1st Edition

The Cultural Turn Scene Setting Essays on Contemporary Cultural History

By David Chaney Copyright 1994
    264 Pages
    by Routledge

    264 Pages
    by Routledge

    In the second half of the twentieth century the theme of culture has dominated the human sciences. The forms of contemporary culture demand a radical reappraisal of the terms of description of the modern world. We therefore need to consider our options when culture does not just provide the meaning of experience but is also the terms of that experience. This book reviews these ideas in ways that will be accessible to those new to the field and also stimulating to experts. The three parts of the book: * Review the character and lessons of this "turn to culture" in a number of academic fields. The author demonstrates the socio-intellectual context within which these themes have been generated and documents the main strengths of the paradigm shift. * Explore key themes in contemporary culture. By showing how questions of citizenship and the meaning of places have been colonized under the remit of the culturalist paradigm, a cluster of associated ideas and themes implicit in the paradigm are explicitly tackled. * Examine some of the ways in whcih cultural forms are increasingly seen to dominate social reality. The final chapter explores triumphant culturalism - the postmodern world as the apogee of the turn to culture.

    Acknowledgements, Introduction, Part I The study of culture, Part II Forms of culture, Part III Immersed in culture, References, Name index, Subject index

    Biography

    Chaney, David

    `The book is a bold attempt to examine the roots of the current 'turn to culture' in intellectual work. ... an informative and reflective overview of the history of cultural studies.' - Ecumene