Political Studies and Cultural Studies: A Response to Finlayson and Martin
| Date | 01 September 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-9256.00075 |
| Published date | 01 September 1998 |
| Author | Robin Brown |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Political Studies and
Cultural Studies: A
Response to Finlayson
and Martin
Robin Brown
Cultural Studies has more to learn from Poli-
oer Political Studies. The ®rst part of this
tical Studies than Political Studies had to
discussion explores the development of Cul-
learn from Cultural Studies. In a recent issue
tural Studies in order to probe its assump-
of Politics (Vol 17, No 3), Finlayson and
tions, the second part looks at alternative
Martin argued that Political Studies should
approaches to the relationship between poli-
learn from the conceptions of `culture' and
tics and culture.
`politics' employed in Cultural Studies. This
response reviews the development of Cultural
Studies in order to elucidate its approach
Cultural studies: the origins
and argues that alternative approaches to the
of a field
issue of culture are more useful for students
of politics than Cultural Studies approaches.
Although the term `Cultural Studies' is a famil-
iar quite what it involves is less clear. I want
In an era when multidisciplinarity is a buzz
to begin by examining the origins and devel-
word, when new issues are emerging and
opment of the ®eld in order to elucidate its
established theoretical frameworks seem
approach. Although the label is sometimes
inadequate the intellectual resources of other
used to simply indicate `studies of culture'
branches of the human sciences can oer
here I want to focus, as Finlayson and Martin
much to the student of Politics. The danger is
do, on what Graeme Turner labels British
that we unintentionally take on board a great
Cultural Studies (Turner, 1996). British Cul-
deal of unwanted theoretical baggage. In a
tural Studies emerged during the 1960s and
recent article Finlayson and Martin argued
1970s from a chance collision between cul-
that Political Studies has much to learn from
tural changes in post-war British society, the
Cultural Studies in the way that it handles the
study of literature, gaps in the sociology of
concept of `culture' and in its de®nition of
the period and marxist and semiotic theory.
the political. In this response I want to sug-
The roots of Cultural Studies can be found in
gest that, for all its institutional health, at a
writings of Richard Hoggart and Raymond
theoretical level Cultural Studies has little to
Williams at the end of the 1950s. Hoggart and
Robin Brown, University of Leeds.
# Political Studies Association 1998. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK
and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
173
Political Studies and Cultural Studies . Brown
Politics (1998) 18(3) pp. 173±177
Williams came to the ®eld from the study of
these in¯uences was less to change the con-
literature. Hoggart in particular was con-
cerns of the ®eld than to crystallize its
cerned about what he saw as the decline of
approach.
working class culture as a result of an
The result of these in¯uences was a distinct
increasingly commercialized mass culture of
theoretical position and research agenda.
television, pulp ®ction and popular music.
From a marxist perspective the culture of any
The discussion of these issues in The Uses of
...
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