In his introduction to Routledge’s Cultural Studies Reader (1993, 1997, 2007), Simon During highlights two characteristic features of the discipline of cultural studies as it developed in the late 1950s: “that it studied culture in relation to individual lives” (1) and “that it was an engaged form of analysis” (2).
Acknowledging the profound changes to the production and consumption of popular culture over the past 20, let alone 60 plus, years, these two features (surely, they are principles!) of analytical engagement with popular culture remain fundamental. As much as (indeed because!) digital technologies have globalized and accelerated the spread of popular culture, allowing for the DIY production of the same, and done so in recombined and hybrid formats and formulations, the individual has only become more central to understanding the role, effects, and affects of popular culture today. Indeed, if we are to believe Anna Kornbluh – in her Immediacy or the Style of Too Late Capitalism (Verso, 2024) – the individual subject has become a cultural obsession. And, argues Kornbluh, neither culture nor society are better off as a result.
As for the study of popular culture necessarily being an engaged practice, isn’t it the case that access to education, health care, and the job market, have only become less equitable over the preceding decades of neo-liberal austerity? (That question can be taken as a provocation. Some groups have surely benefited, and not only the super rich, but at what overall cost?) The extent to which popular culture functions ideologically, subsuming the subject to the imperatives of capitalism, surely remains a question worth investigating. As does its obverse, which interrogates the emancipatory potential of popular culture. Have we overvalued that potential?
Let’s read and discuss some of the seminal essays of cultural studies to assess the extent to which these texts remain relevant. Doing this will constitute phase one of PopCCReads! In phase two, members will propose a contemporary essay to put in conversation with one of the ‘classics’. Each PopCCReads! group member will also be encouraged to contribute a short original article to a collection to be published in 2027. We envision meeting twice over the course of the upcoming year, ideally in person, but likely in a hybrid format to allow for maximum engagement.
If you are interested in joining the group, please email us at pop.culture@ubc.ca
More details to come soon!