Cultural Studies General Intro. & Subcultures

Cultural Studies: Main Concerns u Subjectivity and power relations (Race, gender, class relations) in culture (cultural hegemony).  the circuit of culture Political agenda of Marxism + Postcolonialism + feminism

Cultural Studies: History of Articulation u 50's socialist humanism; (or Marxism) -- Hoggart, Williams, Thompson; New Left; u 60's -- culturalist u 70‘s -- structuralist marxism; semiotics; -- e.g. Althusser; Roland Barthes; u mid-70’s – Gramsci & Foucault; -- Derrida +Discourse theories of Foucault; -- Althusser + Lacan u mid- 80's -- postmodern debate u 90‘s – regional Cultural Studies

Cultural Studies: Main Concerns u Points of contention: 1. Definitions of culture (high art vs. popular culture) & popular culture (mass culture or people’s culture); culture as a process or a product. 2. Disciplinary boundaries (what should a lit. major study?); 3. Culture vs. economy; Ideology/Hegemony vs. political economy 4. Agency, ways and position of resistance; 5. Postmodernism & globalization (glocalization)

Cultural Studies & Psychoanalysis u Disagreement with Freud’s description of universal psyche; u Psychoanalysis used in analyzing: u ideology’s interpellation (Althusser); u male voyeurism and female spectatorship (by feminists) screen project u desires: colonial desire; consumer psychology; cultural symptoms; or broader definitions of desire.

British Musical Subcultures: 1. Mod u u Small Faces The Jam

Punk: e.g. Sex Pistol u u The Sex Pistols may have only been together for two years in the late '70s, but they changed the face of popular music. Through their raw, nihilistic singles and violent performances, the band revolutionized the idea of what rock & roll could be. (source)source

Punk: e.g. The Clash u u fiery and idealistic, charged with righteousness and a leftist political ideology. (source)(source

Rasta and Raggae u Reggae is a music unique to Jamiaca, but it ironically has its roots in New Orleans R&B. Reggae's direct forefather is ska. u Bob Marley