1st Edition

Cultural Analysis The Work of Peter L. Berger, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas

    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    284 Pages
    by Routledge

    First published in 1984, Cultural Analysis is a systematic examination of the theories of culture contained in the writings of four contemporary social theorists: Peter L. Berger, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas.

    This study of their work clarifies their contributions to the analysis of culture and shows the converging assumptions that the authors believe are laying the foundation for a new approach to the study of culture. The focus is specifically on culture, a concept that remains subject to ambiguities of treatment, and concentrates on questions concerning the definition and content of culture, its construction, its relations with social conditions, and the manner in which it may be changing. The books demonstrates how these writers have made strides towards defining culture as an objective element of social interaction which can be subjected to critical investigation.

    Part 1: Introduction  1. Limiting Assumptions  2. Four Perspectives on Culture  3. Toward Clarification and Culture  Part 2: The Phenomenology of Peter L. Berger  4. Intellectual Assumptions  5. Berger’s Perspective on Culture  6. Culture and Social Change  7. Conclusions  Part 3: The Cultural Anthropology of Mary Douglas  8. Intellectual Assumptions  9. Douglas’ Perspective on Culture  10. Culture and Social Change  11. Conclusions  Part 4: The Neo-Structuralism of Michel Foucault Douglas  12. Intellectual Assumptions  13. Foucault’s Perspective on Culture  14. Culture and Social Change  15. Conclusions  Part 5: The Critical Theory of Jürgen Habermas  16. Intellectual Assumptions  17. Habermas’s Perspective on Culture  18. Culture and Social Change  19. Conclusions Part 6: An Emerging Framework  20. The Problem of Subjectivity  21. Relating Culture and Social Structure  22. The Issue of Positivism  23. Cultural Analysis

    Biography

    Robert Wuthnow, James Davison Hunter, Albert J. Bergesen, Edith Kurzweil