Politics and culture

A key way in which cultural studies has been influential

is in its transformations of the ideas of what is ‘pol-

itical’. Indeed, many of those who want to use the term

‘cultural politics’ for their work on culture would argue

that ‘everything is political’. By this they mean that

everything is a matter of contested power relations. bell hooks (p. 141) argues that ‘Vigilant insistence that cultural studies be linked to a progressive radical cultural

politics will ensure that it is a location that enables

critical intervention’ (hooks, 1991: 9). This means a

move away from more conventional notions of what is

‘political’ – the realm of parliaments, political parties,

international relations, state institutions, bureaucra-

cies, trade unions and so on – and broadens out the

field of study to include the politics of art and litera-

ture, the politics of gender and race, and the politics of

everyday life.