Making Sense of Cultural Studies: Central Problems and Critical Debates (Theory, Culture & Society

by Chris Barker

′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.

Genres: Cultural Studies

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[mkmk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uf, I disliked a lot about this one. For one, Barker rejected almost every aspect of what cultural studies and social sciences rest on -- from Marxism, to ideology, to even feminism, to a degree. He tried very hard to sound smart, he used many metaphors from natural sciences, and he tried to cite genetics to explain gender differences (such as, that women are monogamous and men are not!) I find this disturbing and what's even more -- UNCONNECTED TO CULTURAL STUDIES! If you study culture, don't mind genetics, it's not your field!

From the globalist perspective, his dismissal of Marxism was not persuasive. Barker claimed that we can dismiss Marxism because there was no class revolution that Marx had promised. I find this reasoning faulty. We need to look globally to find the answer. The working class is not found within the global North countries anymore. The working class is the whole of global South that the global North exploits. In the global South, revolutions happen every day. The western military complex tries hard to stop those revolutions but it doesn't mean they aren't happening. The best part? These revolutions are a direct answer to capitalism. Just like Marx promised.

There are other aspects of Barker's arguments that I disagree with, such as his dismissal of ideology and his emphasis on men's problems while disregarding women in the chapter talking about feminism. There are other things too, such as his use of literary language to explain academic terms which only made the explanations convoluted and impenetrable.

[Esra · Rating 2 out of 5]

just a quick look at this book for a very specific part and find out that it is too academic and not even correct on certain issues...