This book attempts to provide an understanding of current thought and enquiry in the study of popular culture and communication media. The popular sentiments and impulses underlying neo-Gramscian cultural studies and its postmodernist variants are explored and criticized sympathetically. An uncritical and exclusively consumptionist trend of analysis is identified and shown to be an unsatisfactory means of accounting for the complex material conditions and mediations that shape ordinary people's pleasures and opportunities for personal and political expression. Through consideration of the work of Raymond Williams, Stuart Hall and "the Birmingham School", John Fiske, youth subcultural analysis, popular television study, and issues generally concerned with public communication (including advertising, arts and broadcasting policies, children's television, tabloid journalism, feminism and pornography, the Rushdie affair, and the collapse of communism) the author sets out a distinctive case for recovering critical analysis of popular culture in a rapidly changing, conflict ridden world.

Neoliberal Culture presents a critical analysis of the impact of the global free-market - the hegemony of which has been described elsewhere by the author as 'a short counter-revolution' - on the arts, media and everyday life since the 1970s.

Cultural Methodologies illustrates the distinctiveness and coherence of cultural studies as a site of interaction between the humanities and the social sciences. Topics covered include: the relationship between critical theory and cultural studies; the pragmatics of cultural research and education; ethical questions and research purposes; the role of feminism in cultural studies; the uses of autobiography; the analysis of city cultures; textual analysis and ethnographic procedures; constructions of identity in relation to `race', sexuality and nationhood; the use of qualitative and quantitative data; and some of the main issues involved in generating research findings for a thesis or other publication. The book is written for students either commencing or intending to do research in cultural studies. It stresses how necessary it is to consider and plan very carefully the rationales and principles in research while avoiding the straitjacket of `methodolatory'.

Cool is a word of American English that has been integrated into the vocabulary of numerous languages around the globe. Today it is a term most often used in advertising trendy commodities, or, more generally, in promoting urban lifestyles in our postmodern age. But what is the history of the term "cool?" When has coolness come to be associated with certain modes of contemporary self-fashioning? On what grounds do certain nations claim a privilege to be recognized as "cool?" These are some of the questions that served as a starting-point for a comparative cultural inquiry which brought together specialists from American Studies and Japanese Studies, but also from Classics, Philosophy and Sociology. The conceptual grid of the volume can be described as follows: (1) Coolness is a metaphorical term for affect-control. It is tied in with cultural discourses on the emotions and the norms of their public display, and with gendered cultural practices of subjectivity. (2) In the course of the cultural transformations of modernity, the term acquired new importance as a concept referring to practices of individual, ethnic, and national difference. (3) Depending on cultural context, coolness is defined in terms of aesthetic detachment and self-irony, of withdrawal, dissidence and even latent rebellion. (4) Coolness often carries undertones of ambivalence. The situational adequacy of cool behavior becomes an issue for contending ethical and aesthetic discourses since an ethical ideal of self-control and a strategy of performing self-control are inextricably intertwined. (5) In literature and film, coolness as a character trait is portrayed as a personal strength, as a lack of emotion, as an effect of trauma, as a mask for suffering or rage, as precious behavior, or as savvyness. This wide spectrum is significant: artistic productions offer valid insights into contradictions of cultural discourses on affect-control. (6) American and Japanese cultural productions show that twentieth-century notions of coolness hybridize different cultural traditions of affect-control.

This study addresses cultural policy from a critical and multi-dimensional perspective. It is informed by some of the most advanced ideas in contemporary social theory, drawing particularly upon the work of Pierre Bourdiew, Michel Foucault and Jurgen Habermas. The book challenges the commonly accepted instrumentalist agenda for "cultural policy studies" and proposes an alternative view of cultural policy as a matter for the widest possible critical and cultural debate. Illustrating his case with examples from recent cultural policy initiatives in Britain, the United States and Australia, McGuigan considers a range of topics which include: the American "culture ware"; the flattening of cultural hierarchies and the blurring of cultural boundaries according to a postmodernist and petit-burgeois imaginary; the rise of managerialist and market reasoning in public arts administration and broadcasting; the "post-Fordist" restructuring of the cultural industries; urban regeneration strategies under conditions of de-industrialization and worsening social exclusion; and national culture, museums, themeparks and the global phenomenon of heritage tourism.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"The most important Marxist cultural theorist after Gramsci, Williams' contributions go well beyond the critical tradition, supplying insights of great significance for cultural sociology today... I have never read Williams without finding something worthwhile, something subtle, some idea of great importance" - Jeffrey C. Alexander, Professor of Sociology, Yale University Celebrating the significant intellectual legacy and enduring influence of Raymond Williams, this exciting collection introduces a whole new generation to his work.

