Culture/power/history : a reader in contemporary social theory

Book

Culture/power/history : a reader in contemporary social theory / Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley, and Sherry B. Ortner, editors.

Dirks, Nicholas B., 1950- (Added Author). Eley, Geoff, 1949- (Added Author). Ortner, Sherry B., 1941- (Added Author).

Summary:

The intellectual radicalism of the 1960s spawned a new set of questions about the role and nature of "the political" in social life, questions that have since revolutionized nearly every field of thought, from literary criticism through anthropology to the philosophy of science. Michel Foucault in particular made us aware that whatever our functionally defined "roles" in society, we are constantly negotiating questions of authority and the control of the definitions of reality. Such insights have led theorists to challenge concepts that have long formed the very underpinnings of their disciplines. By exploring some of the most debated of these concepts--"culture," "power," and "history"--This reader offers an enriching perspective on social theory in the contemporary moment. Organized around these three concepts, Culture/ Power/History brings together both classic and new essays that address Foucault's "new economy of power relations" in a number of different, contestatory directions. Representing innovative work from various disciplines and sites of study, from taxidermy to Madonna, the book seeks to affirm the creative possibilities available in a time marked by growing uncertainty about established disciplinary forms of knowledge and by the increasing fluidity of the boundaries between them. The book is introduced by a major synthetic essay by the editors, which calls attention to the most significant issues enlivening theoretical discourse today. The editors seek not only to encourage scholars to reflect anew on the course of social theory, but also to orient newcomers to this area of inquiry. The essays are contributed by Linda Alcoff ("Cultural Feminism versus Post-Structuralism"), Sally Alexander ("Women, Class, and Sexual Differences in the 1830s and 1840s"), Tony Bennett ("The Exhibitionary Complex"), Pierre Bourdieu ("Structures, Habitus, Power"), Nicholas B. Dirks ("Ritual and Resistance"), Geoff Eley ("Nations, Publics, and Political Cultures"), Michel Foucault (Two Lectures), Henry Louis Gates, Jr. ("Authority, [White] Power and the [Black] Critic"), Stephen Greenblatt ("The Circulation of Social Energy"), Ranajit Guha ("The Prose of Counter-Insurgency"), Stuart Hall ("Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms"), Susan Harding ("The Born-Again Telescandals"), Donna Haraway ("Teddy Bear Patriarchy"), Dick Hebdige ("After the Masses"), Susan McClary ("Living to Tell: Madonna's Resurrection of the Fleshly"), Sherry B. Ortner ("Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties"), Marshall Sahlins ("Cosmologies of Capitalism"), Elizabeth G. Traube ("Secrets of Success in Postmodern Society"), Raymond Williams (selections from Marxism and Literature), and Judith Williamson ("Family, Education, Photography").

Record details

ISBN: 0691032203
ISBN: 9780691032207
ISBN: 0691021023
ISBN: 9780691021027
Physical Description: xiv, 621 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.
Publisher: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©1994.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: Teddy bear patriarchy : taxidermy in the Garden of Eden, New York City, 1908-1936 / Donna Haraway -- Cultural feminism versus post-structuralism : the identity crisis in feminist theory / Linda Alcoff -- The exhibitionary complex / Tony Bennett -- Structures, habitus, power : basis for a theory of symbolic power / Pierre Bourdieu -- Two lectures / Michel Foucault -- After the masses / Dick Hebdige -- Family, education, photography / Judith Williamson -- Authority, (white) power and the (black) critic ; it's all greek to me / Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- Women, class and sexual differences in the 1830s and 1840s : some reflections on the writing of a feminist history / Sally Alexander -- Nations, publics, and political cultures : placing Habermas in the nineteenth century / Geoff Eley -- The prose of counter-insurgency / Ranajit Guha -- Theory in anthropology since the sixties / Sherry B. Ortner -- Cosmologies of capitalism : the trans-Pacific sector of "the world system" / Marshall Sahlins -- Living to tell : Madonna's resurrection of the fleshy / Susan McClary -- Ritual and resistance : subversion as a social fact / Nicholas B. Dirks -- The circulation of social energy / Stephen Greenblatt -- Cultural studies : two paradigms / Stuart Hall -- The born-again telescandals / Susan Harding -- Secrets of success in postmodern society / Elizabeth G. Traube -- Selections from Marxism and literature / Raymond Williams.
Action Note:: Self-Renewing 2017