Cultural Studies combines literary theory, film/video studies, sociology, and cultural anthropology to study cultural phenomena in industrial societies. Frequently, the major issue under examination is how a particular phenomenon pertains to matters of ideology, race, social class, and/or gender.
Ziauddin Sardhar lists five main characterics of Cultural Studies in his book "Introducing Cultural Studies." These are:
- Cultural studies aims to examine its subject matter in terms of cultural practices and their relation to power.
- Its objective is to understand culture in all its complex forms and to analyse the social and political context in which it manifests itself.
- It is both the object of study and the location of political criticism and action.
- It attemps to expose and reconcile the division of knowledge, to overcome the split between tacit (cultural knowledge) and objective (universal) forms of knowledge.
- It is committed to a moral evaluation of modern society and to a radical line of political action.
See also: postmodernism, queer theory, popular culture, gender studies, orientalism, critical theory, feminism, semiotics
