Search

This book approaches cultural conceptualizations of our modern world from cultural, linguistic and cognitive perspectives. It explores broader topics such as contemporary society, media and entertainment, migration and identity, political discourse, educational contexts and creative linguistic innovation, all of which are seen as interwoven and mutually complementary segments of our present-day social world. This publication brings a fresh multi-cultural approach reflected in applying the principles of cultural linguistics to the analysis of different aspects of language use across four continents – Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The issue of shared cultural conceptualizations being their common denominator, the chapters of this book shed light on how various cultural groups use language to communicate their ideas and beliefs both within and outside their own culture, bearing in mind the often contradictory nature of the present-day social world that, at the same time, unites and disintegrates social groups. Benefiting scholars from fields within the broad spectrum of the humanities and social sciences who are interested in culture, discourse, linguistics, sociology, migration and politics, the book uncovers challenging new trends, inviting its readers to further explore the vast interconnected fields of language, culture and cognition in the turbulent 21st Century. Chapter 5 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

In diesem Buch wird das Verständnis von Interkulturalität und interkultureller Kompetenz bei einem Automobilkonzern erforscht. Dafür wurden Experteninterviews mit Führungskräften des gehobenen Managements durchgeführt. Die Interviews wurden mit der Qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse nach Udo Kuckartz und der Objektiven Hermeneutik nach Ulrich Oevermann ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden qualitativ-empirischen Studie zeigen, dass Interkulturalität und interkulturelle Kompetenz innerhalb des Organisationskontextes vom Führungspersonal unterschiedlich ausgelegt und gehandhabt werden. Aus dem empirischen Material wird in Fallanalysen und -vergleichen eine qualitative Typologie mit vier kulturbezogenen Grundorientierungen herausgearbeitet.

Caribbean countries have had to navigate multiple crises, which have tested their collective resolve through time. In this regard, the region's landscape has been shaped by an interplay of vulnerability and resilience which has brought to the fore possibilities and contradictions. It is within this context that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic must be considered. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on COVID-19 and the Caribbean, Volume 2: Society, Education and Human Behaviour provides a comprehensive, multi- and interdisciplinary assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, using the Caribbean as the site of enquiry. The edited collection mobilises critical perspectives brought to bear on research produced within and beyond the boundaries and boundedness of conventional academic disciplinary divides, in response to the multi-dimensional crises of our time. This volume is divided into four (4) parts consisting of twenty-three (23) chapters and weaves together fourbroad thematic strands: COVID-19 and Caribbean Society; COVID-19 Religion and Rights; Psycho-social Impacts of COVID-19; and Education, Innovation, and Technology. Authors working within and across the human, social, physical and life sciences consider the myriad effects of the health crisis in the region, interrogating these experiences from the granular to macro level, utilising inter and multidisciplinary lenses. Collectively, the chapters which constitute Volume II expose the fault lines in Caribbean societies, which are deeply rooted in the region's history and delineate the precise ways in which the pandemic has transformed lives and livelihoods in the region. The culmination of this collection offers a reimagining of our Caribbean contemporary futures in the hope of finding home-grown solutions, avenues and possibilities.

This book proposes new design and development models for local cultural and creative products, intended to improve the quality of these products and to preserve or enhance their local economic benefits. Building a knowledge base of design symbols and information gleaned from local history can be used to simplify the process of creative product design and increase the efficiency of product development. This book proposes a method for grasping the essential elements of symbols and culture so as to accelerate product development and capture the essence of culture in product design. In addition, it demonstrates that exhibitions applying scenario-oriented design can not only strengthen the representation of local culture, history and stories, but also support product consumption. As a result, the book offers a valuable asset for boosting the efficiency of creative product design and promoting the consumption of creative cultural products.

This volume offers a cross-section of a good fifteen years of research in the sociology of technology and innovation at the Department of Sociology of Technology headed by Werner Rammert at the TU Berlin. All contributions in this volume were initiated or discussed there and thus bear in a certain sense a'Berlin signature'- not in the sense of a clearly delimited scientific school, but rather in the form of an open discussion group with different, but mutually related focal points. The Berlin Key, which gives it its title, imposes on all its users the program of action objectified in its mechanism:'User, if you want to take the key back to yourself after unlocking the door and go your way, you must lock the door again first. Unlike that Berlin key, the'Berlin Keys to the Sociology of Technology'presented here offer a set of keys to different butinterconnected conceptual and methodological approaches in social science research on technology and innovation.

This book provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of the topic of culture in the context of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and a structured overview of a large body of HCI research on (and with) culture. The book presents a short and guided overview of the concept of culture. It offers some background on the origin and development of the term culture. It also outlines some of its key traits and ingredients and summarizes three main perspectives of culture across disciplines. The book argues that culture matters considerably in HCI and discusses a number of reasons for and against its relevance. Arguments against include a lack of a universal or common definition of the term culture and globalization. Arguments in favor touch upon important aspects of HCI, including a diversely growing user base, the need to provide designers with enough support to design across cultures, and the inseparable relationship between culture and technology. The issues explored in this book can be classified into three, non-mutually exclusive, categories: theoretical, practical, and controversial. The book outlines the main conceptual perspectives of culture within HCI, including Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, Edward T. Hall's cross-cultural theory of communication, and Richard Nisbett's cultural cognitive systems of thought as well as examining the ways in which culture has been operationalized in HCI research and the main functions of culture in this area. It closes with a discussion of some open issues intended to spark debate and future research. The literature this book draws upon covers a wide range of research disciplines, including Anthropology, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Robotics, Disability Studies, Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology, Usability, and Design. This book aspires to provide a useful overview of culture for HCI scholars at all levels.

