Cultural Studies

This hands-on survey introduces students to the diverse fields that comprise cultural studies, from visual culture to popular music and new media. It can be used as a standalone text or is the perfect companion volume to Ryan's Cultural Studies: An Anthology.

• Provides a comprehensive overview of the field, from cyberculture and digital media to fashion and new formulations of gender identity
• Includes student exercises and activities for each chapter
• Teaches cultural analysis through practical examples and application
• Gives students across disciplines the tools to become practitioners of Cultural Studies and active cultural analysts
• The perfect companion volume to Ryan's Cultural Studies Anthology (2008)

Preface viii

Acknowledgments xiii

1. Policy and Industry 1

2. Place, Space, and Geography 12

3. Gender and Sexuality 26

4. Ideologies 40

5. Rhetoric 53

6. Ethnicity 71

7. Identity, Lifestyle, and Subculture 83

8. Consumer Culture and Fashion Studies 94

9. Music 105

10. Media Studies 122

11. Visual Culture 136

12. Audience, Performance, and Celebrity 150

13. Bodies and Things 161

14. Transnationality, Globalization, and Postcoloniality 170

Index 180

Michael Ryan is Professor of Film and Media Arts at Temple University. His books include An Introduction to Film Analysis, Marxism and Deconstruction, Politics and Culture, Camera Politica, Cultural Studies; An Anthology, and Literary Theory: A Practical Introduction. Culture is the software of our lives: it is the program we live by and the rules that determine how we think and act. Yet these rules are dynamic, changing as we speak, write, and create – changing as we live. This innovative text provides a comprehensive introduction to Cultural Studies, from cyberculture and digital media to fashion and the new formulations of gender identity. The perfect companion volume to Ryan's Cultural Studies: An Anthology, this hands-on guide introduces students to the diverse fields that comprise Cultural Studies, from visual culture to popular music and new media.

With an emphasis on student exercises and activities, Ryan teaches cultural analysis through practical examples and applications. More than just a summary of the major ideas in the field, this wide-ranging introduction gives students of many disciplines the tools to become practitioners of Cultural Studies and active cultural analysts.

"This is a sprightly and engaging tour around all the major points of reference in the field of Cultural Studies. Up-to-date and comprehensive in its coverage, with an array of interesting student exercises, it will be invaluable in the classroom and students would be hard pressed to find a more comprehensive and accessible handbook."
—Paul Smith, George Mason University