ASM4290

Theorising culture

Don Miller

12 points 2 hours per week First semester Clayton

Objectives Upon completion of this subject students should be able to demonstrate substantial familiarity with recent debates in cultural and social theory; articulate the analytical skills, theoretical vocabularies and conceptual apparatuses studies in the subject; demonstrate a sense of their own personal and cultural reflexivity; write clear, grammatically syntactically appropriate, independent essays on the topics chosen for assessment.

Synopsis This subject aims to establish the theoretical foundations for the analysis of culture, society and of specific social and cultural forms. These will be examined from a range of, often competing, theoretical perspectives. Discussion will centre on theories associated with French structuralism and post-structuralism; German sociology and critical theory; and British social theory and cultural studies. Each of these will be examined for its respective treatment of the relationship between individual creativity, culture and society.

Assessment One seminar paper (3000 words): 40% Long essay (6000 words): 60%

Preliminary reading

Culler J Literary theory: A very short introduction OUP, 1997
Milner A Contemporary cultural theory: An introduction Allen and Unwin, 1991
Nugent S and Shore C (eds) Anthropology and cultural studies Pluto Press, 1997

Prescribed texts

Beilharz P (ed.) Social theory: A guide to central thinkers Allen and Unwin, 1992
Bourdieu P and Macquant L J D An invitation to reflexive sociology Chicago U P, 1992
Weedon C Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory Blackwell, 1987

Recommended texts

Bourdieu P In other words: Essays towards a reflexive sociology Stanford U P, 1990
Bourdieu P Language and symbolic power Polity, 1991
Dumont L Homo hierarchicus Chicago U P, 1970
Habermas J The philosophical discourse of modernity Polity, 1987
Jameson F Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism New Left Books, 1991
Levi-Stauss C The view from afar Basic Books, 1985
Spivak G In other worlds: Essays in cultural politics Methuen, 1987

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