Culture and Society
Essential ideas about the individual in the modern industrial and consumer society. Subjects range from the effect of mass culture and mass media to ways of seeing and thinking. The list is arranged alphabetically by author.
The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture Theodor Adorno London, New York: Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge, 1991 An analysis of the power and effect of the mass media. Adorno argues that the culture industry commodifies and standardizes all art, thereby suffocating individuality and destroying critical thinking. The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences Michel Foucault London, New York: Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge, 2002 (first published 1966) A breathtaking history and tour of thought through the ages. Foucault dips into literature, art, economics, and science to show how ways of thinking have changed over time. The Road to Serfdom FA Hayek Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994 (first published 1944) Reflection on the relation between individual liberty and government authority. Argues against the collectivist idea of empowering government with a large amount of economic control. Écrits: A Selection Jacques Lacan London, New York: Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge, 2001 (first published 1966) A selection of Lacan's radical and complex ideas, which have had a profound effect on such areas of cultural studies as film theory, art history, and literary criticism. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man Marshall McLuhan London, New York: Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge, 2001 (first published 1964) Forty years ago, McLuhan saw that our engagement with the electronic media was going to radically change values and humanity as it was then. His insights help understand the changes that media-dependence has brought. |
