On culture and inequality: theorising cultural difference
Don Miller
8 or 12 points * 2 hours per week * First semester * Clayton
The subject centres on a critical examination of the contributions to theories of cultural difference of Pierre Bourdieu and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Both theorists have confronted the complex interrelationship between the formation and transformation of systems of cultural differentiation on the one hand and the formation and transformation of systems of enduring social inequality on the other. While Bourdieu has concentrated on the reproduction of social class, Spivak has turned her attention to the reproduction of inequalities based in gender differentiation and imperialist domination. The subject is not confined to the consideration of issues that arise within Western societies but deals also with those that arise within the context of our relationships with Asia and India in particular.
Assessment
Two class exercises (1500 words): 15% each * Essay (6000 words): 70%
Preliminary reading
Hawkes T Structuralism and semiotics Methuen, 1977
Weedon C Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory Polity, 1992
Recommended texts
Bourdieu P The logic of practice Polity, 1992
Spivak G In other worlds Methuen, 1987