Cities are synonymous with the production and consumption of culture. It is their material and human cultural infrastructure that also makes them archives and works of art. The Cultural Infrastructure of Cities critically re-examines the relationship between the urban and its cultures. It expands our understanding of the concept of urban cultural infrastructure and highlights the foundational role of culture to the materiality and sociality of urban life and the governance of cities. The book begins with a theoretical overview of the cultural and infrastructural turns in urban studies scholarship. It then explores definitions of cultural infrastructure and its “hard” and “soft” dimensions before critically considering the vulnerabilities generated in the cultural sector by the Covid-19 pandemic. Chapters are organised in four thematic sections focusing on aspects of producing, performing, consuming and collecting culture, which feature detailed case studies from 17 cities across the global North and South. This book will be of interest not only to students and scholars of urban studies, but also to policy-makers planning and creating cultural infrastructures as well as those working in cultural institutions and creative industries.

Cultural entrepreneurship uses culture as a way to understand innovative business ventures. Culture in this edited book involves the beliefs and values associated with certain forms of behaviour. This means the way individuals are involved in business ventures is based on their cultural ideas. This edited book focuses on how cultural entrepreneurship is an important way to understand how cultural products and services such as art, food, music and literature influence the development of business ventures. Thereby highlighting the interesting and unique way cultural ideas are embedded in entrepreneurial activities.

The book presents aspects of cross-currents of theorizing of self, culture and society in the contemporary Taiwan. Social theorizing has been addressed critically, reflectively and creatively by the philosophical, religious, psychological and literary traditions of one of the world's great civilizations Theorizing is a dynamic movement of self, culture, society and the world as it is related to our actions, reflections, meditations to understand the world more meaningfully and holistically as well as to transform it. But much of social theorizing in the modern world is primarily Euro-American and despite the socalled globalization of knowledge, this condition of one-sided Euro-American valorization of knowledge and neglect of others continues unabated. There is very little attention to theorizing about the human condition emerging from other parts of the world such as Taiwan and its global implication. This book transforms this condition by mapping the fieldof theorizing in a wider spectrum of philosophy, psychology, religions, social sciences and humanities in contemporary Taiwan.

Manuel Castells wird von vielen als einer der ersten Analytiker des Informationszeitalters und der Netzwerkgesellschaft gesehen, der den Zusammenhang zwischen der digitalen und der gesellschaftlichen Revolution erkannte.In diesem kleinen, zum Klassiker avancierten Buch bringt er seine Erfahrung und sein Wissen zur Internet-Galaxie zusammen: Wie hat alles angefangen? Aus welchen zusammenarbeitenden oder konkurrierenden Kulturen besteht das Internet? Wie werden neue Unternehmen dadurch organisiert, wie werden alte Unternehmen davon beeinflusst? Gibt es die „digitale Wasserscheide“? Welchen Einfluss hat das Internet auf soziale und kulturelle Organisationsformen? Wie werden politische Teilhabe, politische Kommunikation, das städtische Leben beeinflusst?Dies sind nur einige Fragen, die in diesem Buch aufgegriffen werden. Castells gibt aber weder Prognosen ab, noch liefert er Patentrezepte – er gibt eine erhellende, auf empirischen Daten beruhende Analyse der Situation.

Geld ist heute ein sachlich, zeitlich und sozial ubiquitäres Phänomen. Es fällt schwer – trotz sich verstetigender Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrisen in der jüngeren Vergangenheit –, sich Geld wegzudenken oder sich auch nur ein anderes Geld(-system) zu denken. Diese Ubiquität steht im Kontrast zu einer hochgradig selektiven wissenschaftlichen Behandlung, die es verunmöglicht, den kultur-evolutionären Stellenwert des Geldes adäquat abzuschätzen. Die neoklassische Ökonomik ist durch eine (seit Adam Smith kolportierte) tauschtheoretische Engführung von Geld limitiert. Geld gilt dort strukturell als auch verteilungspolitisch weithin als neutral, also nicht als evolutionärer Mechanismus aus eigenem Recht. Die Neue Wirtschaftssoziologie hat zwar zu Recht den Modellplatonismus der Mainstream-Ökonomik kritisiert und auf die soziale Einbettung der Wirtschaft hingewiesen. Sie hat es in diesem Zuge aber nicht zu einer eigenständigen Geldtheorie gebracht. Das Buch präsentiert Überlegungen zu einer interdisziplinär informierten soziologischen Geldtheorie in kultur-evolutionärer Absicht. In zwei historischen Studien (zu Mesopotamien ab dem vierten Jahrtausend v.u.Z. sowie zum Griechenland des ersten Jahrtausends v.u.Z.) werden die koevolutionären Prozesse von Geldentwicklung, Schriftentwicklung und Rationalitätsentwicklung detailliert rekonstruiert. Einer solchen Forschungsperspektive gelingt es, die in der Soziologie etablierte problematische Dichotomie von Einbettungs- und Ausdifferenzierungsparadigmen durch eine integrative Perspektive zu überwinden und aufzuheben.

