About the Book
• How has the meaning of culture been reconsidered?
• What impact has this had on approaches to social enquiry?
• Should culture be seen as central to social science?
Over the past three decades there has been a transformation in the ways that social science has been conducted. In order to understand what is happening, we have to explore the implications of a rethinking of the meaning of culture, from a hierarchical system of classification to contested space. This wide-ranging introduction to the concept of culture examines the ways in which we approach social inquiry, and argues that cultural theory can help to overcome problems in disciplinary and interdisciplinary analysis. Mark J. Smith explores how changes in the meaning of ‘culture’ have pinpointed key shifts in the way we research society, and draws on contemporary sociology, psychology, politics, geography and the study of crime to consider the ways in which cultural transformation has changed the landscape of social research. He concludes with a persuasive and focused discussion of the centrality of culture in postdisciplinary social science. This landmark text represents essential reading for students and researchers with an interest in the cultural dimensions of social science.
Contents
1. A Genealogy of Culture: from Canonicity to Classification
2. Culture and Everyday Life: the Ordinary is Extraordinary
3. Culture and Structure: the Logic of Mediation
4. Culture and Hegemony: Towards the Logic of Articulation
5. Contested Cultural Spaces Identity, discourse and the Body
6. Culture and the Prospects for a Postdisciplinary Social Science
About the Author / Editor
Mark J. Smith is Lecturer in Social Sciences at the Open University, teaching and researching in the philosophy of the social sciences, ecology, social and political theory, cultural politics, critical theory and sociology. He is also Visiting Professor in the Philosophy and Methodology of the Social Sciences at the University of Oslo. His recent works include Rethinking State Theory (2000), Thinking Through the Environment (1999), Social Science in Question (1998), and Ecologism (1998).
