Cultural Studies. Theory and Practice

by Chris Barker

Praise for the First Edition : `This is the best general textbook that has been written on cultural studies to date. Barker covers an enormous amount of material. He explicates key concepts and theories in the field and focuses upon particular issues of contemporary interest. Barker is always fair in his assessment of contrasting arguments and alternative points of view. Cultural Studies - Theory and Practice will enable students to make sense of a complex, fascinating and vital field of study′ Jim McGuigan, University of Loughborough "It is comprehensive in scope, clearly written, competent and accurate, and yet provides an original and useful perspective on cultural studies as well as an overview of key concepts, methods, topics, and the material of cultural studies" Doug Kellner, Graduate School of Education, UCLA "The book is certainly the most wide ranging in the market" and " the book is very popular with students... they believe it represents good value for money because of its comprehensiveness... students appreciate the accessibility of the language and the explanation of difficult theoretical concepts" Paul Manning Sociology Dept, de Montfort University Chris Barker has extensively revised and updated his bestselling textbook Cultural Studies , to produce an up-to-date second edition of a book that is already a comprehensive, one-stop guide for students of cultural studies and cultural theory. Widely adopted in its first edition the Second Edition is even more accessible to the student reader, two new chapters covering central problems in cultural studies; biology, evolution and culture; additional new material across the original chapters; added pedagogical features including chapter summaries, student exercises, boxed information, and more bullet points; greater clarity of expression; and an expanded glossary of key concepts. Comprehensive in scope, and authoritative and balanced in its analysis, Cultural Studies maps the field, and guides the reader through all the core topics included on Cultural Studies courses, the key concepts in cultural studies; the key figures and schools of thought; the essential methodologies; the historical roots of the subject; the turns toward ideology, language, gender, race and identity; the challenges posed by postmodernism and postcolonialism. This book is essential reading for all students of Cultural Studies, and the addition of even more student friendly features, will extend its readership.

Genres: Cultural Studies, Nonfiction, Theory, Sociology, Anthropology, Cultural, Grad School

484 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to cultural studies, yet…from the perspective of mostly white, privileged, exclusively 'Western' theorists. It could also become very repetitive in its claims, and is sometimes too vague when it comes to certain aspects of various philosophies…

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a frustrating read as Barker seems to have a 'cluttered' way of writing. Besides, some of the chapters were very well written and easy to read, whereas other chapters were so incoherent that I was questioning whether Barker was understanding the subject himself.

[Victoria Hawco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helped me write my first comprehensive exams for my PhD.

[Leon]

read Chapter 8: “Ethnicity, Race and Nation” and Chapter 9: “Sex, Subjectivity and Representation”

[Luqman Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly hard read when compared to say, Hall's seminal Representation. Barker's style of writing seems to get in the way of the message. That said, the content of the book is wide in breadth and very informative, providing a succinct overview on the cultural studies landscape from its early years up till the present iteration of post structuralism and post modernism, grappling with Gramsci, Althusser, Foucault, and Hall in one fell swoop.

[Shoon Teoh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would view this book as closer to an encyclopedia rather than a textbook or reader. It is dense, covering a large array of topics but very rarely going into more than a cursory analysis. Useful to have lying around if you need to look up a dictionary definition of concepts in cultural studies.

I read this book a couple of years ago during my first year of my bachelors and found it illuminating but also somewhat scattershot .

[Ειρήνη Σαμψωνίδου · Rating 2 out of 5]

An othe rbook I had to read for school. Although the topoics it discusses are interesting, I had to read the book two times in order to really comprehend what it was really sayaing.

[Long Tran · Rating 4 out of 5]

[11:33pm]
4/12/2020

this content slight spoiler to the content of the book; or perhaps not since i just mentioned some of the concept; but im still gonna mark this as containing spoiler. : D

Just finished reading the book for like an hour ago so my head are still suffering from repercussion due to a lot of knowlege got cramped into my small headspace so down below it's a review of myself on the content of the book and whether it serves its function. (spoiler: for the latter, it does)

on the content of the book, i would say it is pretty comprehensive, at least for someone who has dabbled in some issues that are central to the discussion of Cultural Studies, as well as has known briefly on the figures and their theories and the critiques of such theories. By going from points to points on the theories constituitive of Cultural studies and the terminologies that are essential to the readers' understanding of it to the changing of the discipline and finally in its application; it goes pretty logically and overal does not omit anything as far as I am concerned; in fact i kinda felt i understand a lot more of the debates i saw online when they repeatedly go on and on about their relevance to cultural studies when i didn't see such connection. For example, the place of Delueze and the concept of rhizomorphic (?).

