What are the problems with “Cultural Studies”?
- No agreement on meaning of the term
- No agreement on necessity of the discipline
- No agreement on subject matter
- Incoherent terminology
What are the three major perspectives on “Cultural Studies” discussed in the lecture?
- Kulturwissenschaften
- Kulturwissenschaft
- Cultural Studies
What is the Basic Idea of the “Kulturwissenschaften” perspective?
Cultural studies is an additional aspect of traditional discipline. It is part of traditional disciplines providing them with the cultural context of their subject matter.
What are the problems of the “Kulturwissenschaften” approach?
- Lack of common terminology/frame of reference (Culture is a vast field which requires many questions being asked…The approach taken can vary based on interest)
- No integrated treatment of complex cultural phenomena (The disciplines didn’t talk to each other)
What is the basic idea of the “Kulturwissenschaft” approach?
They thought there should be an independent field of study that provides a common ground for traditional disciplines without
making them superfluous. (Common terminology etc.)
What are the problems of the “Kulturwissenschaft” approach?
- Theoretical “overkill”
- Danger of Dilettantism
What does the “Cultural Studies” approach refer to?
In the English speaking world it very often refers to what was done at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies which existed from 1964 to 2002. This was a decidedly leftist endeavour.
What is the Basic Idea of the “Cultural Studies” approach?
It was a supposed to be a new discipline (on the same level as traditional disciplines) covering hitherto neglected forms of culture.
They claimed that what we call culture is an elitist phenomenon. Well into the 1980s Culture was decided by “the elites”. According to this approach Cultural Studies should study what people do not what they should do.)
What was the goal of the “Cultural Studies” approach?
The emancipation of the working class (by focusing on neglected forms of culture)
What are the problems of the “Cultural Studies” approach?
- Blurrs the difference between high and low culture (Why is this relevant?)
- Political propaganda disguised as scholarship (It confuses working-class culture with Kulturindustrie)
From which perspective is Cultural Studies approached within the lecture?
Cultural studies within this lecture will be understood as an umbrella term of the three terms. But it focuses on the “Kulturwissenschaft und Birmingham Cultural Studies approach.
What is the issue when asking “What is Culture?”?
We still don’t understand what the common demoninator of Culture is.
What is the Definition of Culture according to the Kulturwissenschaften approach?
“Kultur besteht nicht nur aus sprachlichen Zeichen […], sondern sie umfasst zumindest auch:
1. Institutionen und Rituale (soziale Kultur),
2. Artefakte und Fertigkeiten (materiale Kultur),
3. Mentefakte und Konventionen (mentale Kultur),”
Traditionally in the Kulturwissenschaften approach the fields of human studies were attributed to the three dimensions.
What are the aspects of the definitions of Culture according to the Kulturwissenschaften approach?
- Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture.
- An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social
learning. - The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.
What is the focus of the “Kulturwissenschaft” approach?
How the (in the Kulturwissenschaften approach defined) dimensions of culture interact with each other.
What does “Kulturwissenschaft” attempt?
It attempts to overcome the isolated focus on one of the social, mental and material dimensions in traditional disciplines.
What Definition of Culture was kept in the lecture?
Culture is a complex network of mental, social, and material phenomena characteristic for groups of different sizes.
What is the most challenging question in cultural studies?
In which mode the three dimensions of culture interact among one another.
What are the implications of the new cultural studies approach in literary studies?
- Literary Scholarship has much to offer to and much to gain from Cultural Studies (It is both a product of and about culture).
- The Cultural Studies approach in Literary Scholarship stands in extreme opposition to more traditional, text-centred approaches
- Cultural Studies is a provocation of individualistic and idealistic world-views (Are we really free-thinking and free-acting individuals?).
- Cultural Studies always have a political and a philosophical dimension.
What do “Culturally Shared Worldviews” refer to?
Members of the same (sub-)culture tend to see the world similarly to a higher degree than members of different cultures.
Which question is cultural studies trying to answer?
How can we have (only) culturally shared worldviews, given that it’s the same world we all see and a very similar cognitive system we see it with?
Which problem are Marxism and German Idealism trying to solve?
How do we know that the things in our heads mirror the world outside?
