour (factories) producing products are being outsourced to
newly industrial countries (Asia) because the labour over there is cheaper. The number of desk jobs went
up enormously: it became a service centre labour (processing information / technology). The diversity of
jobs became high, this specialisation requires different knowledge which needs education Social
Formation This lead to a social change in favour of language because:
- we learn knowledge through language
- language shapes culture (it creates: it’s constitutive) meaning, values, knowledge
- how we express ourselves in our free time
Material objects language gives meaning to the function of material objects / distinguishes
Social practices describe social practices to highlight them (example: the way we frame / phrase an
argument is as if it is war and this has influence of your behaviour in the argument also).
Ferdinand de Saussure founding father of structuralism: he claimed that if we want to understand
language, then we first need to understand how signs work.
Semiotics How you give meaning to words / the world. (the study of how signs work & their function).
Structuralism tries to understand what structures are involved in signs (language is just one form of
signs). Study the components and how they’re connected to each other, also known as grammar:
underlying structure. (example: underlying a fairy tale is one common structure: always a hero, always a
villain etc.)
Parole the individual way in which language is being used in practise (example: choice of words)
Langue rules & structure that underlie all language (grammar)
each subject: definition, explanation and use them in an analysis
Underlined when it’s mentioned in the syllabus
Cultural studies, is an interdisciplinary field which perspectives from different disciplines can be selectively
drawn on to examine the relations of culture and power
Culture Dynamic, changing, continually contested. Don’t ask what culture is, ask what it does and how
it’s used.
High Culture The best of what a society produces: literature, fine arts, ballet, classical music
Ordinary Culture (“culturalism”) Culture is a society’s way of life: everyday lived experiences of a
community, their traditions and habits.
Cultural Materialism (Raymond Williams) Explores how and why meanings are inscribed at the moment
of production. Connections between cultural practice and political economy. (based on Marxism)
- Lived culture
- Recorded culture
- Selective tradition
Capitalism
Karl Marx’s Historical Materialism Ideology
Marxism: culture is always determined by materialism Culture only becomes possible under certain
material circumstances determined by economic factors (if you’re poor or sick, or working a lot, there’s no
time for creativity). The material circumstances are formed by society, and their organisation of production
(long working days).
Totality of the relations of productions everything is connected to everything, but some things have more
impact than others.
Pro systemic change
Economic determinism economic structure of society is the base and determines the production of
relations in society. Superstructure culture, politics, etc. (the rest)
Culture according to Marx: is political because it has a function: expressive of the social relations of
class power the ruling / higher class of society is (economically) dominant (material dominance) and
intellectually dominant (immaterial) because they have time (not working all day)
Function of culture is to naturalise a social order and obscure the underlying relation of exploitation
Criticism from Cultural studies on Marxism economic determinism things/society are/is always complex
and multidisciplinary; this theory is too primitive.
Capitalism
Stuart Hall Founding father of cultural studies, opinion Marxism economic determinism Social formation
is not the result of a single factor / culture is not a totality: it is a complex concept structured in
dominance (which one is dominant? The determining factor)`
Ideology maps of different meanings on how to understand the world, a universal truth: how it should be
(historical worldview).
Louis Althusser opinion Marxism economic determinism: economy determining in the ‘last instance’:
culture is complex, but when it comes down to it economic decisions will be the most important.
Ideological State Apparatuses the authority (teacher, police, priest, government) creates awareness of
“a sense of self” / “me” in society and how you should behave, without them society would fall apart (their
function). A subject (person) that is part of society and behaves as it should has a true experience (where
they’re convinced they would behave like this anyway) (Karl Marx disagrees anything outside economic
determinism is misguidance).
, Hegemony A dynamic theory that implies there is always a dominant meaning of culture / the process of
making, maintaining and reproducing (forcing) the governing set of meanings of a given culture (consent
by society) (in the complexity and diversity) (example: a teacher tells you which books to read)
Antonio Gramsci
Globalization 1) Intensified compression of the world, 2) Increasing consciousness of the world
1) Intensified compression of the world economic interactions, communication technologies and
transportation technologies.
2) Increasing consciousness of the world (more related to cultural studies) of global economic flows,
(travelling is much easier because of) transportation technology, globalisation
Globalisation & Cultural Studies awareness and experience of globalisation in culture and the
interconnection internationally.
Culture (religion for example) can determine & influence economics and politics
60’s 70’s change in global economy from Fordism to Post-Fordism & from Industrial Society to Post-
industrial Society
Fordism use the same time, amount and model of products: advertise to create an incentive to buy the
product (inflexible)
Economic crisis of overproduction, solution:
Post Fordism move away from mass production (Fordism) to small scale specific production: listen to
the market, see what the demand is and then produce based on this (post Fordism) which made the
economy much more flexible (who wants to buy this product, and why)
Industrial Society inflexible production through machines, from 9 to 5
Post Industrial Society increasingly hard labour (factories) producing products are being outsourced to
newly industrial countries (Asia) because the labour over there is cheaper. The number of desk jobs went
up enormously: it became a service centre labour (processing information / technology). The diversity of
jobs became high, this specialisation requires different knowledge which needs education Social
Formation This lead to a social change in favour of language because:
- we learn knowledge through language
- language shapes culture (it creates: it’s constitutive) meaning, values, knowledge
- how we express ourselves in our free time
Material objects language gives meaning to the function of material objects / distinguishes
Social practices describe social practices to highlight them (example: the way we frame / phrase an
argument is as if it is war and this has influence of your behaviour in the argument also).
Ferdinand de Saussure founding father of structuralism: he claimed that if we want to understand
language, then we first need to understand how signs work.
Semiotics How you give meaning to words / the world. (the study of how signs work & their function).
Structuralism tries to understand what structures are involved in signs (language is just one form of
signs). Study the components and how they’re connected to each other, also known as grammar:
underlying structure. (example: underlying a fairy tale is one common structure: always a hero, always a
villain etc.)
Parole the individual way in which language is being used in practise (example: choice of words)
Langue rules & structure that underlie all language (grammar)
