British Cultural Studies, Third Edition

by Graeme Turner

is a comprehensive introduction to the British tradition of cultural studies. Turner offers an accessible overview of the central themes that have informed British cultural language, semiotics, Marxism and ideology, individualism, subjectivity and discourse. Beginning with a history of cultural studies, Turner discusses the work of such pioneers as Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart, E. P.Thompson, Stuart Hall and the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. He then explores the central theorists and categories of British cultural texts and contexts; audience; everyday life; ideology; politics, gender and race.
The third edition of this successful text has been fully revised and updated to
* How to apply the principles of cultural studies and how to read a text
* An overview of recent ethnographic studies
* Discussion of anthropological theories of consumption
* Questions of identity and new ethnicities
* How to do cultural studies, and an evaluation of recent research methodologies
* A fully updated and comprehensive bibliography

Genres: Cultural Studies, Cultural

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

[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.