1st Edition

Cultural Rights Technology, Legality and Personality

By Celia Lury Copyright 1993
    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    Cultural Rights aims to combine sociology of culture and cultural studies approaches to provide an innovative interpretation of contemporary culture. It develops Walter Benjamin's arguments on the effects of mechanical reproduction by seeing what has happened to originality and authenticity in postmodern culture. One aspect of this culture is that reproduction and simulation have become listless, so that distinguishing what is real from what is fabricated is a problem of daily life for everyone. Celia Lury establishes a clear framework for studying these matters by comparing a regime of cultural rights ordered by copyright, authorship and originality with one defined by trademark, branding and simulation. This move is illustrated through concise and accessible histories of three major cultural technologies - print, broadcasting and information technology - and the presentation of research into the contemporary culture industry. The gendered dimensions of this transformation are explored by looking at the significance of the category of women in the process of cultural reproduction.

    1 INTRODUCTION Part I Regimes of rights 2 FROM REPETITION TO REPLICATION 3 REPLICATION, NOVELTY AND REACTIVATION 4 BRANDING, TRADEMARK AND THE VIRTUAL AUDIENCE Part II Technologies of reproduction 5 MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION: PRINT, LITERACY AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE 6 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION: BROADCASTING, WATCHING AND PUBLIC SERVICE 7 MICRO-ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION: COMMUNICATION, THE FLOW OF INFORMATION AND USERS 8 TECHNOLOGIES OF CULTURE AND GENDER 9 SIMULATION, GENDER AND CONTEMPORARY CULTURE

    Biography

    Celia Lury lectures in Women’s Studies and Cultural Studies in the sociology department of Lancaster University.