Theorizing Culture - by Barbara Adam & Stuart Allan (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

An accessible introduction to the expanding field of cultural studies, Theorizing Culture provides a range of critical perspectives on contemporary cultural forms, practices, and identities. In an era of posts', terms such as postmodernism, postcolonialism, post-Enlightenment, post-feminism, post-disciplinary, and even post-history pervade much of the conceptual terrain for cultural research. At the same time, more familiar analytical categories, such as representation, experience, reality, and power, have been neglected.
This book agrees with the important postmodern focus on contingency, temporality, and situational definitions of the world. Without the neutral ground of modernism beneath our feet, we face culturally specific, contingent questions of value. Extending beyond the postmodern debate to reinstate the critical dimension in cultural analysis, this anthology covers a wide range of contemporary subjects, such as the body, AIDS, race, the environment, and virtual reality.

Review Quotes

"A timely and important study of immigration into the United States, a vital topic that will not go away."-Kenneth E. Boulding, University of Colorado

"An important and valuable book for policy-maker and layman alike. . . . More than any other recent treatment of the subject, "Immigrants and the American City" gathers all the available evidence, and addresses all the important questions--and counterquestions--about immigration. And while arguing cogently for his own pro-immigration position, Muller affords the reader ample opportunity to decide for himself. In any public policy area, such a book stands out as an achievement. In immigration, it verges on being an inspiration." -"The Washington Post Book World",

"An important, well-researched, and thoughtful book on one of the key issues on the American domestic agenda." -Nathan Glazer, Harvard University

"With superb use of a variety of analytical tools, Muller amply demonstrates that immigration did a great deal to create the economic and social vitality of America's gateway cities, ' while immigration restriction, coupled with middle-class flight to the suburbs, contributed to the rapid deterioration of those same centers after the 1920s. The increase in and changing nature of immigration after the 1960s has once again made the cities into immigrant centers, with positive results in business and job creation and the revitalization of whole neighborhoods. Although the cities have paid a price, especially in conflict between immigrants and domestic minorities, Muller argues the benefits accrued have been far more substantial than the costs."-"Choice",