Cultural Studies

Cultural Studies is an academic and practical concept originating in the Anglo-American world that describes, analyzes, and seeks to improve everyday and contemporary intra- and intercultural behaviors, relationships, and conflicts between different social groups.

Definition

The term Cultural Studies is difficult to delineate, as it has emerged from various historical and sociocultural streams. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word culture originally derives from the Latin noun cultura, meaning „growth“ or „cultivation.“ While in the 16th century it still referred to the cultivation of land, in the 19th century the reference to the cultivation of human thought and behavior emerged (see Oxford Dictonary 2018).

Nowadays, when culture is spoken of, in everyday usage it usually refers to the culture lived by humans. According to Waldenfels, it refers to everything that people make of themselves and their environment as well as the processes that result, such as (symbolic) behaviors and rituals, art, social institutions, media, and technology, but also human influence on nature (cf. Assmann 2012, 13). In connection with culture, there is often the concept of nation, which combines political aspects of living together and is to be distinguished from the concept of society, which rather describes social organizations (cf. Hofstede/ Hofstede 2011, 18).

Cultural Studies – an interdisciplinary field

Cultural Studies is a young interdisciplinary field in research and teaching that deals with constructs such as ideology, social milieu, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender (cf. academicroom 2018). It combines a wide variety of fields in the social sciences and humanities, such as literature, politics, philosophy, history, and media studies. Combining these disciplines, cultural studies seeks to explain how meanings, attitudes, rituals, social systems, and institutions are produced and generated in a culture (cf. academicroom 2018).

Origin

According to Assmann, Cultural Studies developed into an academic discipline in the United States in the 1980s (cf. Assmann 2012, 19).

The term was coined by Hoggart in 1964 and subsequently followed up by Hall. Until then, the concept of culture had referred exclusively to high culture, with a strictly prescribed literary canon. Younger generations felt unrepresented by the constraints of the academic elite in university towns like Cambridge, so they emigrated to working-class towns. There they built a new culture according to their visions and interests, borrowing from masterminds like Kant.

As a result of this social change, a new mass and popular culture emerged in the English-speaking world in the 1970s and 1980s that included, for example, the working class, women, and immigrants. This led for the first time to a conscious formation of identity and demarcation of different ethnicities, sexualities, nationalities, and other minorities, and thus also brought disadvantages. More than describing a culture, cultural studies also show the difficulties of trying to define and delimit cultures, as they are subject to constant change (cf. Assmann 2012, 20).

Distinction from Cultural Studies

The idea of Cultural Studies must be distinguished from the term German Kulturwissenschaft. The latter largely takes place in an academic context, related to literature and historical context, such as collective memory. German cultural studies also deals heavily with meaning-making symbol systems within cultures (see Hanenberg et al. 2010, 62-63). Here, reciprocal social structures and relationships between cultures are studied. Cultural studies, on the other hand, are more political and strive for an active integration of minorities as well as the transition from high culture to pop culture. German cultural studies, on the other hand, tends to withdraw from this trend toward pop culture described above (see Hanenberg et al. 2010, 240-243).

Literature

Academic Room: http://www.academicroom.com/topics/what-is-cultural-studies [30.06.2018].

Assmann, Aleida (2012): Introduction to Cultural Studies. Topics, Concepts, Issues. Berlin: Erich Schmidt.

Hanenberg, Peter/ Capeloa Gil, Isabel/ Clara, Fernando/ Viana Guarda, Filomena (2010): Changing frames in cultural studies. Würzburg: Königshausen and Neumann.

Hofstede, Geert/ Hofstede, Gert Jan (2005): Cultures and Organizations. Software of the Mind. Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival. New York: Mc Graw-Hill.

Oxford Dictionary: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/culture [25 Jun. 2018].