For years, speculation has been mounting among lawyers, church leaders, social scientists, and the general public over the question of prolongation of life and the critically ill patient's "right to die." But what is the physician's attitude toward this controversial subject? Under what conditions does a doctor battle to save the life of the patient, and when does he decide to withdraw medical treatment and allow death to occur? The answers to these questions form the basis of this book, a fascinating examination of the nature of death and dying, as seen from the physician' point of view.

Culture no longer has borders. With the advent of internet sites like Sothebys.com and the increasing reality of globalisation, culture itself has gone global. This collection focuses on questions involving national identity, indigenous culture, economic growth, free trade, cultural policy, and global tourism. Global Culture looks at all aspects of the "arts" including: film, art, music, theatre, television, and museums. This book fleshes out how current cultural policies are working and forecasts what we can expect the future landscape of global culture to look like.

For years, speculation has been mounting among lawyers, church leaders, social scientists, and the general public over the question of prolongation of life and the critically ill patient's "right to die." But what is the "physician's" attitude toward this controversial subject? Under what conditions does a doctor battle to save the life of the patient, and when does he decide to withdraw medical treatment and allow death to occur? The answers to these questions form the basis of this book, a fascinating examination of the nature of death and dying, as seen from the physician' point of view.

It has long been said that clothes make the man (or woman), but is it still true today? If so, how has the information clothes convey changed over the years? Using a wide range of historical and contemporary materials, Diana Crane demonstrates how the social significance of clothing has been transformed. Crane compares 19th-century societies - France and the United States - where social class was the most salient aspect of social identity signified in clothing with late 20th-century America, where lifestyle, gender, sexual orientation, age and ethnicity are more meaningful to individuals in constructing their wardrobes. Today, clothes worn at work signify social class, but leisure clothes convey meanings ranging from trite to political. In today's multicode societies, clothes inhibit as well as facilitate communication between highly fragmented social groups. Crane extends her comparison by showing how 19th-century French designers created fashions that suited lifestyles of Paris elites but that were also widely adopted outside France. By contrast, today's designers operate in a global marketplace, shaped by television, film and popular music. No longer confined to elites, trendsetters are drawn from many social groups, and most trends have short trajectories. To assess the impact of fashion on women, Crane uses voices of college-aged and middle-aged women who took part in focus groups. These discussions yield fascinating information about women's perceptions of female identity and "Fashion and Its Social Agendas" stands out as a critical study of gender, fashion and consumer culture.

With the rise of Abstract Expressionism, New York City became the acknowledged center of the avant-garde. Diana Crane documents the transformation of the New York art world between 1940 and 1985, both in the artistic styles that emerged during this period and the expansion of the number and types of institutions that purchased and displayed various works. Crane's account is built around discussions of seven styles: Abstract Expressionism in the forties; Pop art and Minimalism in the sixties; Figurative painting, Photorealism, and Pattern painting in the early seventies; and Neo-Expressionism in the early eighties. Demonstrating that the New York art world moved toward increasing acceptance of dominant American cultural trends, Crane offers a fascinating look not only at the intricacies of New York's artistic inner circle but also at the sociology of work and professions, the economics of culture markets such as dealing art, and the sociology of culture.

The Production of Culture is timely and relevant. . . . Diana Crane introduces the reader to this busy field of scholarly activity, organizes the strands of theory and empirical research in an orderly fashion, and advances some bold notions about the relationship between organizational 'contexts' and innovation. --Contemporary Sociology "Crane melds numerous sources concisely and clearly in her argument that cultural forms cannot be understood 'apart from the contexts in which they are produced and consumed.' . . . looks like a good start to a useful series." --Communication Booknotes "Crane's overview is clearly written and does an effective job of incorporating concepts and theories from communication, cultural studies, economics, and literature, as well as her home territory, sociology." --Communication Booknotes How does the media shape and frame culture? How does media entertainment vary under different conditions of production and consumption? What types of meanings and ideologies do these modes of production convey, and how do they change over time? How does media culture differ from other forms of recorded culture produced in nonindustrial settings? In The Production of Culture, the inaugural volume in the new Foundations of Popular Culture series, Diana Crane argues that these are the kinds of questions social scientists should concern themselves with. She contends that recorded cultures simply cannot be understood apart from the contexts in which they are produced and consumed. A review and synthesis of the current media literature, Crane's work examines both the popular and elite levels of media production. This investigation allows readers to understand how the notion of production can change depending on the size of the audience and/or the structure of the cultural industry. A systematic and accessible approach to a complex topic, The Production of Culture will have appeal not only to professors and students of cultural studies, but will also interest those studying sociology and art history.