Assignment Paper: 22410 Paper 205A: Cultural Studies

Name: Nilay Rathod

Roll No: 17

Enrollment No.: 4069206420210030

Paper: 22410 Paper 205A: Cultural Studies

Sem 3: (Batch 2021-23)

Submitted to: Smt S.B. Gardi Department of English, M.K. Bhavnagar University

 Cultural Studies and Its Goals

What is Cultural Studies:

According to M. H. Abrams Cultural studies designates a cross-disciplinary enterprise for analyzing the conditions that affect the production, reception, and cultural significance of all types of institutions, practices, and products; among these, literature is accounted as merely one of many forms of cultural “signifying practices.” A chief concern is to specify the functioning of the social, economic, and political forces and power structures that are said to produce the diverse forms of cultural phenomena and to endow them with their social “meanings,” their acceptance as “truth,” the modes of discourse in which they are discussed, and their relative value and status.

According to 'A Dictionary of Critical Theory' “An interdisciplinary approach to the study and analysis of culture understood very broadly to include not only specific texts, but also practices, and indeed ways of life.” The Most influential Works: Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson, and Paula Treichler’s mammoth Cultural Studies (1991) and introductory textbooks like John Fiske’s Reading the Popular (1989) These works reflects not only the heterogeneous nature of work calling itself Cultural Studies, but the fact that in a very real sense Cultural Studies is theoretically provisional and avant-garde. (Buchanan)

Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that combines critical analysis of culture with political economy and the study of power relations. It emerged in the early 1980s from the work of the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies, which was founded by Richard Hoggart, Stuart Hall, and others.

Since then, it has been adopted as a framework for studies of media, communication, and popular culture in countries around the world.

Critical approaches to cultural studies examine how power is reproduced and resisted through cultural artifacts and practices. They attend to the ways that dominant groups use culture to maintain their power, and how subaltern groups can use culture to challenge or resist domination.

Quotes from well-known cultural studies scholars highlight the importance of power relations in understanding culture:

"Culture is not a lived experience, it is a relationship between social practices and relations of domination." (Stuart Hall)

"Culture is produced and consumed in the context of unequal social relations." (Paul Gilroy)

"Cultural studies is, in part, an attempt to theorize the relationship between culture and power." (Stuart Hall)

"Cultural studies is not a discipline, it's an anti-discipline." (Richard Hoggart)

These scholars suggest that culture cannot be understood outside of the context of power relations. This is a departure from traditional approaches to the study of culture, which tend to focus on the evaluation of cultural artifacts and practices.

In adopting a critical approach to cultural studies, scholars have been able to provide a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between culture and power. This has led to a greater understanding of the ways that culture is used to maintain and challenge social inequalities.

What Cultural Critics Do?

A cultural critic is "a theorist who studies and writes about culture" (Eagleton, 1991, p. 8). They may also be referred to as "intellectuals" (du Gay, 1996, p. 9). A cultural critic's job is to "deconstruct" (Eagleton, 1991, p. 8) or "critique" (du Gay, 1996, p. 9) different aspects of culture. This includes but is not limited to art, literature, music, TV, film, and fashion. 

Cultural critics often work within the field of cultural studies. This is an interdisciplinary field that "emerged in the 1960s out of a specific resistance to conventional disciplines" (Hall, 1997, p. 9). It is concerned with the ways in which "social life is made and understood" (Hall, 1997, p. 9). Cultural studies scholars are interested in popular culture, as well as "subordinate" or "subaltern" cultures ( those which are relatively powerless or marginalized within a society).

Many cultural critics are engaged in what is known as " critical theory." This approach "seeks to illuminate the structures of domination and control which operate in any given society" (Eagleton, 1991, p. 9). Critical theorists are interested in "how power is distributed within society, and how it might be redistributed" (Eagleton, 1991, p. 9).

Cultural critics often write for a general audience, as opposed to a academic one. This means that their writing is usually more accessible and less jargon-heavy than that of other scholars. It also allows them to reach a wider audience with their ideas.

Some well-known cultural critics include Terry Eagleton, Stuart Hall, and Paul du Gay.

Cultural criticism has a long history. It can be traced back to the days of Plato and Aristotle. However, it was not until the 18th century that the term "cultural critic" came into use. The first person to use this term was the German philosopher Karl Marx.

