Linzhi H. Zhang

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Culture and Society. This course is available on the MA in Modern History and MSc in Economy and Society. This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

This course has a limited number of places. Students who have this course as a compulsory course are guaranteed a place. For all other students, please see Courses offered and related information for information on how to apply for a place on this course.

The course will introduce a range of sociological approaches to cultural processes and institutions, attending to analytical frameworks, research strategies and empirical case studies. It examines the different ways culture has been conceptualised and the different ways in which cultural production has been analysed. By the end of this course, you should have a reasonable map of different aspects and approaches to researching cultural processes and institutions; and you should feel able to formulate your own research questions and strategies within the diverse traditions of culture theory and cultural research.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

This course is usually delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars. There will be two hours or more of teaching each week in AT.

 Students will be expected to complete one piece of non-assessed written work and prepare seminar presentations.

Appadurai, A. (1990) Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy. Theory, Culture and Society, Vol 7, 295-310.

Bourdieu, P. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. London: Routledge.

Chen, K.-H. (2015) Asia As Method. Duke: Duke University Press.

Domínguez Rubio, F. (2020).  Still Life.  Ecologies of the Modern Imagination at the Art Museum. University of Chicago Press.

Gilroy, Paul. 1991 (1987). There is no Black in the Union Jack. The cultural politics of race and nation. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Hall, S. (1992) ‘New Ethnicities' in Donald, J and Rattansi, A (eds.) (1992) “Race”, Culture, Difference, London: Routledge.

Levitt, P. (2015). Artifacts and Allegiances. How Museums Put the Nation and the World on Display. Berkeley: University of California Press.

McRobbie, A. (2015). Feminism, feminity and the perfect. London: Sage.

Williams, R. (1976) 'Culture' in Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. London: Routledge.

Course participation (10%).

Essay (90%, 4000 words) in January.

Attendance at all seminars and submission of all set coursework is required.