Author Description

A fully revised edition of this highly regarded concise introduction to cultural theory.The past twenty years have witnessed an extraordinary expansion of interest in cultural theory and in cultural studies, much of it self-consciously 'radical' in political intent and purpose. Contemporary Cultural Theory is designed both as a general introduction to the increasingly complex international debates within this burgeoning field, and as a deliberately controversial, at times polemical, intervention into current debate in Australia itself. Contemporary Cultural Theory identifies six alternative paradigms in cultural studies: utilitarianism, culturalism, marxism, structuralism, feminism and postmodernism. It explores how each of these have been imported into Australia: utilitarianism through dominant cultural instututions marxism and feminism through the social movement and women's movement culturalism through the discipline of 'English' on the one hand and radical nationalism on the other structuralism and postmodernism through the contemporary radical academy.Aimed at undergraduate students working in cultural studies, Australian studies and literary studies, Contemporary Cultural Theory will also interest anyone involved in the processes of radical cultural and social change.