Do cultural studies (The story of Sony Walkman)

Author: (English) Guy Debord
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: In recent years, "culture" has become a common focus across multiple disciplines. This book introduces the practical and theoretical conditions of this "reliance on culture" through a case study of the Sony Walkman. Taking the Sony Walkman as an example, the author explains to readers the reasons and ways in which cultural practices and customs play a significant role in our lives, and introduces key ideas, concepts, and analytical methods for conducting cultural studies. The author identifies representation, identity, production, consumption, and rules as five main cultural processes, which combine to form a "cultural cycle" that can be used to construct research on any cultural object or artifact. This book applies this "cultural cycle" to study the Walkman as a cultural object. Its uniqueness lies in: not only introducing major issues and debates in contemporary cultural studies but also practically demonstrating how cultural studies can be used to understand our daily lives.