The Contradictions Of Culture

In this book, one of the most accomplished and thoughtful cultural commentators of the day, considers the contradictory nature of cultural relations. Elizabeth Wilson explores these themes through an examination of fashion, feminism, consumer culture, representation and postmodernism. Debates within feminism on the nature and effects of pornography are used to illustrate a particular kind of cultural contradiction. Wilson recognizes that postmodernism permitted the reappropriation of subjects that were not previously considered worthy of attention, or opposed to the idea of emancipation, chief among these was fashion. She shows that the association of an interest in this culturally significant subject with a revisionist project raises doubt

Working mothers today confront not only conflicting demands on their time and energy but also conflicting ideas about how they are to behave: they must be nurturing and unselfish while engaged in child rearing but competitive and ambitious at work. As more and more women enter the workplace, it would seem reasonable for society to make mothering a simpler and more efficient task. Instead, Sharon Hays points out in this original and provocative book, an ideology of "intensive mothering" has developed that only exacerbates the tensions working mothers face. Drawing on ideas about mothering since the Middle Ages, on contemporary childrearing manuals, and on in-depth interviews with mothers from a range of social classes, Hays traces the evolution of the ideology of intensive mothering--an ideology that holds the individual mother primarily responsible for child rearing and dictates that the process is to be child-centered, expert-guided, emotionally absorbing, labor-intensive, and financially expensive. Hays argues that these ideas about appropriate mothering stem from a fundamental ambivalence about a system based solely on the competitive pursuit of individual interests. In attempting to deal with our deep uneasiness about self-interest, we have imposed unrealistic and unremunerated obligations and commitments on mothering, making it into an opposing force, a primary field on which this cultural ambivalence is played out.

This volume regards contemporary culture as incoherent, and confronts the contradictory nature of cultureal relations. It illustrates the cultural contradiction with the furious debates within 1980's feminism on the nature and effects of pornography.

Gathering together classic and new essays by the internationally renowned US-based Filipino artist and thinker E. San Juan Jr., Working through the Contradictions addresses major issues of cultural theory, comparative politics, and international relations. Committed to the ideal of a popular, egalitarian democracy, San Juan exposes the limits of the current vogue of transnationalism, cosmopolitan humanitarianism, and varieties of dissensual multiculturalism. Opposing the triumphalist discourse of US-centered globalization, San Juan reaffirms the value and power of a historical materialist critique of the new world order. Connecting the theoretical debates in American Studies to the recent US intervention in the Philippines against the Abu Sayyaf guerillas, Spinoza's philosophy to current racism against Asian Americans, European surrealism to Caribbean history, San Juan's dialectical method illuminates the contractions of thought and practice that open up opportunities for social transformation and spiritual renewal.

With a new afterword by the author, this classic analysis of Western liberal capitalist society contends that capitalism—and the culture it creates—harbors the seeds of its own downfall by creating a need among successful people for personal gratification—a need that corrodes the work ethic that led to their success in the first place. With the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a new world order, this provocative manifesto is more relevant than ever.

Why do some U.S. cities like Seattle and Boston impose social exactions and sustainability targets on private investment while others like Las Vegas and Houston offer property tax and fee remissions to business, tolerate environmentally hazardous activities such as oil drilling, and express skepticism even about recycling mandates? The behavior of the former cities appears especially puzzling in view of globalization processes that seemingly offer many more options to mobile capital and expose cities’ vulnerability to private investment decisions. Cultural Contradictions examines the paradoxical finding that some U.S. cities can impose burdensome regulations and extract social and environmental contributions from the private sector despite an apparently weak bargaining position. It usescultural change and the growth of non-traditional subcultures to explain why cities adopt these progressive policies. Responding to the urban policy literature’s tendency to prioritize economic considerations over other kinds of causal factors, the book demonstrates the joint impact of culture and economics in encouraging policy outcomes which emphasize social justice, human rights, and environmental sustainability in large U.S. cities. The book makes several specific contributions to urban literature. First, it argues that cities in which nontraditional cultural beliefs and practices thrive and which are strongly linked to dynamic economic sectors such as information services, professional, scientific and technical services, financial services, and education and health care services are especially likely to adopt progressive policies. It establishes this claim using both statistical analysis of large-N city samples and a closer investigation of four case studies. Second, it reveals how progressive policies are a plausible response to psychological concerns associated with unconventional ways of life and the nature of postindustrial society. Finally, the book indicates how these new ways of life and postindustrial economic sectors grow in mutually reinforcing ways in order to make these policies acceptable to local economic elites and therefore favorable to the city’s future development.

Is an online identity protected by freedom of expression or is it a form of publicity subject to trademark law? Is online privacy a commercial service or a public right? What are the limits of consent when dealing with privacy as a service? What are "free", "open", or "public" services on the Internet and how can citizens use them effectively? What policy initiatives can ensure that the digital networks deliver the goods, spectacles and services for our everyday activities that improve our quality of life? What role for governments, the private sector and civil society? What frameworks for international policy instruments to achieve a fair, inclusive and balanced governance of the media as they go digital? This work addresses these burning issues - and many more - that preoccupy decision makers, researchers and activists at all levels of society. It covers the issues of dignity, ethics, identity, privacy, cultural diversity, public service, gate-keeping and education in an encompassing human rights-based governance framework. Considering the perils and promises of each issue, the authors make constructive recommendations, insisting on the relation between local and global governance, the public value of media, digital networks and the benefits of multi-stakeholder partnerships.

Contemporary cultural theory, feminist criticism, and ethnography converge in this provocative study of the construction of meaning in mass culture. Television Culture and Women's Lives explores the complex relationship between the gender conflicts played out in the scripts of the popular television show thirtysomething and the real-life conflicts experienced by "baby-boomer" women viewers. Women viewers often reinterpreted the program's conservative view on gender roles, seeing it instead as a protest against real dilemmas women face as they try to integrate career and family priorities. Heide's study confirms women viewers' close identifications with thirtysomething characters and positions audience responses against the backdrop of changes in the lives of women in the 1980s and 1990s. Television Culture and Women's Lives accessibly treats fascinating issues related to cultural criticism, the relationship between mass media, and audiences, and the struggles faced by women in late twentieth-century America.