ABSTRACT
‘Cultural theory’, as it is mainly used in academic and public discourse, has implicit locational and intellectual attachments to Europe. This chapter will attempt to show that the formation and development of cultural theory in America is a story of migration, much like the self-professed story of the nation itself, mostly from Europe. Beginning with the consideration of the outline of the historical and intellectual development of cultural theory in America by starting with figures of what may be called its pre-history, including Adorno, Horkheimer and Susan Sontag, the chapter tracks the development of theories of culture in the United States, specifically focusing on the work of John Fiske, Susan Willis, Janice Radway, Fredric Jameson and Stanley Aronowitz. The chapter concludes by summarizing the main criticisms of the American cultural studies/cultural theory approach and elaborating some of the outgrowths of this form of cultural theory in scholarship and beyond.
