Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This second edition of Cultural Theory provides a concise introduction to cultural theory, placing major figures, traditional concepts, and contemporary themes within a sharp conceptual framework. Provides a student-friendly introduction to what can often be a complex field of study Updates the first edition in response to reader feedback and to the changing nature of the field Includes additional coverage of theorists from the classical period to include Nietzsche and DuBois Introduces entirely new chapters on race and gender theory, and the body Considers themes that have become more important in theoretical activity in recent years such as computers and virtual reality, cosmopolitanism, and performance theory Draws on theories and theorists from continental Europe as well as the English-speaking world

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface to the First Edition: About this Book (p. vi)
• Preface to the Second Edition (p. ix)
• Acknowledgments (p. x)
• Introduction: What is Culture? What is Cultural Theory? (p. 1)
• 1 Culture in Classical Social Theory (p. 6)
• 2 Culture and Social Integration in the Work of Talcott Parsons (p. 26)
• 3 Culture as Ideology in Western Marxism (p. 34)
• 4 Culture as Action in Symbolic Interactionism, Phenomenology, and Ethnomethodology (p. 54)
• 5 The Durkheimians: Ritual, Classification, and the Sacred (p. 69)
• 6 Structuralism and the Semiotic Analysis of Culture (p. 92)
• 7 The Poststructural Turn (p. 111)
• 8 Culture, Structure, and Agency: Three Attempts at Synthesis (p. 128)
• 9 British Cultural Studies (p. 144)
• 10 The Production and Reception of Culture (p. 158)
• 11 Culture as Text: Narrative and Hermeneutics (p. 176)
• 12 Psychoanalytic Approaches to Culture and the Self (p. 195)
• 13 The Cultural Analysis of Postmodernism and Postmodernity (p. 207)
• 14 Postmodern and Poststructural Critical Theory (p. 228)
• 15 Cultural Theories of Race and Gender (p. 241)
• 16 The Body in Cultural Theory (p. 262)
• References (p. 280)
• Index (p. 296)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Sociologist Smith has produced a very useful and informative introduction to a broad variety of theories of culture, ranging from the works of classical thinkers such as Durkheim, Marx, Weber, and Simmel to contemporary examples of postmodernism, critical theory, and cultural studies. The book is equally valuable for nonspecialists looking for an overview of cultural theory (especially members of disciplines other than sociology and anthropology) and as a guide for the beginning theory student. Anthropologists may find too little discussion of theories of culture from their own field--mainly Geertz, and not even a passing reference to materialist or ecological conceptualizations and analyses of culture--but they and their students will find an unusually good opportunity to compare their insights and understandings about culture with the usages of Lacan, Bakhtin, Jameson, Lyotard, and Harvey. Smith's interpretations and comparisons are clearly and fairly presented, and his own theoretical perspective seems admirably and appropriately (for such a volume) unobtrusive. For use in a theory course it would be necessary to rely on original sources along with Smith's account, but his discussion provides an instructive summary and guide to alternative models in the study of culture. Recommended for all readers. B. Tavakolian Denison University