ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts presented in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines various theoretical approaches to cultural studies including Marxist theories of culture, the Frankfurt School, the Birmingham School, poststructuralism and postmodernism, and feminism. It discusses one of the most important political contributions of feminism to cultural studies lies in its thematization of cultural practices and traditions suppressed by dominant male culture, including the cultures of gay people. The Frankfurt sociology of culture is enormously relevant in that it represents the first significant revision of the Marxist theory of culture, via Lukacs. The book explores Marcuse's Freudianization of Marxism allowed him to engage with, even momentarily to embrace, the 'new sensibilities' as prefigurative agents of a new world. Anti-Marxism is increasingly fashionable; to wear its symbol epitomizes postmodernism, the trendiest of social philosophies today.
