Culture and Power

Also available in hardback, 9781845201166 GBP55.00 (March, 2007)

Focuses on power to shape a history of Cultural Studies. An analysis of the nature and purpose of Cultural Studies, this book assesses the development of the discipline from the work of Michel Foucault in post-war France and the Birmingham Centre for Cultural Studies in the 1970s to the expansion of the field in the United States.Power has long been a central preoccupation of social and cultural analysis. Culture and Power focuses on power to shape a history of Cultural Studies. A critical analysis of the nature and purpose of Cultural Studies, the book assesses the development of the discipline from the work of Michel Foucault in post-war France and the Birmingham Centre for Cultural Studies in the 1970s to the expansion of the field in the United States and present-day concerns with culture, politics and ethics.As Cultural Studies has shifted, the concept of power has changed and become more problematic. Moving on from the celebrated 'culture wars' - and battles over language, objective knowledge and disciplinary values and meanings - Culture and Power unravels the social, ideological and political knots bound up in the concept of power. In doing so, the book charts not only the history but also the possible future of Cultural Studies.