KEY ISSUES IN CRITICAL & CULTURAL THEORY

From a man with electric underpants, to the indelible mark of 9/11 in a global cultural imaginary, Kate McGowan addresses the questions of cultural meaning and value which confront us all today. The book explores the often complex paradigms of critical thinking and discusses the possibilities of engaging and critiquing the cultural values that relate to our present.

Dealing directly with the issues entailed in cultural analysis, the book avoids simply looking at the eminent authors or movements in critical and cultural theory, and instead focuses on why studying culture matters to us today:

• What are the ‘proper’ objects of cultural study?

• What makes something ‘art’?

• What can critical and cultural theory contribute to contemporary debates about ethics?

• What possibilities are opened up by theories of ‘otherness’ in thinking about the stranger or outsider in today’s society?

• How does a culture contest its own values – in relation to race, gender, class, sexuality and a variety of faiths and abilities?

“Key Issues in Critical and Cultural Theory” is key reading for students studying humanities, and for those with an interest in culture, aesthetics, ethics and philosophy who want to understand how these affect the world.

Kate McGowan is Senior Lecturer in English at the Manchester Metropolitan University and is Programme Leader for the MA Critical Theory. She is co-editor of “A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader, ” now in its second edition.