Marx believed that culture was determined by economic factors. This means that the wealthy classes were able to control the cultural output of a society. For Marx, cultural critics were those who worked to expose the ways in which the ruling classes used culture to maintain their power.

In the 20th century, the Frankfurt School of critical theory developed Marx's ideas further. The Frankfurt School was a group of scholars who were interested in questioning the assumptions of Western society. They believed that culture was used as a tool of oppression. Some of the most well-known members of the Frankfurt School include Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse.

Cultural criticism has also been taken up by feminist scholars. Feminist cultural criticism "seeks to understand how gender relations are established and maintained through cultural practices" (Eagleton, 1991, p. 10).

Feminist cultural critics are interested in the ways in which women are represented in popular culture. They also seek to understand how women's lives are shaped by the cultural industries. Some well-known feminist cultural critics include Julia Kristeva, Teresa de Lauretis, and Judith Butler. Cultural criticism is an important tool for understanding the complexities of contemporary culture. It can be used to expose the ways in which power is used to control and oppress people. It can also be used to challenge dominant ideas and beliefs.

Goal of Cultural Studies:

Jeff Chang In What is Cultural Studies?, John Storey defines the field as "the study of the everyday lives of the people who create and consume culture" (p. 4). Chang, on the other hand, takes a more critical approach, arguing that cultural studies is "the interdisciplinary field that examines the production, consumption, and representation of culture" (p. 1). He goes on to say that it approaches the study of culture from a critical standpoint, in order to reveal how power and domination are produced and maintained through cultural practices and rituals.

The goals of cultural studies vary depending on the specific aims of the researcher, but all approaches share a commitment to understanding the complexities of culture and its impact on everyday life. In recent years, cultural studies has expanded its focus to include the study of digital and new media technologies, global culture, and the relationships between culture and other social phenomena such as race, gender, and class.

Cultural studies researchers use a variety of methods, including textual analysis, ethnography, and semiotics. They often draw on the work of critical theorists, Marxist scholars, and feminist scholars in order to understand how power is produced and maintained through cultural practices.

Cultural studies is the interdisciplinary field that examines the production, consumption, and representation of culture. It approaches the study of culture from a critical standpoint, in order to reveal how power and domination are produced and maintained through cultural practices and rituals.

The goals of cultural studies vary depending on the specific aims of the researcher, but all approaches share a commitment to understanding the complexities of culture and its impact on everyday life. In recent years, cultural studies has expanded its focus to include the study of digital and new media technologies, global culture, and the relationships between culture and other social phenomena such as race, gender, and class.

Cultural studies researchers use a variety of methods, including textual analysis, ethnography, and semiotics. They often draw on the work of critical theorists, Marxist scholars, and feminist scholars in order to understand how power is produced and maintained through cultural practices.

Wilfred Gurien in his A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature  describes Four Goals of studies:

Four Goals:

Cultural studies transcends the confines of a particular discipline such as literary criticism or history. 

Cultural studies is politically engaged.

Cultural studies denies the separation of “high” and “low” or elite and popular culture. Cultural studies analyzes not only the cultural work, but also the means of production.

Cultural studies extends beyond the boundaries of a single subject, such as literary criticism or history.

Cultural studies is not limited to a single subject or topic. According to the editors of Cultural Studies, Lawrence Crossberg, Cary Nelson, and Paula Treichler, the conceptual potential of cultural studies resides in its attempts to "cut across broad social and political concerns and confront many of the issues within the contemporary scene."

To study cultural phenomena in various societies and historical periods, cultural studies combines a variety of politically engaged critical approaches drawn from semiotics, Marxism, feminist theory, ethnography, post-structuralism, postcolonialism, social theory, political theory, history, philosophy, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, communication studies, political economy, translation studies, museum studies, and art history/criticism.

How are Cultural studies politically engaged?  

Society operates within a cultural and political structure. Society is formed into power hierarchies, which raises the issue of social inequality. (or power as system of symbol) 

As Wilfred Guerin has noted “Cultural studies question inequalities within power structures and seek to discover models for restructuring relationships among dominant and "minority" or "subaltern" discourses. Because meaning and individual subjectivity are culturally constructed, they can thus be reconstructed.