This edited volume examines cultural criticism in the digital age. It provides new insights into how critical authority and expertise in a cultural context are being reconfigured in digital media and by means of digital media, as the boundaries of cultural criticism and who may perform as a cultural critic are redefined or even dissolved. The book applies cross-media and cross-disciplinary perspectives to advance cultural criticism as a wide-ranging and multi-facetted object of study in the 21st century. Presenting a broad collection of case studies, including global cases such as the Golden Globe, the Intellectual Dark Web, YouTube, Rotten Tomatoes and Artsy and particular national contexts such as Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark and the Netherlands, the book showcases the many theoretical and methodological approaches that may serve as useful frameworks for studying new critical voices in the digital age. It will be of interest to media, communication and journalism scholars as well as scholars from a range of aesthetic disciplines.

Studien unter dem Vorzeichen der Kulturgerontologie verstehen das Alter nicht als eine biologisch definierte Lebensphase, sondern als Teil sozialer Praxis und kultureller Ordnung. Die interdisziplinäre Annäherung an die Lebensphase Alter passiert dabei vor dem Hintergrund von Praxistheorien, Diskurstheorien, Materialitätstheorien oder Kulturtheorien. Empirisch geht mit dieser Neuausrichtung eine Erforschung des Alltagsnahen und Lebensweltlichen, des impliziten Wissens, der sozio-materiellen Arrangements und der Ästhetisierungen des Alterns einher. Der Band bildet die Vervielfältigung und Synthese von disziplinären Perspektiven der Kulturgerontologie im deutschsprachigen Raum ab und zeigt damit neue Wege auf, die Lebensphase Alter zu gestalten.

This volume presents the preliminary results of the work carried out by the interdisciplinary cultural techniques research lab at the University of Erfurt. Taking up an impulse from media studies, its contributions examine —from a variety of disciplinary perspectives—the interplay between the formative processes of knowledge and action outlined within the conceptual framework of cultural techniques. Case studies in the fields of history, literary (and media) studies, and the history of science reconstruct seemingly fundamental demarcations such as nature and culture, the human and the nonhuman, and materiality and the symbolical order as the result of concrete practices and operations. These studies reveal that particularly basic operations of spatialization form the very conditions that determine emergence within any cultural order. Ranging from manual and philological'paper work'to practices of opening up and closing off spaces and collective techniques of assembly, these case studies replace the grand narratives of cultural history focusing on micrological examinations of specific constellations between human and nonhuman actors.

Culture's Engine offers an insightful and penetrating analysis of the enduring relationship between technology and society. William Gosling explores in absorbing historical detail how humans have experienced change through a sequence of technological revolutions, each giving rise to new social organisation, which in turn influences the shape and timing of the next such revolution. Gosling argues that it is through this dialogue that successful technology sets the direction and pace of all cultural evolution. The state of technology at any time is the major influence on the world, and not just the material world. This book then is not a history of technology, still less of science. It fundamentally questions how technology and social forces interact, leading to these successive revolutions and their outcomes.

Angst ist nicht nur eine menschliche Grundemotion, sondern ein gesellschaftliches Phänomen. Jüngst wurde sie zum charakteristischen Gefühl westlicher Gegenwartsgesellschaften erklärt und insbesondere mit politisch regressiven Entwicklungen, allen voran dem Aufstieg des Rechtspopulismus, in Verbindung gebracht. Ausgehend von Befunden eines aktuell veränderten gesellschaftlichen Stellenwerts der Angst untersucht der Sammelband in interdisziplinärer Perspektive gegenwärtige Ursachen, Auswirkungen, Repräsentationen, Ausprägungen, Deutungen und Praktiken der Angst. Mithilfe unterschiedlicher konzeptueller, theoretischer und methodisch-empirischer Zugänge werden im Sinne einer interdisziplinären Gesellschaftswissenschaft der Angst die vielfältigen sozialen, politischen und kulturellen Bedeutungen der Angst in gegenwärtigen Gesellschaften beleuchtet.

Das Buch hinterfragt, inwiefern sich die ethnisch durchmischte Zusammensetzung der brasilianischen Gesellschaft in den aus der Theorie bekannten Dualismus von Multikulturalismus und Transkulturalität einordnen lässt. Der brasilianische Begriff der mestiçagem – übersetzt mit Rassenmischung – wird also in diesem zeitgenössischen Kontext kulturbezogener Forschung neu vermessen. Die Autorin reflektiert ideengeschichtlich multi- und transkulturelle Ansätze und zeigt auf, dass diese oftmals von einer westlich zentrierten Voreingenommenheit eingeengt sind. Der Blick auf die brasilianische Identitätskonstruktion wird als Anstoß genommen, über alternative Perspektiven nachzudenken.

This book develops a theory of aesthetic fiction's impact on social identities. Throughout five case studies, the author develops the argument that social identities are nurtured by and may even emerge through the conflict between different aesthetic expressions. As it creates affective structures, narrative fiction enables the development and formation of political and cultural identities. This work is part of a field of research that deals with the aesthetics of the everyday and the idea of social aesthetics. It argues for a central role for the arts in the creation and formation of modern society. Social identities emerge in response to aesthetic-sensual patterns of perception.Focusing on five West German public debates in the years 1950 to 1990, this work sheds light upon the transformation of social reality through the discursive adaption of art.