However, I am subjecting my comments to my own lack of knowledge so in the spirit of cultural studies (more specifically on someone's theory but i have forgotten because i have a brain of a gold fish), i would tell what the book is about on grounds of the things that i found lacking in its content. (yay application =))) and also ironic regarding the book's position on pragmatism lmao im enjoying this way too much).

So for its level, it's an introductory book, it perhaps aims to provide a comprehensive and exhaustive look on the wide ranges of issues dealt with in cultural studies; and as an interdiscipline it undoubtably contains an even wider range of theories and knowledges (yes foucault i have learnt lmao) it definitely gonna be more harder to include everything into a 400-ish-page book; so for certain problems it just got touched upon the surface; such as the concept of ecology and its relevance to cultural studies; or the idea of cultural left; both got mentioned and regarded as pretty essential but i don't find much information on such in the book; or at least sufficient enough to my understanding; so that's the first minus point; but to answer the 2nd point i made above; yes the book does do its job as an introduction to a field that is mostly known and practiced by lão làng academics; not- well- a sophomore English student in an IR institution but ye

next up is that in contains wayyyyyyyy to much repitition on the aforementioned ideas; understandable to the position as an introductory book; not that comprehensible on the dimension of food 4 thoughts (the section on Rorty's central thoughts in the chapter 14, specifically his concept of social commendation; contingency irony and so on); but if i'm being fair the repeated part does try to connect with the sectional content by adaptation;

last is the final chapter in the book on cultural politics and cultural policy; this is just personal opinion but i just dreaded the chapter because it lacks the conciseness and clarity in dealing with the problem of theories and its application; but subjectively speaking; it has to entail ALL relevant subjects so these are probably inevitable; but the ironic parts is that the author did not seem too happy to include that into the book as well lmao so im content. Ah and lets not forget the author mentioned homosexual practices which i found weird and slightly offensive.

Overall, with the amount of knowledge I'm having, i chose to give this a 4-star not the intended 3-star for its comprehensiveness and the journey i have had with it. I have had my funs and also dreads while reading it; esp the final chapters oh how i hate public policy. But i still think i have learnt from this book a lot.
So looking forward to the revised edition of this review after a few other books.

Bai bai.

5/12/2020
12:06 am

[LaSabra Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the 5th edition of this text.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like an encyclopedia a bit: too dense. Still, I learned a lot (but I had zero idea about the subject before this book).

[Eria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank God I read this book (not wholly tho) in the form of -kind of- simplified presentations, otherwise my tiny brain would have lost every cell. It really is an amazing book, unless you have to memorize half of it for an exam. Do I understand it? Mostly yes. Do I like what I've read? Hell yes. Can I memorize it in a uni-acceptable way? HELL NO.

Update: I actually got 9/10 on my exam so maybe my brain is not that tiny after all, GO CULTURAL STUDIES!!!

[Lurino · Rating 4 out of 5]

there's a certain limit between comprehensive and excessively detailed. Chris barker seems to aim for the latter and ended up being the former.

this book is filled with so many details, it's easy to lose a train of thought when you're reading it like a textbook. from my perspective, this myriad of details is a good thing, since every textbook lovers would always need to know the inner working of things. just don't get your train lost in the shadows.

i think this book is a must read for n00Bs trying to get their head on the cultural studies subject. just remember, it's prettymuch a postmodernist's book... you may not be well equipped to survive...

[Rose Soliman]

Started reading it and I think it's a great reference to those who are interested in cultural studies ! But to be honest It confused me in some parts especially the theoretical way of studying cultural studies part !

[Topguntomcatf14]

im student and it is very urgent for me to read it im living in iran i cant buy it coze it is very expenssive

[Chicha · Rating 4 out of 5]

in practise you can see the culture teory for studie, this book excelent. thanks

[Airin · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of great reference to cultural studies, i love it.

[Kuncz Arock · Rating 4 out of 5]

buku pengantar yang baik untuk memahami kajian budaya (cultural studies).

[WillJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives excellent grounding, I should have read much sooner.

[Ahmad Ibo · Rating 3 out of 5]

buku pegangan wajib bagi mereka yg sedang memperdalam ranah kajian, termasuk anak sastra. mengupas tuntas berbagai teori.modern dengan bahasa terjemahan yg mudah dimengerti.

[Rifka Lutfi]

I need this book for my undergraduate theses

[S—]

One of the essentials for core subjects I had to take. Almost killed me. You almost got me there.

[Haska · Rating 4 out of 5]

banyak kepake di kerangka pemikiran skripsi

[Abra · Rating 4 out of 5]

After spending a few sleepless nights thinking you will fail all your exams because you have no idea what is going on (who the hell is this Foucault guy anyway), it does in fact become easier and surprisingly quite interesting.