Michel Foucault, a French philosopher, is considered an influential theorist of power and knowledge and how they are used as a form of social control. Jonathan Gaventa remarks, “His work marks a radical departure from previous modes of conceiving power and cannot be easily integrated with previous ideas, as power is diffuse rather than concentrated, embodied and enacted rather than possessed, discursive rather than purely coercive, and constitutes agents rather than being deployed by them.” Further he explains that for Foucault power is neither wielded by individuals nor by classes nor institutions – in fact, power is not ‘wielded’ at all. Instead, it is seen as dispersed and subject-less, as elements of broad ‘strategies’ but without individual authors.

Quotes on the goals of cultural studies:

"Cultural studies is not a discipline, but an anti-discipline... its task is not to generate theories but to deconstruct them."

- Stuart Hall

"Cultural studies ... is a site of struggle over the meaning and value of dominant and emergent cultural forms, practices and values."

- Lawrence Grossberg

"Cultural studies is, at its best, a site of productive tension between commitments to rigorous scholarly analysis and a passion for social transformation."

- Angela McRobbie

"Cultural studies is not about totality in the sense of 'the big picture,' but about the particularities of everyday life."

- Dick Hebdige

"Cultural studies is above all else a struggle against forgetting."

- Raymond Williams

"Cultural studies allows us to see how these [dominant] ways of constructing reality are not natural or self-evident, but are historically and currently produced."

- Patricia Hill Collins

"The goals of cultural studies are to reveal how power and domination are produced and maintained through cultural practices and rituals."

- Jeff Chang

"Cultural studies is about everyday life, about the ways in which dominant power is reproduced through the commonplace."

Work Cited:

Abrams, Meyer Howard. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Cengage Learning, 2015. Accessed 7 November 2022.

Bate, Jonathan. "The Limits of Eco-Criticism." Social & Cultural Geography 4.2 (2003): 191-192.

Buchanan, Ian. A Dictionary of Critical Theory. Oxford University Press, 2018. 

Butler, Judith. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory." In The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch, et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2010, pp. 2164-2184.

Chang, Jeff. "What Is Cultural Studies, Anyway?" Social Text 19.2 (2001): 18-19.

Collins, Patricia Hill. "What Is Cultural Studies Anyway?" Social Text 19.2 (2001): 12-13.

de Lauretis, Teresa. "Feminist Studies/Critical Studies: Issues, Terms, and Contexts." In The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch, et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2010, pp. 2154-2163.

du Gay, Paul. "Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman." Cultural Studies, vol. 10, no. 1, 1996, pp. 95-112.

Eagleton, Terry. "What Do Cultural Critics Do?" Boundary 2, vol. 18, no. 1, 1991, pp. 8-17.

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. 1990. Accessed 7 October 2022.

Gilroy, Paul. "What Is Cultural Studies, Anyway?" Social Text 19.2 (2001): 3-4.

Glotfelty, Cheryll. "Introduction: Literary Studies in the Age of Environmental Crisis." The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1996. xiii-xxxiv.

Grossberg, Lawrence. "What Is Cultural Studies, Anyway?" Social Text 19.2 (2001): 14-15.

Guerin, Wilfred L., et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Edited by Wilfred L. Guerin, Oxford University Press, 2005.

Hall, Stuart. "The Work of Cultural Studies." In Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman, edited by Paul du Gay, et al., Sage Publications, 1997, pp. 9-37.

Hall, Stuart. "What Is Cultural Studies, Anyway?" Social Text 19.2 (2001): 5-7.

Hebdige, Dick. "What Is Cultural Studies, Anyway?" Social Text 19.2 (2001): 9-10.

Horkheimer, Max, and Theodore Adorno. "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception." In The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch, et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2010, pp. 2424-2449.

Kristeva, Julia. "Women's Time." In The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch, et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2010, pp. 2134-2153.

Love, Glen A. "Revaluing Nature: Toward an Ecocritical Reading of American Literature." The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1996. 1-28.

Marcuse, Herbert. "Representation and the Social Control of Population." In The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch, et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2010, pp. 2491-2512.

Marx, Karl. "The Communist Manifesto." In The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch, et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2010, pp. 2116-2139.

Slovic, Scott. "Eco-Criticism: An Overview." ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 3.2 (1996): 145-151.

Williams, Raymond. "What Is Cultural Studies, Anyway?" Social Text 19.2 (2001): 8.

Zavarzadeh, Mas'ud, and Tarin Baraki. "What Is Cultural Studies, Anyway?" Social Text 19.2 (2001): 16-17.