What Cultural, Critical and Communication Might Mean—And Why Cultural Studies Is a Bit Like Rave Culture

Abstract

Responding to the editor's request for reflections on the key terms in the title of this journal, this somewhat autobiographical and possibly self-indulgent piece reflects on their changing meanings and on the ways in which cultural studies has changed and declined since the early 1990s. Cultural studies, the piece asserts, is a bit like rave culture, because like that subcultural formation of music and dance, it was big and quite innovative in the 1990s, but lost its edge in the twenty first century – although interesting offshoots continue beyond the places where it ‘originated’. The piece also suggests some reasons for the decline of cultural studies. More importantly, it tries to understand the term ‘critical’ via politics. It expresses some preferences, in terms of what constitutes good critical writing, and outlines some key elements of good critical analysis of culture.

Keywords:

• cultural studies
• good critical writing
• academic disciplines
• politics
• communication

Notes

[1] Graeme Turner, What's Become of Cultural Studies? (London: Sage, 2012).

[2] Justin O'Connor, “We need to talk about cultural studies,” Cultural Studies Review 18 (2012): 330–40.

[3] In case it is not clear, one of the ways in which Jim Hay prompted us to share our thoughts for this special issue was to suggest that we might comment on the terms in the title of the journal, and to do so in rather more informal and anecdotal terms than is usually possible in journals. I have broadly tried to do this. I will leave the meaning of “studies” aside for now. But that / slash in the title of this journal amuses and intrigues me. Was it supposed to imply that cultural studies and critical studies were the same thing? If so, was the timing of its introduction a little hubristic, given that cultural studies hit its long downturn not long after the launch of the journal?

[4] John Durham Peters, Speaking Into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999).

[5] See, among many other examples from her work, Nancy Fraser, Scales of Justice: Reimagining Political Space in a Globalizing World (Cambridge: Polity, 2008).

[6] See, among many other examples from his work, Andrew Sayer, Why Things Matter to People (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).

[7] Jonathan Culler and Kevin Lamb, eds, Just Being Difficult? (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003).