This book explores the nature of modern culture as a culture of anxiety, analyzing the modes in which such anxiety presents itself. Drawing on sociological and philosophical concepts of modernity, the author builds on the work of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud to offer an understanding of modern anxiety culture as the reverse side of risk culture, which stabilizes itself by concealing or making familiar the social phenomena of risk society. Through explorations of memory, politics, art, clairvoyance, notions of national community, and identity, this volume sheds light on the fissures in our culture where anxiety appears, thus revealing its underlying volatility. A study of the ruptures in our modern culture, Anxiety and Lucidity will appeal to scholars of sociology, social theory, anthropology, and philosophy with interests in late modern culture.

This authoritative but concise guide describes the most significant cultural theories from the 19th to the 21st century and their originators, as well as the links between them and their mutual influences. This guide explores ideas around what culture is, when and why cultures change over time and whether there are any rules or principles behind culture-related phenomena and processes. For those seeking to answer questions on culture, familiarity with these topics is essential. From refugee movements caused by wars, to the ongoing demographical changes in regions of the world like sub-Saharan Africa or the Indian subcontinent, understanding the underlying mechanisms of culture-related processes has become an immediate and essential task. Covering everything from the processes of cultural change to counterculture and destabilisation, the book explains different ideas in a clear and objective fashion and includes approaches that have been unduly neglected but which have high explanatory value regarding culture and its phenomena. Providing readers with an up-to-date idea of what culture is, and how our understanding of it has been established over the past century, this text is the perfect companion for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers.

Justice has been the dominant cultural framework of people in the West for two centuries, ever since the rise of constitutional democracies. Consciously or not, most people in the West have a strong awareness of right and wrong. Their sense of morality is generally rooted in an obligation to the rule of law. In democratic societies, the rule of law ultimately relies on constitutional documents ratified by a widely-accepted process of development and implementation. For millennia, honor has been the dominant cultural framework of most people in the East and Middle East. Here, people know that speech and behavior display respect or disrespect. While pervasive in all relationships, honor and shame are most important in the family, extended family, and local community. In the East, honor is not necessarily an internal feeling, as it is in a justice culture. Honor is more often an external attribution bestowed by others rather than claimed by oneself. Harmony is prevalent globally in indigenous cultures. Many indigenous peoples do not distinguish between the supernatural and natural worlds. All aspects of life are connected. Interactions with spirit beings are the key to maintaining harmony in order to be secure. Reciprocity is a common cultural framework in the Global South. Here, one learns to develop connections with the right people in given circumstances for needed resources. These connections may or may not be characterized as'friendships'and provide not so much close friendships as reciprocal exchange. In some places, reciprocity is the means whereby one survives.

Der Band bietet einen Querschnitt durch gut fünfzehn Jahre technik- und innovationssoziologischer Forschungen am von Werner Rammert geleiteten Fachgebiet für Techniksoziologie an der TU Berlin. Alle Beiträge dieses Bandes wurden dort angeregt oder diskutiert und tragen so in gewisser Weise eine „Berliner Handschrift“ – nicht im Sinne einer klar umgrenzten wissenschaftlichen Schule, sondern vielmehr in Gestalt eines offenen Diskussionszusammenhanges mit unterschiedlichen, aber wechselseitig aufeinander bezogenen Schwerpunktsetzungen. Der titelgebende Berliner Schlüssel zwingt allen seinen Benutzer•innen das in seinem Mechanismus objektivierte Handlungsprogramm auf: „Benutzer•in, wenn du, nachdem du die Tür aufgeschlossen hast, den Schlüssel wieder an dich nehmen und deiner Wege gehen willst, muss du die Tür zuvor wieder zuschließen.“ Anders als jener Berliner Schlüssel bieten die hier vorgelegten „Berliner Schlüssel zur Techniksoziologie“ einen Schlüsselbund unterschiedlicher, aber miteinander verbundener konzeptioneller und methodischer Herangehensweisen in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Technik- und Innovationsforschung.

This intriguing book re-evaluates a narrative of cultural decline that developed in the wake of Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. For Weber, and a group of influential sociologists that followed, Western modernity is marked by growing disenchantment with the beliefs and values that had previously given a sense of structure and meaning to life. Despite its unparalleled material achievements, the modern West in this reading is suffering from a crisis of meaning and is no longer able to provide authoritative answers to the only really important question: ‘What shall we do and how shall we live?'This book examines two influential responses to this question: the German bourgeois ideal of the late nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century American celebration of the middle class. In each period, the exploration is guided by a close reading of a contemporary and retrospective text. For Germany, Gustav Freytag's novel Debt and Credit (1855) is read against Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks (1901), and, for the US, the domestic comedy Father Knows Best (1954–1960) is read against the cable television drama Mad Men (2007–2015). The Anxiety of Ascent casts Weber's narrative in a more optimistic light, pointing towards the redemptive possibilities contained within everyday life. As such, it will appeal to sociologists and cultural studies scholars interested in cultural sociology, social theory, morality, meaning and the culture of middle-class life.

