British Cultural Studies: An Introduction

by Graeme Turner

The development of the British tradition of cultural studies is perhaps the most significant event in contemporary humanities and social sciences. This introductory-level survey of the field provides an overview of the key concepts and central themes that have informed British cultural studies: language, semiotics, Marxism, individualism, and discourse theory. It provides a brief history of the development of the British tradition and analyzes central categories of cultural studies: the notion of the text, audiences, everyday life, and the understanding of ideology.

Genres: Cultural Studies, Cultural

259 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Graeme Turner is an Australian professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland, Federation Fellow, Past President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Director of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, and Convenor of the ARC Cultural Research Network.

He is one of the key figures in the development of cultural and media studies in Australia. His work is used in many disciplines: cultural and media studies, communications, history, literary studies, and film and television studies. Turner's research interests include Australian film and media, issues in Australian Nationalism, popular culture, celebrity, and talkback radio. His current project investigates the role of television in a post-broadcast era increasingly dominated by new media formats such as the Internet.

Reviews

[mery · Rating 3 out of 5]

emmmm... no sé qué puntuación darle a este libro, lmfao. es puramente teórico, pero bueno. está okay. demasiada semántica para mi gusto. yo qué sé. le doy tres estrellas por darle algo.

[Cole Stratton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice introduction to the British version of cultural studies. As a summary of the main ideas and key modes of inquiry, it's quite helpful. As a history of cultural studies in Britain it jumps around too much. It's organized around topics within the discipline so that each section returns to previously discussed time periods. This makes it a little confusing to follow and to keep track of which texts were important for what reasons and when. Overall it's a nice introduction that focuses on the Birmingham Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies and discusses many of the important British contributions to the field of cultural studies.

[David McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presents a timeline of cultural studies in Great Britain. All the big stars are here, and this book does a great job showing the evolution of theory in cultural studies from early its Arnoldian beginnings down to contemporary times. It doesn't delve into great depth on the individual theories succeeding each other, rather the theories are presented chronologically, with each generation of thinkers building and revising the work that came before. An interesting and concise historiographical study.

[Borjana · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit dull...

[Jes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boring but useful introduction.

[Bookshire Cat]

Pages 41-84 read for class.