ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with one particular point of interface between these sets of ideas: in particular, with those areas of recent political thought which constitute points of overlap between the concepts of the movement and key trends within cultural studies and cultural theory. As Mark Gibson shows, power is really the central concept of cultural studies—which assumes that power infuses all social relations—and probably the most influential account of power within the field is that developed in the later work of Michel Foucaulty. One reason that Foucault’s account proved so attractive within cultural studies almost from the moment of its publication is that it emphasises, as cultural studies always has done, the sheer complexity of power relationships. Creativity is another key issue for any attempt to theorise politics and culture. Nonetheless, Hardt and Negri’s work remains a tremendous resource: a diagrammatic map of current systems of power, if not an exhaustive enumeration.