This book represents a major milestone in the endeavour to understand how communication is impacting on the fashion industry and on societal fashion-related practices and values in the digital age. It presents the proceedings of FACTUM 19, the first in a series of fashion communication conferences that highlights important theoretical and empirical work in the field. Beyond documenting the latest scientific insights, the book is intended to foster the sharing of methodological approaches, expand the dialogue between communications'studies and fashion-related disciplines, help establish an international and interdisciplinary network of scholars, and offer encouragement and fresh ideas to junior researchers. It is of high value to academics and students in the fields of fashion communication, fashion marketing, visual studies in fashion, digital transformation of the fashion industry, and the cultural heritage dimension of fashion. In addition, it is a key resource for professionals seeking sound research on fashion communication and marketing.

This book investigates the emergence of the modern concept of zeitgeist, the notion of a pervasive contemporary coherence, in the late 18th century. It traces zeitgeist's descent from genius saeculi and investigates its association with public spirit and public opinion before surveying its prominence around the Wars of Liberation in Germany and during the politically restless 1820s in England. This trajectory shows that zeitgeist emerged from the 18th-century discourses about culture and the public functioning of social collectives. Under the impact of the French Revolution the term came to describe social processes of political and cultural challenge. Zeitgeist was discussed as a social dynamic in which emerging elites disseminate new ideas which find enough public approval to influence cultural and political behaviour and practice. These findings modify the view that zeitgeist eludes critical grasp and is mainly invoked for manipulative purposes by showing that the zeitgeist discussions around 1800 contributed to the formation of modern politics and capture key aspects of how ideas are disseminated within societies and across borders, providing a way of reading history horizontally.

In this long-awaited sequel to The Invention of Culture, Roy Wagner tackles the logic and motives that underlie cultural invention. Could there be a single, logical factor that makes the invention of the distinction between self and other possible, much as specific human genes allow for language? Wagner explores what he calls “the reciprocity of perspectives” through a journey between Euro-American bodies of knowledge and his in-depth knowledge of Melanesian modes of thought. This logic grounds variants of the subject/object transformation, as Wagner works through examples such as the figure-ground reversal in Gestalt psychology, Lacan's theory of the mirror-stage formation of the Ego, and even the self-recursive structure of the aphorism and the joke. Juxtaposing Wittgenstein's and Leibniz's philosophy with Melanesian social logic, Wagner explores the cosmological dimensions of the ways in which different societies develop models of self and the subject/object distinction. The result is a philosophical tour de force by one of anthropology's greatest mavericks.

This open access book begins with an algorithm–a set of IF…THEN rules used in the development of a new, ethical, video surveillance architecture for transport hubs. Readers are invited to follow the algorithm over three years, charting its everyday life. Questions of ethics, transparency, accountability and market value must be grasped by the algorithm in a series of ever more demanding forms of experimentation. Here the algorithm must prove its ability to get a grip on everyday life if it is to become an ordinary feature of the settings where it is being put to work. Through investigating the everyday life of the algorithm, the book opens a conversation with existing social science research that tends to focus on the power and opacity of algorithms. In this book we have unique access to the algorithm's design, development and testing, but can also bear witness to its fragility and dependency on others.

Videogames were once made with a vast range of tools and technologies, but in recent years a small number of commercially available'game engines'have reached an unprecedented level of dominance in the global videogame industry. In particular, the Unity game engine has penetrated all scales of videogame development, from the large studio to the hobbyist bedroom, such that over half of all new videogames are reportedly being made with Unity. This book provides an urgently needed critical analysis of Unity as ‘cultural software'that facilitates particular production workflows, design methodologies, and software literacies. Building on long-standing methods in media and cultural studies, and drawing on interviews with a range of videogame developers, Benjamin Nicoll and Brendan Keogh argue that Unity deploys a discourse of democratization to draw users into its ‘circuits of cultural software'. For scholars of media production, software culture, and platform studies, this book provides a framework and language to better articulate the increasingly dominant role of software tools in cultural production. For videogame developers, educators, and students, it provides critical and historical grounding for a tool that is widely used yet rarely analysed from a cultural angle.

Celebrity and Mediated Social Connections is a critical examination of the multiple realities of the mediated culture we traverse, extending from our imaginary inner worlds to the imagined communities of digital media. Chapters explore the dialogic at work when we connect with celebrities and internalize aspects of their personas due to the various social roles they serve within our everyday lives. What might begin as strong identification and internalization within our imaginary worlds, in this digital age, sometimes seeps out as we connect to celebrities, their fans, friends and followers in ways that were not formerly possible. The book contains topics that range from the degradation of micro-celebrities, the role of celebrities in promoting prescription drugs and their role in contemporary social movements. The common thread that runs through the book presents a mediated world that paradoxically allows if not encourages people to daydream, engage in stream of consciousness thinking and fantasize about celebrities, all while concurrently compelling us to engage in a digitally based objective world. The possibility of interaction on and through digital media intensifies the emotional connection between celebrity and fan. The more personal details one gives up, the closer we feel we become—digital intimacy based on the excessive self. Digital media entice us to engage and remain tethered to technology, staying continuously connected so as not to miss the latest post or meme. To suggest we should build a proverbial wall between the two—imaginary and objective worlds—runs counter to the reality of an always on, always connected culture in which we presently live.

