Utveckla Cultural Studies

(Eller: Håll gruset kvar i maskineriet)

Abstract

In the last twenty years Cultural Studies have had a remarkable impact on the academy in Britain, inspiring new approaches to research in both the humanities and the social sciences, and yet cultural studies scholars continue to see themselves as under attack from the traditional disciplines. This essay suggests a number of reasons for this, examining, in particular, the problem of cultural studies' "populism", and focusing on the difficult relationship between cultural studies and media studies.

While it is indisputable that we now live in mediated societies, that such grand social science concepts as citizenship, socialisation, authority and globalisation can only now be understood by reference to the media, it also remains true that we can distinguish between media studies and cultural studies approaches to contemporary life by reference to different academic identities and styles. From this perspective, cultural studies is not a discipline as such but an ongoing disciplinary critique. It is defined by its importance and its marginality.