Contemporary Western Culture Studies New Dictionary

Author: Li Pengcheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-02-01
Features: This dictionary is a compact reference tool, primarily designed to provide essential and general knowledge of modern and contemporary Western thought and culture for readers such as theoretical workers, enthusiasts of philosophy and humanities, university students, humanities postgraduate students, university teachers, and others. Cultural studies are an academic endeavor with a broad scope and varying degrees of intellectual depth. Since the May Fourth New Culture Movement, China has regarded "cultural" ideas and "cultural" movements as fundamental to the nation's and its people's development. Over the past eighty-plus years, Chinese people, caught between traditional and modern cultures, as well as local and foreign cultures, have always strived to find an effective and rapid path for their nation's survival and development through cultural studies. Whenever society and its thoughts undergo major transformations, all ideas and academic research are transformed into "cultural studies," as cultural studies, in a sense, represent comprehensive research and foundational depth. This is the general reason behind several major waves of cultural studies that have in China over the decades.
It should be noted that since the Opium War in 1840, every issue in China, including cultural ones, has been intertwined with the relationship between Eastern and Western cultures. In other words, China's problems of all sizes are complexly embedded in the great whirlpool of collision, mutual engagement, conflict, and integration between Eastern and Western cultures. To clarify the fundamental context of all issues, Chinese people in each period over the past century have strived to find the key to explaining the relationship between Eastern and Western cultures. Our predecessors went through ideological struggles and hardships, pursued liberation and sought norms, experienced failures and successes, learned lessons and gained experiences. It is precisely in failures and successes, in lessons and experiences, that our nation's cultural thought has matured. However, even today, we are still seeking the best ideas and answers, as well as effective methods, for properly handling the relationship between Eastern and Western cultures in the new era of the new century. This is the motivation and reason behind our continued engagement in cultural studies.
Since contemporary Chinese culture, in a certain sense, has already become a "composite" of Eastern and Western cultures, one fundamental method in the study of Chinese culture is "knowing oneself and knowing others," which means constantly understanding Western thought and culture. We should not only understand ancient Western culture and the modern culture that emerged after the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment but should also "keep pace with the times" and understand contemporary Western culture. This is the primary reason for compiling this relatively small dictionary.
The dictionary is structured around three main frameworks: Western cultural anthropology, Western modern and postmodern cultural trends, and "Western Marxism" cultural theory. It provides concise explanations of the basic content of major trends in contemporary Western cultural thought, as well as their historical development, representative ideas of different schools, the lives and major works of key figures in major schools, primary academic concepts, major events, and significant debates.