The Myth of Individualism is a wonderful, concise introduction to sociology and sociological thinking, showing readers how social forces shape our lives and the world. Revised and updated throughout, the third edition of this powerful book continues to challenge the common belief that human behavior is the result of free choices made by autonomous actors, but rather shows the many ways that people are naturally social, interdependent, and shaped by social forces. Filled with engaging stories and deep research, The Myth of Individualism helps readers begin to develop a sociological imagination. By acknowledging the limits of individual effort and control, we gain insight into our own lives and the lives of others.The third edition maintains the overall structure of the second edition while adding a new chapter on the power of the state that outlines the myriad ways—both seen and unseen—that government shapes our lives. The new edition also features more material on social media, updated discussions of race, and more. The book examines the importance of cultural symbols, the pressures of group conformity, the influence of family, the impact of social class, the reach of global capitalism, and the revolutionary potential of collective action. The third edition of The Myth of Individualism is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the subtle and unshakeable ways social forces shape our lives.

With well over one-hundred episodes, the podcast Welcome to Night Vale has spawned several international live tours, two novels set in the Night Vale universe, and an extensive volume of fan fiction and commentary. However, despite its immense popularity, Welcome to Night Vale has received almost no academic scrutiny. This edited collection of scholarly essays—the very first of its kind on a podcast—attempts to redress this lack of attention to Night Vale by bringing together an international group of scholars from different disciplines to consider the program's form, themes, politics, and fanbase. After a thorough introduction by the volume's editor, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, the eight contributors not only offer close analysis of Night Vale, but use the program as the impetus for broader explorations of new media, gender, the constitution of identity, the construction of place, and the human relationship to meaning and the non-human.

When we look at the cultural public sphere through the lens of digitalization, a paradoxical picture emerges. In some ways, the digital age seems to have brought the goals of the Enlightenment to their fullest fruition, giving us boundless and instantaneous access to every kind of knowledge and art. But the internet and its platforms also frequently bring chaos, immersing us in a sphere of often unverified information whose scope is unimaginable. This book takes a tour through the current debates on digital culture, bringing together a wide array of perspectives from aesthetic theory, cultural studies, electronic media, and the arts.

Peace, Culture, and Violence examines deeper sources of violence by providing a critical reflection on the forms of violence that permeate everyday life and our inability to recognize these forms of violence. Exploring the elements of culture that legitimize and normalize violence, the essays collected in this volume invite us to recognize and critically approach the violent aspects of reality we live in and encourage us to envision peaceful alternatives. Including chapters written by important scholars in the fields of Peace Studies and Social and Political Philosophy, the volume represents an endeavour to seek peace in a world deeply marred by violence. Topics include: thug culture, language, hegemony, police violence, war on drugs, war, terrorism, gender, anti-Semitism, and other topics. Contributors are: Amin Asfari, Edward Demenchonok, Andrew Fiala, William Gay, Fuat Gursozlu, Joshua M. Hall, Ron Hirschbein, Todd Jones, Sanjay Lal, Alessandro Rovati, Laleye Solomon Akinyemi, David Speetzen, and Lloyd Steffen.

This book was originally published in 1935. For some years past the scientific study of primitive peoples has experimented in a variety of directions for new methods of investigation. Criticism of the comparative method, of which Sir James Frazer is recognized as the foremost exponent all the world over, has been directed mainly against the fragmentary character of its evidence when torn from its context.In this book Dr Benedict offers an alternative method of approach. The aim of the investigator, she maintains, should be the discovery in the diversity of cultures of the'configuration'of each - that is the cultural drive in group and individual which determines the characteristic reaction to stimulus in any and every situation in life.

This volume introduces the reader to the wide range of methods that digital humanities employ, and offers a practical guide to the study, interpretation, and presentation of cultural material and practices. In this instance, the editors consider digital humanities to include both the use of computing to understand cultural material in new ways, and the application of theories and methods from the humanities to interpret new technologies. Each chapter provides a step-by-step guide to cutting-edge methodologies so that students can make informed decisions about the methods they use, consider ethical practices, follow practical procedures, and present their work effectively. Readers will develop practical and reflexive understandings of the software and digital devices that they study and use for research, and the book will help new researchers collaborate and contribute to their scholarly communities, and to public discourse. As contemporary humanities work becomes increasingly interdisciplinary, and increasingly permeated by and with digital technologies, this volume helps new researchers navigate an evolving academic environment. Humanities and social sciences students will find this textbook an invaluable resource for assessing and creating digital projects.

Why do people want what they want? Why does one person see the world as a place to control, while another feels controlled by the world? A useful theory of culture, the authors contend, should start with these questions, and the answers, given different historical conditions, should apply equally well to people of all times, places, and walks of life.Taking their cue from the pioneering work of anthropologist Mary Douglas, the authors of Cultural Theory have created a typology of five ways of life?egalitarianism, fatalism, individualism, hierarchy, and autonomy?to serve as an analytic tool in examining people, culture, and politics. They then show how cultural theorists can develop large numbers of falsifiable propositions.Drawing on parables, poetry, case studies, fiction, and the Great Books, the authors illustrate how cultural biases and social relationships interact in particular ways to yield life patterns that are viable, sustainable, and ultimately, changeable under certain conditions. Figures throughout the book show the dynamic quality of these ways of life and specifically illustrate the role of surprise in effecting small- and large-scale change.The authors compare Cultural Theory with the thought of master social theorists from Montesquieu to Stinchcombe and then reanalyze the classic works in the political culture tradition from Almond and Verba to Pye. Demonstrating that there is more to social life than hierarchy and individualism, the authors offer evidence from earlier studies showing that the addition of egalitarianism and fatalism facilitates cross-national comparisons.

