Introduction to Cultural Theory
and Cultural Studies
Arum Budiastuti, M.C.S.
Longhurst, Brian, Greg Smith, Gaynor Bagnal, Garry Crawford
and Miles Ogborn (2008) ‘Culture and Cultural Studies’ in
Introducing Cultural Studies. Harlow: Pearson, pp. 1 – 24.
Culture: Definitions
According to Raymond Williams (one of the founder of
Cultural Studies)  three uses of the term culture:
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as artistic activity
ex. engaging in music, literature, theatre, film, painting
as way of life (anthropology and some schools of sociology)
constructing meaning of symbols of particular way of life/signifying
practices. Ex. to study culture is to study the meaning of a style of
dress, a norm, a language, etc. In this sense, however, the definition
must be distinguished from the concept of society. Society refers to
the pattern of social interactions and relationships between
individuals and groups, and creates culture(s).
as a process of development (History)
ex. involves historical process
Illustration
Rock and Roll may be analized:
- by the skill of the performers (artistic activity)
- by its association with youth culture (way of life)
- As a musical form which is originated from older music
form and influences later music forms (historical
process)
“Cultural Studies approach facilitates the identification of
core issues or problems that no one discipline or approach
can solve on its own”. Therefore, the nature of cultural
studies is interdisciplinary.
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How do people become part of a culture?
acculturation/enculturation  Anthropology
conditioning  Psychology, ex. psychoanalysis
socialization  Sociology
All concepts above pay attention on various
social arrangements in how humans learn about
meaning.
The core issue of cultural studies is the
interpretation of meaning, and it involves
issues of evidence and relativism.
How does Cultural Studies interpret what things
mean?
Anthropologists see culture as shared understandings
and groupings in society
Sociologists, ex. Berger and Luckmann (1966) 
Human knowledge of the world is socially constructed, or
through social location (age, gender, race, class) and
interaction with other people. If so, we only see the world
from certain angles  relativism.
Conclusion: There’s no true knowledge.
Therefore, interpretation of meaning is a core issue of
Cultural Studies, and it relates to how we understand the
past and present.
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Historical Relativism
In terms of past and present, there is tradition, which is
not objective, but culturally constructed (means that
some things are included and some others are
excluded). Ex:
1. English written tradition: poem, prose 
canon and non-canon, high culture. Low culture
Ex. Shakespeare, Puccini’s/Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma
2. Scottish traditional costume, Kilt, was significant for
the Highlands but then was taken over by the
lowlands as distinctive feature. So, its meaning is
constantly changing in Scottish society.
Scottish Kilts:
Then and Now
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Cultural Relativism
Interpretation of cultures from different parts of the world
or different sections of our own society. Ex: interpret
non-European culture and between man and women.
Hollis and Lukes (1982) put both historical and cultural
relativism under ‘perceptual relativism’:
the degree to which perception is relative, i.e. when
we look at something, do we actually see the same
thing as another person looking at it?;
Conclusion: in studying culture, we must think about who
we are, where we come from, and what our position is,
to understand who and what we study.
Example: Interpreting Pitchard’s Nessun Dorma
Further issue of perceiving or valuing
culture
Due to cultural and historical relativism, there
are notions of ‘high culture’ and ‘popular/mass
culture’.
This question of boundaries between levels of
culture and the justification is an area of central
concern for cultural studies. Thus studies of the
processes of boundary maintainance and
change are issues of cultural change and
continuity (culture as a process of development).
These issues and concerns in cultural relativism
introduces a strong aspect in culture: power.
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How do we understand the relationship between
cultures?
The conventional way of studying culture is to see cultures as mutually
exclusive blocs that interact along a boundary or ‘zone of contact’  often
desribes the relationship in terms of ‘destruction’ or ‘corrupts’ another, for
ex. through the process of colonialism or globalisation.
Weaknesses (according to the author):
1. We’ll face not only one culture in one ‘territory’ but many, since culture is
also a matter of class, age, gender, status.