Jim McGuigan reasserts and rebalances Williams' reputation within the social sciences by collecting and introducing key pieces of his work. Providing context and clarity he powerfully evokes the major contribution Williams has made to sociology, media and communication and cultural studies. Powerfully asserting the on-going relevance of Williams within our contemporary neoliberal and digital age, the book: Includes texts which have never been anthologised before Situates Williams' work both biographically and historically Provides a comprehensive introduction to Williams' social-scientific work Demonstrates the enduring relevance of cultural materialism.

Original and persuasive this book will be of interest to anyone involved in theoretical and methodological modules within sociology, media and communication studies and cultural studies.

Neoliberal Culture presents a critical analysis of the impact of the global free-market - the hegemony of which has been described elsewhere by the author as 'a short counter-revolution' - on the arts, media and everyday life since the 1970s.

Thomas Frank coined the term 'the conquest of cool'. This book shows how this conquest is at the heart of the dynamics of contemporary capitalism.Jim McGuigan argues that 'cool capitalism' incorporates disaffection into capitalism itself, absorbing rebellion and thereby neutralising opposition to the present system of culture and society.McGuigan explores a huge variety of cultural examples, from the sleek images of mainstream advertising, to the fringes of artistic production, offering a vigourous critique of our understanding of subversion, resistance and counter-culturalism.Has capitalism really colonised our planet? McGuigan shows that there is still some space left for rebellion against the seductive power of the free market economy.
Jim McGuigan is Professor of Cultural Analysis at Loughborough University, UK. He is the author of several books, including Cultural Populism (1992), Culture and the Public Sphere (1996), Modernity and Postmodern Culture (1999, 2nd edn 2006), Rethinking Cultural Policy (2004) and Cultural Analysis (2009). Thomas Frank coined the term 'the conquest of cool'. This book shows how this conquest is at the heart of the dynamics of contemporary capitalism. Jim McGuigan argues that 'cool capitalism' incorporates disaffection into capitalism itself, absorbing rebellion and thereby neutralising oosition to the present system of culture and society. McGuigan explores a huge variety of cultural examples, from the sleek images of mainstream advertising, to the fringes of artistic production, offering a vigourous critique of our understanding of subversion, resistance and counter-culturalism. Has capitalism really colonised our planet? McGuigan shows that there is still some space left for rebellion against the seductive power of the free market economy.

'Jim McGuigan has done it again. The complex cultural machinery hiding behind the apparently simple 'facts of life' still fresh in our collective memory, has been pulled out from its hiding, exposed, disassembled and put together again, and showed in action of shaping up its products; all that done to the benefit of us all - simultaneously producers and product of the life we share. Another great contribution to cultural studies; and to our understanding of the world notorious for defying/escaping understanding. This is exactly what we need 'cultural analysis' for' - Professor Zygmunt Bauman, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Leeds 'Jim McGuigan is one of cultural studies' leading practitioners. This volume is a generous and wide-reaching exploration of how to use cultural theory to explore a wide variety of topics, brought together under the sign of the struggle for a vigorous, participatory public sphere' - Toby Miller, University of California This book represents a distinctive approach to cultural analysis, using multi-dimensional methods for addressing issues of public interest. Stressing the impact of both neoliberalism and the formation of a 'cool capitalist culture' that has colonised everyday life around much of the globe, Jim McGuigan deploys his original concept of the 'cultural public sphere' within several carefully analysed case studies, including: * celebrity death * festivals and urban regeneration * 'race' and multicultural controversy * popular television * social significance of the all purpose mobile communication device in a privatised and individualised way of life * riskiness and uncertainty in the creative and media industries This is a radical intervention in the research agendas and conceptual development of cultural policy studies, cultural sociology and, more generally, in the broad field known as 'cultural studies'. It offers challenging theoretical arguments that are substantiated with concrete evidence of cultural and social processes.

