Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman - Paperback

by Paul Du Gay (Author), Stuart Hall (Author), Linda Janes (Author)

Arguably the most famous book in its field... In theoretical terms, the legacy of Doing Cultural Studies confirms that this classic read is not just about the Walkman itself, but represents a series of clear observations about the symbolic meanings of culture.
- LSE Review of Books

Why think about the Walkman in the 21st century? Can the Walkman help us understand today's media and cultural practices? Through the notion of the ′circuit of culture′, this book teaches students to critically examine what culture means, and how and why it is enmeshed with the media texts and objects in their lives. Students will:

• Unpack the key concepts of contemporary culture, such as mobility, materiality, consumption and identity
• Learn to think about some of the cultural conundrums of the present and their relation to the past, such as branding culture
• Look with fresh eyes at today′s media world and the cultural practices it gives rise to
• Gain practical experience with the historical comparative method
• Practice their critical skills with up-to-date exercises and activities

This book takes students on a journey between past and present, giving them the skills do to cultural analysis along the way. It remains the perfect ′how to′ for students in media studies, cultural studies, design and sociology.

Author Biography

Paul du Gay is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at The Open University

Stuart Hall was born and raised in Jamaica and arrived in Britain on a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford in 1950. In 1958, he left his PhD on Henry James to found the New Left Review, which did much to open a debate about immigration and the politics of identity. Along with Raymond Williams and Richard Hoggart he established the first Cultural Studies programme at a British university in Birmingham in 1964, bringing the study of popular culture into the understanding of political and social change.

After spending more than four decades as one of the UK's leading public intellectuals, Hall retired from formal academic life in 1997 and since then has continued to devote himself to questions of representation, creativity and difference. He became the chair of two foundations, Iniva, the Institute of International Visual Arts, and Autograph ABP, which seeks to promote photographers from culturally diverse backgrounds, and championed the opening of Iniva's new Rivington Place arts complex in east London in 2007.

Linda Janes is the Course Administrator for PhD Students in the School of Engineering at the University of Portsmouth.

Anders Koed Madsen is Professor in Humanities at Aalborg University in Denmark.

Dr Hugh Mackay is an Honorary Associate of the Faculty of Sociology at Open University

Keith Negus entered higher education as a mature student, having spent many years playing keyboards and guitar in a variety of bands after leaving school. He gained a degree in Sociology from Middlesex Universit and then completed a PhD study of the acquisition, production and promotion of recording artists at SouthBank University. He subsequently taught at the Universities of Leicester and Puerto Rico and was based in the Department of Media and Communications prior to moving the Department of Music at Goldsmiths. He is Director of the Popular Music Research Unit, convenor of BMus Popular Music, convenor of the MA Music (Popular Music Research) and a coordinating editor of Popular Music (Cambridge University Press).