2. It does not operate simply in terms of stronger cultures destroying
weaker ones. Because culture is a never-ending process of socially made
meaning, it adapt, change and mutate into new forms  hybridation.
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Culture and Power
Since culture is a product of interaction and part of social
world, it is shaped by significant line of force that
operates in the social world.
All societies is organised politically and economically,
and these arrangements produce certain social
formation. The interests of dominant groups in society
affect cultures. One way is through construction of
tradition and the its distribution through the population.
Another view is that the dominant group uses mass
culture to drug subordinate groups (propaganda theory).
Whatever view employed, culture is always linked with
politics and power relations. This relation is also a fruitful
area of cultural investigation.
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How is ‘culture as power’ negotiated and resisted?
Due to different interests in society, there will be negotiation and
resistance. Four areas of struggle and negotiation that concern
cultural studies are around gender, race, class, and age. Ex. Gender
definitions and relations are never fixed and it becomes the product
of power struggle. These struggle and resistance from the
‘subordinated’ groups often disturb the dominant ones since it is a
threat to their domination.
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How does culture shape who we are?
Struggle and negotiation above are often around questions of
cultural identity. Identity is very often connected to place both
locally or widely. This serves as important issue in the study of
culture, in which identities are constructed and how they reflect
particular distribution of power.
Next, how do we address these cultural issues and phenomena?
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Theorising Culture
Theories of culture tries to address the issues
and problems and to unite them within
framework of explanation. Therefore, theorising
needs abstraction and looks for connections in
terms of general principle or concepts.
The main features of some leading theoretical
approaches in cultural studies are:
1. functionalism and structuralism
2. poststructuralism or posmodernism
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Functionalism and Structuralism
Functionalists argue that culture functions as solution to problems of social
order because it contains values, the sahed ideas about what is desirable in
society. Culture ‘oils the wheels’ as it also maintains economy and political
system. More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_functionalism
Structuralists believe that a phenomenon studied should be seen as
consisting of a system of structure. The system and the relationship between
different elements are more important than the individual element making up
the the system. According to Allison Assiter, there are four ideas regarding
structuralism: 1) the structure determines the position of each element of a
whole; 2) believe that every system has a structure; 3) interested in the
structural laws dealing with coexistence rather than changes; and 4)
structures are the 'real things' that lie beneath the surface or the appearance
of meaning. More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuralism
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Poststructuralism
It emerges as a response on binary definitions developed from structuralism.
Poststructuralism often works with the way in which versions of truth are
produced in texts and through interpretation, which is always in dispute.
Unlike structuralism which tends to find the real structure or ‘truth’,
poststructuralism tends to be more playful in practice, not outcome.
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Social structure and social conflicts: class, gender and race
There are theorists who believe that culture is a product of social
conflict. While Marxists see social conflict between classes,
feminists see gender relation as an unjust system. In this view,
society is structured by the dominant group, legitimizing inequality.
Thus cultural domination is an essential element of economic and
political control.
However, culture need not be seen as dependent upon social
structure, but it also can shape social structure. Max Weber, for ex.,
showed that the beliefs of the early Protestant sects played a key
causal role in the establishment of capitalism. His intention was to
show how ideas can be ‘effective’ forces in the historical
development of societies (Weber, 1930:183).
Foucault presents a more interwoven view of relationship between
culture and society. In his notion of ‘discourse’, he argues that social
groups, identities, and positions or any other cultural meanings are
produced within discourses. So, there is a flexible set of relationship
between power, discourse, and what exist in the world.
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Conclusion
Cultural studies is an ‘inter-discursive space’, which substance and
methods are constituted from the collaboration of disciplines around
the topic of culture. There are no fixed boundaries in the study. Its
strength lies in its openness so that it may transform and grow.
There are three main models of research in Cultural Studies:
1. production-based studies, involves the process and
struggle over the production of cultural items;
2. text-based studies, investigates the forms of cultural
products; and
3. studies of lived cultures, concerned with how
experience is presented.
Cultural studies is an area of activity that grows from interaction and
collaboration to produce issues and themes that are new and
challenging.