Download or read book Profane Culture written by Paul E. Willis and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-08-24 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic of British cultural studies, Profane Culture takes the reader into the worlds of two important 1960s youth cultures—the motor-bike boys and the hippies. The motor-bike boys were working-class motorcyclists who listened to the early rock 'n' roll of the late 1950s. In contrast, the hippies were middle-class drug users with long hair and a love of progressive music. Both groups were involved in an unequal but heroic fight to produce meaning and their own cultural forms in the face of a larger society dominated by the capitalist media and commercialism. They were pioneers of cultural experimentation, the self-construction of identity, and the curating of the self, which, in different ways, have become so widespread today. In Profane Culture, Paul Willis develops an important and still very contemporary theory and methodology for understanding the constructions of lived and popular culture. His new preface discusses the ties between the cultural moment explored in the book and today.
Download or read book Profane Culture written by Paul E. Willis and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-08-24 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic of British cultural studies, Profane Culture takes the reader into the worlds of two important 1960s youth cultures—the motor-bike boys and the hippies. The motor-bike boys were working-class motorcyclists who listened to the early rock 'n' roll of the late 1950s. In contrast, the hippies were middle-class drug users with long hair and a love of progressive music. Both groups were involved in an unequal but heroic fight to produce meaning and their own cultural forms in the face of a larger society dominated by the capitalist media and commercialism. They were pioneers of cultural experimentation, the self-construction of identity, and the curating of the self, which, in different ways, have become so widespread today. In Profane Culture, Paul Willis develops an important and still very contemporary theory and methodology for understanding the constructions of lived and popular culture. His new preface discusses the ties between the cultural moment explored in the book and today.
Download or read book The Holy Profane written by Teresa L. Reed and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2003 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Culture of Stone written by O. W. Hampton and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this unique study, Hampton describes the complete cultural inventory of both secular and sacred stones, ranging from utilitarian stone tools and profane symbolic stones to symbolic spirit stones, power stones with multiple functions, and medicinal power stone tools.
Download or read book The Sacred and the Profane written by Mircea Eliade and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1959 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Famed historian of religion Mircea Eliade observes that even moderns who proclaim themselves residents of a completely profane world are still unconsciously nourished by the memory of the sacred. Eliade traces manifestations of the sacred from primitive to modern times in terms of space, time, nature, and the cosmos. In doing so he shows how the total human experience of the religious man compares with that of the nonreligious. This book serves as an excellent introduction to the history of religion, but its perspective also emcompasses philosophical anthropology, phenomenology, and psychology. It will appeal to anyone seeking to discover the potential dimensions of human existence. -- P. [4] of cover.
Download or read book Understanding Material Culture written by Ian Woodward and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2007-05-09 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In his interdisciplinary review of material culture, Ian Woodward goes beyond synthesis to offer a theoretically innovative reconstruction of the field. It is filled with gems of conceptual insight and empirical discovery. A wonderful book." - Jeffrey C. Alexander, Yale University "A well-grounded and accessible survey of the burgeoning field of material culture studies for students in sociology and consumption studies. While situating the field within the history of intellectual thought in the broader social sciences, it offers detailed and accessible case studies. These are supplemented by very useful directions for further in-depth reading, making it an excellent undergraduate course companion." - Victor Buchli, University College London Why are i-pods and mobile phones fashion accessories? Why do people spend thousands remodelling their perfectly functional kitchen? Why do people crave shoes or handbags? Is our desire for objects unhealthy, or irrational? Objects have an inescapable hold over us, not just in consumer culture but increasingly in the disciplines that study social relations too. This book offers a systematic overview of the diverse ways of studying the material as culture. Surveying the field of material culture studies through an examination and synthesis of classical and contemporary scholarship on objects, commodities, consumption, and symbolization, this book: introduces the key concepts and approaches in the study of objects and their meanings presents the full sweep of core theory - from Marxist and critical approaches to structuralism and semiotics shows how and why people use objects to perform identity, achieve social status, and narrativize life experiences analyzes everyday domains in which objects are important shows why studying material culture is necessary for understanding the social. This book will be essential reading for students and researchers in sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, consumer behaviour studies, design and fashion studies.
