Key Concepts in Cultural Theory

by Andrew Edgar (Editor)

An up-to-date and comprehensive survey of over 350 of the key terms encountered in cultural theory today. Each entry provides clear and succinct explanations for students throughout a wide range of disciplines.

Genres: Cultural, Sociology, Theory, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Cultural Studies

528 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

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Reviews

[نورة · Rating 5 out of 5]

لأن موضوعات الثقافة واسعة ومتشابكة، وتتداخل مع كثير من العلوم اضطرارا، جاءت هذه الموسوعة مرجعية للمتخصص في الأنثروبولوجيا، والأثنولوجيا، وعلم الاجتماع، والاقتصاد، وعلم النفس، وغيرها مما يدخل تحت العلوم الثقافية.
تقابل المصطلح العربي بالإنجليزي، وتضع في ختام الموسوعة فهرسا بكلا اللغتين.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

After having started on university, this book has become my bible.
It contains most of the things you need to know, with short and precise definition explaining what the terms (might) mean, when and how it is used and with various authors, works and terms that are related to it, mentioned.

A must have for those studying English, or simply for those who needs some definitions on words such as: Architecture, feminism, hegemony, or syntax.

(Side note, Peter Sedgwick is also credited on the front cover.)

[Hasselhh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit too superficial to be of any real use

[Hend Elshalkany · Rating 4 out of 5]

إنجاز مهم للمركز القومي للترجمة بجمهورية مصر العربية، فهو ترجمة لكتاب مرجعي صدر باللغة الانجليزية عام 2008 ويتضمن تعريفا وافيا بكم كبير من المفاهيم والمصطلحات المستخدمة في علوم الاجتماع والأنثروبولوجي وعلوم اللغة والتحليل النفسي وعلم الاقتصاد وغيرها. الكتاب مرجع مهم للطلبة والباحثين لتأصيل المفاهيم التي يستخدمونها في دراساتهم.

[Orr Hirschauge]

An index of this lexicon of key concepts in cultural theory should have been split into three parts: Habermas, Lyotard and all the rest. It is almost uncanny how Habermas and Lyotard creep up into almost every single term. Besides the somewhat unexplained overrepresentation of these two thinkers, the choice of terms could be described as delightfully idiosyncratic, but so it is in every lexicon. I appreciated greatly the introduction of terms taken from the world of art, usually missing from such lexicons as if to blur the debt cultural research owes Humanities. Other oddities, such as the full 10 pages dedicated to Quine's Holism seem at odds, to put it mildly, with the two short sentences dedicated to "Code", or the single paragraph dedicated to "Gender" and "Intertextuality".

One very annoying tendency on numerous terms, including all those regarding Psychoanalysis, is the attempt to give them a complete definition as seen in their "domestic territory". Beyond being completely unusable for the non illuminati, this type of definition could be ascribed to an attempt at writing philosophy but it neglects completely the historicity of the term: I don't want to know what it means, if it can mean anything at all, I want to know how the term is used.

There are a few exceptional terms that are really excellent – most of these being the terms that their mere inclusion is a surprise. As such, it seems, their contributers wrote with less of the weight of the world on their shoulders. One such term is Theology, which neglects to mention anything except Christian Hermeneutics, but then again the subject is always fun. "Metaphor" also could hardly have been improved.

[Risa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cultural Theory: The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides) by P. Sedgewick (2002)