Culture/power/history : a reader in contemporary social theory

Abstract

The intellectual radicalism of 1960s spawned a set of questions about 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 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 control of definitions of reality. Such insights have led theorists to challenge concepts that have long formed very underpinnings of their disciplines. By exploring some of most debated of these concepts--culture, power, and history--this reader offers an enriching perspective on social theory in contemporary moment.Organized around these three concepts, Culture/ Power/History brings together both classic and 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, book seeks to affirm creative possibilities available in a time marked by growing uncertainty about established disciplinary forms of knowledge and by increasing fluidity of boundaries between them. The book is introduced by a major synthetic essay by editors, which calls attention to most significant issues enlivening theoretical discourse today. The editors seek not only to encourage scholars to reflect anew on 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 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 [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 Masses), Susan McClary (Living to Tell: Madonna's Resurrection of Fleshly), Sherry B. Ortner (Theory in Anthropology since 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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