Download or read book Cultural Theory written by Tim Edwards and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2007-08-01 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Written by some of the leading thinkers in the field, the book is an excellent resource for longstanding and contemporary issues in cultural theory. Comprehensive and well-written." - David Oswell, Goldsmiths College This timely volume provides a framework for understanding the cultural turn in terms of the classical legacy, contemporary cultural theory and cultural analysis. It reveals the significance of Marxist humanism, Georg Simmel, the Frankfurt School, Stuart Hall and the Birmingham School, Giddens, Bauman, Foucault, Bourdieu and Baudrillard. Readers receive a dazzling, critical survey of some of the primary figures in the field. However, the book is much more than a Rough Guide tour through the ′great figures′ in the field. Through an analysis of specific problems, such as transculturalism, transnationalsim, feminism, popular music and cultural citizenship, it demonstrates the relevance of cultural sociology in elucidating some of the key questions of our time.
Download or read book Learning to Labor written by Paul E. Willis and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1981 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Claims the rebellion of poor and working class children against school authority prepares them for working class jobs.
Download or read book Religions in the Modern World written by Linda Woodhead and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-13 with total page 615 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations, Third Edition is the ideal textbook for those coming to the study of religion for the first time, as well as for those who wish to keep up-to-date with the latest perspectives in the field. This third edition contains new and upgraded pedagogic features, including chapter summaries, key terms and definitions, and questions for reflection and discussion. The first part of the book considers the history and modern practices of the main religious traditions of the world, while the second analyzes trends from secularization to the rise of new spiritualities. Comprehensive and fully international in coverage, it is accessibly written by practicing and specialist teachers.
Download or read book Culture on drugs written by Dave Boothroyd and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-19 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Never has a reconsideration of the place of drugs in our culture been more urgent than it is today. Culture on drugs addresses themes such as the nature of consciousness, language and the body, alienation, selfhood, the image and virtuality and the nature/culture dyad and everyday life. It then explores how these are expressed in the work of key figures such as Freud, Benjamin, Sartre, Derrida, Foucault and Deleuze, arguing that the ideas and concepts by which modernity has attained its measure of self-understanding are themselves, in various ways, the products of encounters with drugs and their effects. In each case the reader is directed to the points at which drugs figure in the formulations of ‘high theory’, and it is revealed how such thinking is never itself a drug-free zone. Consequently, there is no ground on which to distinguish ‘culture’ from ‘drug culture’ in the first place. Culture on drugs offers a novel approach and introduction to cultural theory for newcomers to the subject, simultaneously presenting an original thesis concerning the articulation of modern thought by drugs and drug culture.
Download or read book Cannabis Sacred and Profane written by Christopher Partridge and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-08-22 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focussing on the ways in which cannabis has been demonized, sacralized and normalized, Christopher Partridge analyses the complex and often difficult relationship Western societies have had with the plant since the nineteenth century. After an introduction to cannabis and its uses, the book discusses how and why it was constructed as a profane influence and a marker of deviance. It then examines the emergence of medicinal cannabis, showing how this has contributed to its normalization and even its sacralization. Finally, there is a discussion of sacred cannabis, which looks at its use within modern occultism, Rastafari and several cannabis churches. Overall, the book provides a cultural history of cannabis in the modern world, which exposes the underlying reasons for the various and changing attitudes to this popular psychoactive substance.
Download or read book Making Music Making Society written by Josep Martí and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2018-01-23 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A society is the result of interacting individuals, and individuals are also the result of this interaction. This interaction happens through music, among other factors. As such, music constitutes a powerful resource for symbolic interaction, which constitutes the medium and substance of a culture. The importance of music in a society is clearly brought to light in the role that it plays in the three basic parameters of the social logics: identity, social order and the need for exchange. If music is so important to us, it is because, apart from its assigned aesthetic values, it fits closely with the dynamics of each of these three different parameters. These parameters, which are consubstantial to the social nature of the human being, constitute the core of the book as they manifest in musical practices. This publication addresses important issues such as the role of music in shaping identities, how music and social order are intertwined and why music is so relevant in human interaction. The last part of the book explores issues related to the social application of musical research. The volume brings together specialists from different academic disciplines with the same powerful starting point: music is not merely something related to the social, but rather a social life itself, something capable of structuring the social experience.