This volume critically engages with the work of the acclaimed Australian sociologist John Carroll. It makes the argument for a metaphysical sociology, which Carroll has proposed should focus on the questions of fundamental existence that confront all humans: ‘Where do I come from?', ‘What should I do with my life?'and ‘What happens to me when I die?'. These questions of meaning, in the secular modern West, have become difficult to answer. As contemporary individuals increasingly draw on their inner resources, or'ontological qualities', to pursue quests for meaning, the key challenge for a metaphysical sociology concerns the cultural resources available to people and the manner in which they are cultivated. Through wide-ranging discussions which include, film, romantic love, terrorism and video games, Metaphysical Sociology takes up this challenge. The contributors include emerging and established sociologists, a philosopher, a renowned actor and a musician. As such, this collection will appeal to scholars of social theory and sociology, and to the general reader with interests in morality, art, culture and the fundamental questions of human existence.

Culture Matters explores the role of political culture studies as one of the major investigative fields in contemporary political science. Cultural theory was the focal point of the late Aaron Wildavsky's teaching and research for the last decade of his life, a life that profoundly affected many fields of political science, from the study of the presidency to public budgeting. In this volume, original essays prepared in Wildavsky's honor examine the areas of rational choice, institutions, theories of change, political risk, the environment, and practical politics.

Drawing upon international case studies, and building upon Iain J.M. Robertson''s work on ‘'heritage from below'', After Heritage sheds critical light on heritage-making and heritagescapes that are, more frequently than not, located in virtual, less conspicuous and more everyday spaces. The book considers the highly personal, often ephemeral, individual –- vis-à-vis collective -– experiences of (in)formal ways the past has been folded into contemporary societies. In doing so, it unravels the merits of examining more intimate materializations of heritage not only as a check against, but also complementary to, what Laurajanne Smith refers to as ‘'Authorized Heritage Discourses''. It also argues against the tendency to romanticize the fleeting and largely obscured means through which alternative forms of heritage-making are produced, performed and patronized. Ultimately, this book provides a clarion call to reinsert the individual and the transient into collective heritage processes.Researchers in human and cultural geography, heritage studies and tourism studies will find this strong contribution to the developing field of Critical Heritage Studies an insightful read. Policy makers and heritage practitioners will also develop a deeper understanding of how heritage practices may benefit from the'‘heritage from below''approach.Contributors include: A. Aceska, R. Carter-White, M. Cook, D. Drozdzewski, J. Gillen, C. Minca, H. Muzaini, M. Ormond, A.E. Potter, I.J.M. Robertson, J. Tyner

The title of this book, From the Margins to the Centre, refers to three related themes that have run closely together in the debates on the city in the 1980s and 1990s. Firstly a process of restructuring in which activities previously deemed peripheral to the'productive'city have now moved centre stage; that is, a concern with culture, consumption and image. Secondly, the notion of gentrification, whereby a reversal of the movement out of the city centre by the affluent classes results in a re-centralisation of previously marginal areas of the city centre. Thirdly, a process whereby previously marginal groups and their activities have been made central to the city - and have made the city centre central to themselves. Each of the chapters in this volume derives from recently conducted research grounded in an attempt to examine some of the issues posed in what can be described as postmodernist theorising on the nature of the contemporary city. A strong current of such thought has placed the multiple uses of city spaces at the centre of its claims for the construction and deconstruction of identities. The prolification and fragmentation of patterns of cultural production and consumption, it is claimed, makes the city a complex field of conflicting activities whose juxtaposition undermines traditional cultural hierarchies. Across this field identity becomes fluid in a way that uncouples its connection with the fixed categories of class, gender and ethnicity. While such positions point to a dominant role for culture in contemporary society, there has been little discussion or investigation of the social practices whereby this is effected. This book attempts an investigation of such practices. Implicit in the very conception of the book, and running through each of the contributions, is the view that contemporary popular culture is crucial to the understanding of the transformations to which we refer, and that the investigation of this popular culture needs

The Celebration of Death in Contemporary Culture investigates the emergence and meaning of the cult of death. Over the last three decades, Halloween has grown to rival Christmas in its popularity. Dark tourism has emerged as a rapidly expanding industry. “Corpse chic” and “skull style” have entered mainstream fashion, while elements of gothic, horror, torture porn, and slasher movies have streamed into more conventional genres. Monsters have become pop culture heroes: vampires, zombies, and serial killers now appeal broadly to audiences of all ages. This book breaks new ground by viewing these phenomena as aspects of a single movement and documenting its development in contemporary Western culture. This book links the mounting demand for images of violent death with dramatic changes in death-related social rituals. It offers a conceptual framework that connects observations of fictional worlds—including The Twilight Saga, The Vampire Diaries, and the Harry Potter series—with real-world sociocultural practices, analyzing the aesthetic, intellectual, and historical underpinnings of the cult of death. It also places the celebration of death in the context of a longstanding critique of humanism and investigates the role played by 20th-century French theory, posthumanism, transhumanism, and the animal rights movement in shaping the current antihumanist atmosphere. This timely, thought-provoking book will appeal to scholars of culture, film, literature, anthropology, and American and Russian studies, as well as general readers seeking to understand a defining phenomenon of our age.

