Full Description
Interpreting Everyday Culture is the first book comprehensively to introduce first and second year University students to cultural studies approaches to everyday life. It is a lively, accessible textbook that prompts its readers to take a fresh, critical look at the familiar yet strangely intriguing terrain of daily life in modern, industrialized societies. The book introduces the student of cultural studies to a range of key theoretical concepts in the discipline through simple, cogent explanations illustrated with a variety of engaging examples. These range from discussions of graffiti, bodybuilding and fashion to analysis of cultures of the city, the suburb, and the domestic home and daily practices like eating, shopping, and getting around. The book raises a series of thought-provoking questions, including: * How do we make meaning and find pleasure through the everyday preparation and consumption of food? * What is "lifestyle," exactly, and when and why was it invented? * How are our personal identities tied up with our work activities and environments? * How do quotidian technologies such as the telephone shape our daily lives?* How does commodity culture impact on our understanding of who we are and how should we understand the complex relationships between our selves and the products we consume? Contemporary Culture and Everyday Life is written with the level of its readership specifically in mind. Emphasis is on clarity and conciseness of explanations; as many relevant, illustrative examples as possible; and regular questions and exercises to stimulate students to actively apply the theory to their own experience.
Table of Contents
Notes on contributors iv
Acknowledgements v
Introduction 1 (14)
Fran Martin
Section 1: Theorizing the everyday
Section introduction 11 (4)
Fran Martin
The ideologies of everyday life 15 (17)
Brett Farmer
The politics of everyday life 32 (22)
Brett Farmer
Section 2: The spaces of everyday life
Section introduction 49 (5)
Fran Martin
The city 54 (13)
Chris Healy
At home in the suburb 67 (20)
Annamarie Jagose
Fran Martin
Chris Healy
Everyday work 87 (22)
Greg Noble
Section 3: Everyday life and commodity culture
Section introduction 103(6)
Fran Martin
The invention of lifestyle 109(15)
Annamarie Jagose
Shopping 124(16)
Audrey Yue
Fashion 140(19)
Annamarie Jagose
Section 4: Everyday practices
Section introduction 154(5)
Fran Martin
Eating 159(14)
Audrey Yue
Everyday technology 173(15)
Brett Farmer
Getting around 188(21)
Audrey Yue
Photo essay insert: car cultures and 192(17)
identity
Fran Martin
Glossary 209(12)
Fran Martin
Index 221
