Lesson 1  Lesson 2  Lesson 3  Lesson 4  Lesson 5  Lesson 6  Lesson 7  Lesson 8  Lesson 9  Lesson 10

Cultural Studies |Культурология

LESSON 1

Read the text: CULTURE. CULTURAL STUDIES

Culture (Latin: cultura, lit. "cultivation") is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. However, the word "culture" is most commonly used in three basic senses:
·       Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture
·       An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning
·       The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group.
When the concept first emerged in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe, it connoted a process of cultivation or improvement, as in agriculture or horticulture. In the nineteenth century, it came to refer first to the betterment or refinement of the individual, especially through education, and then to the fulfillment of national aspirations or ideals. In the mid-nineteenth century, some scientists used the term "culture" to refer to a universal human capacity.
In the twentieth century, "culture" emerged as a concept central to anthropology, encompassing all human phenomena that are not purely results of human genetics. Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively. Following World War II, the term became important, albeit with different meanings, in other disciplines such as cultural studies, organizational psychology and management studies.
The etymology of the modern term "culture" has a classical origin. In English, the word "culture" is based on a term used by Cicero, in his Tusculan Disputations, wrote of a cultivation of the soul or "cultura animi", thereby using an agricultural metaphor to describe the development of a philosophical soul, which was understood teleologically as the one natural highest possible ideal for human development.
The "term "culture," which originally meant the cultivation of the soul or mind, acquires most of its later modern meanings in the writings of the eighteenth-century German thinkers. Two primary meanings of culture emerge from this period: culture as the folk-spirit having a unique identity, and culture as cultivation of inwardness or free individuality. The first meaning is predominant in our current use of the term "culture," although the second still plays a large role in what we think culture should achieve, namely the full "expression" of the unique of "authentic" self.
Cultural studies is an academic discipline popular among a diverse group of scholars. It combines political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, philosophy, museum studies and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in various societies. Cultural studies researchers often concentrate on how a particular phenomenon relates to matters of ideology, nationality, ethnicity, social class, and/or gender. The term was coined by Richard Hoggart in 1964 when he founded the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. It has since become strongly associated with Stuart Hall, who succeeded Hoggart as Director.
Cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural anthropology and ethnic studies in both objective and methodology. Researchers concentrate on how a particular medium or messagerelates to matters of ideology, social class, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, and/or gender.
Cultural studies approaches subjects holistically, combining feminist theory, social theory, political theory, history, philosophy, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, communication studies, political economy, translation studies, museum studies and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in various societies. Thus, cultural studies seeks to understand the ways in which meaning is generated, disseminated, and produced through various practices, beliefs, institutions, and political, economic, or social structures within a given culture.
In his book Introducing Cultural Studies, Ziauddin Sardar lists the following five main characteristics of cultural studies:
·       Cultural studies aims to examine its subject matter in terms of cultural practices and their relation to power. For example, a study of a subculture (such as white working class youth in London) would consider the social practices of the youth as they relate to the dominant classes.

·       It has the objective of understanding culture in all its complex forms and of analyzing the social and political context in which culture manifests itself.
·       It is both the object of study and the location of political criticism and action. For example, not only would a cultural studies scholar study an object, but she/he would connect this study to a larger, progressive political project.
·       It attempts to expose and reconcile the division of knowledge, to overcome the split between tacit cultural knowledge and objective (universal) forms of knowledge.
·       It has a commitment to an ethical evaluation of modern society and to a radical line of political action.

1. Match the left part with the right:

2. Complete the sentences with the suggested words: grounded; concerns; as well as; in both; relates

              Cultural studies is an academic field ______________in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally__________ the political nature of contemporary culture, ________                                   its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural anthropology and ethnic studies__________objective and methodology. Researchers concentrate on how a particular medium or message _________                  to matters of ideology, social class, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, and/or gender.