"The most important Marxist cultural theorist after Gramsci, Williams' contributions go well beyond the critical tradition, supplying insights of great significance for cultural sociology today... I have never read Williams without finding something worthwhile, something subtle, some idea of great importance" - Jeffrey C. Alexander, Professor of Sociology, Yale University Celebrating the significant intellectual legacy and enduring influence of Raymond Williams, this exciting collection introduces a whole new generation to his work.

Jim McGuigan reasserts and rebalances Williams' reputation within the social sciences by collecting and introducing key pieces of his work. Providing context and clarity he powerfully evokes the major contribution Williams has made to sociology, media and communication and cultural studies. Powerfully asserting the on-going relevance of Williams within our contemporary neoliberal and digital age, the book: Includes texts which have never been anthologised before Situates Williams' work both biographically and historically Provides a comprehensive introduction to Williams' social-scientific work Demonstrates the enduring relevance of cultural materialism.

Original and persuasive this book will be of interest to anyone involved in theoretical and methodological modules within sociology, media and communication studies and cultural studies.

Thomas Frank coined the term 'the conquest of cool'. This book shows how this conquest is at the heart of the dynamics of contemporary capitalism.Jim McGuigan argues that 'cool capitalism' incorporates disaffection into capitalism itself, absorbing rebellion and thereby neutralising opposition to the present system of culture and society.McGuigan explores a huge variety of cultural examples, from the sleek images of mainstream advertising, to the fringes of artistic production, offering a vigourous critique of our understanding of subversion, resistance and counter-culturalism.Has capitalism really colonised our planet? McGuigan shows that there is still some space left for rebellion against the seductive power of the free market economy.

Information and communication technologies are said to be transforming urban life dramatically and bringing about rapid economic and cultural globalization. This book explores the many fascinating and urgent issues involved by relating advanced theoretical debates to practical matters of communication with cultural policy. It maps out a range of `optimistic' and `pessimistic' scenarios with special regard to various forms of inequality, particularly class, gender and geopolitical. Topics discussed include urban planning, virtual cities and actual cities, economic and political policy, and critical social analysis of current trends that are of momentous consequence. The book concludes that it is necessary to bring together a number of differently informing approaches, cultural, economic, political and technological, to make sense of a field of dynamic and contradictory forces.

Cultural Methodologies illustrates the distinctiveness and coherence of cultural studies as a site of interaction between the humanities and the social sciences. Topics covered include: the relationship between critical theory and cultural studies; the pragmatics of cultural research and education; ethical questions and research purposes; the role of feminism in cultural studies; the uses of autobiography; the analysis of city cultures; textual analysis and ethnographic procedures; constructions of identity in relation to `race', sexuality and nationhood; the use of qualitative and quantitative data; and some of the main issues involved in generating research findings for a thesis or other publication. The book is written for students either commencing or intending to do research in cultural studies. It stresses how necessary it is to consider and plan very carefully the rationales and principles in research while avoiding the straitjacket of `methodolatory'.

This lively and stimulating resource book for students of cultural studies traces the formation of the field in Britain and its subsequent development internationally. Classic statements of culturalist, semiological, and postmodernist perspectives are contrasted with less familiar material illustrating the impact of feminism and the politics of sexuality, ethnicity, and race. This second, greatly expanded edition includes a new section exploring recent important work in international cultural studies, and provides key readings on the social construction of the self and the role of public policy in the cultural field.

Jim McGuigan discusses cultural policy as a manifestation of cultural politics in the widest sense. Illustrating his case with examples from recent cultural policy initiatives in Britain, the United States and Australia, he looks at:
* The rise of market reasoning in arts administration
* Urban regeneration and the arts
* Heritage tourism
* Race, identity and cultural citizenship
* Censorship and moral regulation
* The role of computer-mediated communication in democratic discourse