This engaging text introduces the burgeoning and interdisciplinary field of cultural performance, offering ethnographic approaches to performance as well as looking at the aesthetics of experience and performance theory. Examining cultural performance from anthropological, geographical and corporeal standpoints, this book offers many examples of the ways in which performance art and entertainment utilize cultural methods to deepen and enrich the practice. Featuring case studies from a rich cross-section of academics, chapters explore performances from regions as far flung as Bhutan, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand and the USA. With cultural performances as varied as Catholic rituals, Maori ceremonies, Monster Truck rallies, musicals, theatre and singing performances, this fascinating text compares performance as art and performance as cultural expression. Core reading for introductory and interdisciplinary modules on performance, this is also an ideal text for upper undergraduate and postgraduate students of performance, visual arts, cultural studies or ethnography.

This book explores how human population genetics has emerged as a means of imagining and enacting belonging in contemporary society. Venla Oikkonen approaches population genetics as an evolving set of technological, material, narrative and affective practices, arguing that these practices are engaged in multiple forms of belonging that are often mutually contradictory. Considering scientific, popular and fictional texts, with several carefully selected case studies spanning three decades, the author traces shifts in the affective, material and gendered preconditions of population genetic visions of belonging. Topics encompass the debate about Mitochondrial Eve, ancient human DNA, temporality and nostalgia, commercial genetic ancestry tests, and tensions between continental and national genetic inheritance. The book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of science and technology studies, cultural studies, sociology, and gender studies.

Cultuur en communicatie zijn zo nauw met elkaar verweven dat cultuurverschillen automatisch leiden tot verschillen in communicatie. In Culturele waarden en communicatie wordt een overzicht gegeven van actuele theorieën over cultuurverschillen en de verschillen in verbale en non-verbale communicatie die daaruit voortvloeien. Uitgangspunt van het boek is een vergelijking tussen Nederland en Vlaanderen, die wel dezelfde taal maar niet dezelfde cultuur hebben. De verschillen tussen beide culturen worden vervolgens vergeleken met andere Europese culturen en de culturen van het Midden-Oosten, Azië en Afrika. Ook intercultureel management komt aan bod, waarbij cultuurverschillen in een zakelijke context besproken worden. De talrijke voorbeelden en oefeningen maken je bewust van je eigen cultuur en van de problematiek van interculturele communicatie. Hierdoor leer je de communicatie van andere culturen beter te begrijpen, zelf effectiever intercultureel te communiceren en synergie uit cultuurverschillen te halen.

This stimulating and comprehensive study of Will Self's work spans his entire career and offers insightful readings of all his fictional and non-fictional work up to and including his Booker prize nominated novel Umbrella.

Aussi loin que l'on remonte dans l'histoire des civilisations, des peuples, des États, des nations et des communautés, on peut dire de l'étranger qu'il a mobilisé d'innombrables savoirs, suscité des représentations qui se sont inlassablement appliquées à comprendre et à analyser toutes les raisons de sa'venue', à penser la place qu'il devait ou devrait occuper ; l'étranger a donné lieu à des politiques, des législations, des dispositifs et des règlements administratifs – anciens, modernes ou contemporains – qui en ont minutieusement codifié et régulé la présence. Cette présence a, sous toutes les latitudes et à travers les âges, suscité des sentiments d'empathie, de générosité et de fraternité, mais aussi des sentiments d'hostilité, de haine et de rejet.

This book provides original insight into the way we now engage and remember national history. Drawing on fieldwork and analysis of international case studies on state commemoration, memorialization, recreational and tourism and times of disaster and crisis, the author demonstrates that not only does the nation frequently retain a strong cultural relevance in our global world but that the emergence of new forms of ritual and remembrance means that in many instances we are seeing the re-enchantment of nationalism. Drawing upon and developing an empirically informed cultural sociology, the author charts the distinctive qualities of these new national rites and how they feed into and advance particular cosmopolitan and orthodox national politics. Because social science has so often wrongly assumed the end of nationalism, the insights of this of the book about the possibilities and limitations of contemporary nationalism demand serious consideration by academics and also by policy makers and the general public.

Embodied Protests examines how Bolivia's hesitant courtship with globalization manifested in the visceral and emotional diseases that afflicted many Bolivian women. Drawing on case studies conducted among market- and working-class women in the provincial town of Punata, Maria Tapias examines how headaches and debilidad, so-called normal bouts of infant diarrhea, and the malaise oppressing whole communities were symptomatic of profound social suffering. She approaches the narratives of distress caused by poverty, domestic violence, and the failure of social networks as constituting the knowledge that shaped their understandings of well-being. At the crux of Tapias's definitive analysis is the idea that individual health perceptions, actions, and practices cannot be separated from local cultural narratives or from global and economic forces. Evocative and compassionate, Embodied Protests gives voice to the human costs of the ongoing neoliberal experiment.