Download or read book Religion and Politics Under Capitalism written by Stefan Arvidsson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-04-17 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book relates some of the major trends within religion and politics to offer a historical framework with which to assess their interactions and a point of departure for studies to come. The study of the interrelationship between contemporary religious practice and modern politics is divided between several scholarly disciplines, all embracing different terminologies as well as multiple theoretical and philosophical premises. Such diversity of perspectives is to be welcomed, but it can inhibit the ability of academics to form a cohesive and coherent dialogue around the subject. While critically assessing the historic, sociological, political, theological and anthropological aspects of religion and politics, the book demonstrates the crucial importance of recognising the capitalist economy as the framework for understanding their dynamic relationship. Moreover, it claims that humanism is the proper lens through which to critically engage with religion in society and must be the favoured point of departure for any study within the field. This book offers a unique overarching viewpoint for of all these divergent scholarly trends and traditions. As such, it will be of significant use to academics in religious studies, political science, sociology and anthropology.
Download or read book Music in Everyday Life written by Tia DeNora and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-06-08 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The power of music to influence mood, create scenes, routines and occasions is widely recognised and this is reflected in a strand of social theory from Plato to Adorno that portrays music as an influence on character, social structure and action. There have, however, been few attempts to specify this power empirically and to provide theoretically grounded accounts of music's structuring properties in everyday experience. Music in Everyday Life uses a series of ethnographic studies - an aerobics class, karaoke evenings, music therapy sessions and the use of background music in the retail sector - as well as in-depth interviews to show how music is a constitutive feature of human agency. Drawing together concepts from psychology, sociology and socio-linguistics it develops a theory of music's active role in the construction of personal and social life and highlights the aesthetic dimension of social order and organisation in late modern societies.
Download or read book Utopics written by L. Marin and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-01-06 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Cultural Populism written by Jim McGuigan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11-01 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2004. This book provides a novel understanding of current thought and enquiry in the study of popular culture and communications media. The populist sentiments and impulses underlying cultural studies and its postmodernist variants are explored and criticized sympathetically. An exclusively consumptionist trend of analysis is identified and shown to be an unsatisfactory means of accounting for the complex material conditions and mediations that shape ordinary people’s pleasures and opportunities for personal and political expression. Through detailed consideration of the work of Raymond Williams, Stuart Hall and ‘the Birmingham School’, John Fiske, youth subcultural analysis, popular television study, and issues generally concerned with public communication (including advertising, arts and broadcasting policies, children’s television, tabloid journalism, feminism and pornography, the Rushdie affair, and the collapse of communism), Jim McGuigan sets out a distinctive case for recovering critical analysis of popular culture in a rapidly changing, conflict-ridden world. The book is an accessible introduction to past and present debates for undergraduate students, and it poses some challenging theses for postgraduate students, researchers and lecturers.
Download or read book Knowledge Expertise and the Professions written by Michael Young and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-24 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has long been recognised that specialised knowledge is at the core of what distinguishes professions from other occupations. The privileged status of professions in most countries, however, together with their claims to autonomy and access to specialised knowledge, is being increasingly challenged both by market pressures and by new instruments of accountability and regulation. Established and emerging professions are increasingly seen as either the solution, or as sources of conservatism and resistance to change in western economies, and recent developments in professional education draw on a competence model which emphasises what newly qualified members of a profession ‘can do’ rather than what ‘they know’. This book applies the disciplines of the sociology of knowledge and epistemology to the question of professional knowledge. What is this knowledge? It goes beyond traditional debates between ‘knowing how’ and ’knowing that’, and ‘theory’ and ‘practice’. The chapters cover a wide range of issues, from discussions of the threats to the knowledge base of established professions including engineers and architects, to the fraught situations faced by occupations whose fragile knowledge base and professional status is increasingly challenged by new forms of control. While recognising that graduates seeking employment as members of a profession need to show their capabilities, the book argues for reversing the trend that blurs or collapses the skill/knowledge distinction. If professions are to have a future then specialised knowledge is going to be more important than ever before. Knowledge, Expertise and the Professions will be key reading for students, researchers and academics in the fields of professional expertise, further education, higher education, the sociology of education, and the sociology of the professions.