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").
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