Mike NixFaculty of Law

Welcome to

Cultural Studies

Why study culture?

• What do you think we look at when we study culture?

• Why it is useful or interesting to study culture?

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

What is Cultural Studies?

• Way of looking at culture and society

• Started in Britain in 1960s and 1970s

• Spread globally in 1980s and 1990s

• Combines cultural anthropology ( 文化人類学 ) with sociology ( 社会学 ), politics ( 政治学 ) esp. Marxism, literary studies ( 文学 ) and others – very interdisciplinary ( 学際的 )

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

What is Cultural Studies?

• A critical approach to culture and society

• It focuses on inequality and discrimination between groups in society

• It looks for the causes of inequality and discrimination in culture

• It wants to change culture and society to end inequality and discrimination

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

What does Cultural Studies look at?

Like cultural anthropology, cultural studies looks at:

• culture = common, shared ideas, beliefs, customs, ways of behaving in a society

But it also asks:

• where these ideas, beliefs, etc, come from, and what effect they have on social roles and relations (e.g. for men and women)

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

Cultural Studies looks at…

…where these ideas, beliefs, etc, come from:

• High culture ( 教養 ), e.g. literature, art, philosophy, etc,

But particularly…

• Popular culture/mass culture ( ポップカルチャー /大衆文化か ) & mass media - TV, movies, adverts, popular music, sport, fashion, consumption ( 消費 )

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Cultural Studies looks at…

E.g. ideas about women’s role as mothers

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Cultural Studies is very interested in….

Identities of groups in society, their roles and the relations between them:

• sex (female/male) • gender (femininity/masculinity)• sexuality (homosexuality/heterosexuality)• age/generation (child/adult;teenager/middle-aged/old)• social class (working class/middle class/upper class)• nationality (Japanese, Korean, British, etc)• ethnicity (Japanese, Ainu, Okinawan, Korean, British, etc)• race (African/Caucasian/Asian, etc)

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

Cultural Studies is very interested in….

• How these identities are represented (in images, stereotypes and discourses) in the mass media and popular culture

• How representations often focus on differences between identities (e.g. between masculinity and femininity, between Japanese and Chinese people

• How representations often show one identity to be normal, or superior and another to be abnormal (unusual) of inferior

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Cultural Studies is very interested in….

Identities, difference and power relations

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Cultural Studies is also interested in…

• The difference between what is cultural/social (made by human beings and can be changed) and what is natural/biological (can’t be changed by human beings)

• How identities (e.g. roles of and differences men and women represented as natural (male/female) or cultural (masculine/feminine)

Cultural Studies tries to show the cultural/social aspects of identity and emphasizes how these can be changed

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Cultural Studies is also interested in…

Struggles and conflicts over which ideas are dominant in society

Nike LogoCriticism of the use of child labour by NikeCultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

Your thoughts so far

• What are some interesting points for you about Cultural Studies?

• What questions do you now have about Cultural Studies?

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

Representations of gender roles and relations

In many societies…

• sexual violence & rape is almost always by men against women

• women are paid less than men (for same work)

• men dominate leadership roles in politics, business, media, etc

How do representations of gender contribute?Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

Representations of gender roles and relations

Women as sex objectsMen as dominant, active

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

Representations of gender roles and relations

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Representations of foreigners

2003 report in Britain: government policy on asylum seekers (refugees) is affected by fear caused by “moral panics” in the media rather than by reason

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Representations of black people in the media

2011 Report in Britain: coverage of black young men and boys by subject in the news media:

• Crime 66.9%• Discrimination 5.2%• Gang violence/weapons 4%• Achievements/positive role in community 3.8%• Role models 2.4%• Celebrities/sports stars 2.6%• Education 1.6%• Family 1.4%

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

Representations of black people in the media

How does this affect police attitudes to black people?

Black people were 7 times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people in 2009/10

BBC News

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Representations of sexuality in the media

Studies show that, by the time they enter elementary school, many children in the US think heterosexuality is the norm and homosexuality is abnormal, unusual and unexpected

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Representations of sexuality in the media

Heterosexuality is also the norm in advertising

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Representations of sexuality in the media

But this is also changing…

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

Representations of sexuality in the media

But this is also changing…

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1

Western representations of Japan

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What do you think?

• What similarities or differences do you notice with the representation of identities in Japan or another society you know?

• What are some areas in Japanese society, or another society you know, where you feel there is a problem with inequality or discrimination that should be changed?

• How do representations of identity on the in the media and popular culture affect this problem?

Cultural Studies 2012 Pres 1