---
title: "Cultural studies"
chunk: 6/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_studies"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:57:43.870636+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

In 1996, physicist Alan Sokal expressed his opposition to cultural studies by submitting a hoax article to a cultural studies journal, Social Text. The article, crafted as a parody of what Sokal called the "fashionable nonsense" of postmodernism, was accepted by the journal's editors, who at the time did not practice peer review. When the paper appeared in print, Sokal published a second article in a self-described "academic gossip" magazine, Lingua Franca, revealing his hoax on Social Text. Sokal stated that his motivation stemmed from his rejection of contemporary critiques of scientific rationalism:

Politically, I'm angered because most (though not all) of this silliness is emanating from the self-proclaimed Left. We're witnessing here a profound historical volte-face. For most of the past two centuries, the Left has been identified with science and against obscurantism; we have believed that rational thought and the fearless analysis of objective reality (both natural and social) are incisive tools for combating the mystifications promoted by the powerful – not to mention being desirable human ends in their own right. The recent turn of many "progressive" or "leftist" academic humanists and social scientists toward one or another form of epistemic relativism betrays this worthy heritage and undermines the already fragile prospects for progressive social critique. Theorizing about "the social construction of reality" won't help us find an effective treatment for AIDS or devise strategies for preventing global warming. Nor can we combat false ideas in history, sociology, economics and politics if we reject the notions of truth and falsity.
In response to this critique, Jacques Derrida wrote:

In whose interest was it to go for a quick practical joke rather than taking part in the work which, sadly, it replaced?

== Founding works ==
Hall and others have identified some core originating texts, or the original "curricula", of the field of cultural studies:

Richard Hoggart's The Uses of Literacy
Raymond Williams' Culture and Society and The Long Revolution
E. P. Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class

== See also ==
Culturology
Cultural Studies Association (US)
European Communication Research and Education Association (Norway)
International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (South Korea)
Popular culture studies

== References ==

=== Sources ===
Bitar, Amer (2020). Bedouin Visual Leadership in the Middle East: The Power of Aesthetics and Practical Implications. Springer Nature. ISBN 9783030573973.
Du Gay, Paul, et al. 1997. Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman. Culture, Media and Identities. London: SAGE, in association with Open University.
During, Simon (2007). The cultural studies reader (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-37412-5.
Edgar, Andrew, and Peter Sedgwick. 2005. Cultural Theory: The Key Concepts (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Engel, Manfred. 2008. "Cultural and Literary Studies." Canadian Review of Comparative Literature 31:460–67.
Grossberg, Lawrence (2010). Cultural Studies in the Future Tense. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Grossberg, Lawrence; Nelson, Cary; Treichler, Paula, eds. (1992). Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-90351-3..
Hall, Gary & Birchall, Claire, eds. (2006). New Cultural Studies: Adventures in Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Hall, Stuart, ed. (1980). Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972-1979. London: Routledge in association with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham. ISBN 0-09-142070-9.
—— (1980b). "Cultural studies: Two paradigms". Media, Culture & Society. 2: 57–72. doi:10.1177/016344378000200106.
—— 1992. "Race, Culture, and Communications: Looking Backward and Forward at Cultural Studies." Rethinking Marxism 5(1):10–18.
Hoggart, Richard. 1957. The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working Class Life. Chatto and Windus. ISBN 0-7011-0763-4
Hartley, John (2003). A Short History of Cultural Studies. London: Sage.
Johnson, Richard. 1986–87. "What Is Cultural Studies Anyway?" Social Text 16:38–80.
—— 2004. "Multiplying Methods: From Pluralism to Combination." pp. 26–43 in Practice of Cultural Studies. London: SAGE.
—— "Post-Hegemony? I Don't Think So" Theory, Culture & Society 24(3):95–110.
Lash, Scott (May 2007). "Power after Hegemony: Cultural Studies in Mutation?". Theory, Culture & Society. 24 (3): 55–78. doi:10.1177/0263276407075956. S2CID 145639801.
Lewis, Jeff (2008). Cultural Studies: The Basics (2nd ed.). London: SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-1-4129-2229-6.
Lindlof, T. R., and B. C. Taylor. 2002. Qualitative Communication Research Methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Longhurst, Brian, Greg Smith, Gaynor Bagnall, Garry Crawford, and Michael Ogborn. 2008. Introducing Cultural Studies (2nd ed.). London: Pearson. ISBN 978-1-4058-5843-4.
Miller, Toby, ed. (2006). A Companion to Cultural Studies. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 978-0-631-21788-6.
Pollock, Griselda, ed. 1996. Generations and Geographies: Critical Theories and Critical Practices in Feminism and the Visual Arts. Routledge.
—— 2006. Psychoanalysis and the Image. Boston: Blackwell.
Sardar, Ziauddin, Van Loon, Borin (1997). Introducing Cultural Studies. New York: Totem Books.
Smith, Paul. 1991. "A Course In 'Cultural Studies'." The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association 24(1):39–49.
—— 2006. "Looking Backwards and Forwards at Cultural Studies." pp. 331–40 in A Companion to Cultural Studies, edited by T. Miller. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 978-0-631-21788-6.
Rodman, Gil (2015). Why Cultural Studies? Maldon, MA: Wiley Blackwell.
Turner, Graeme (2003). British Cultural Studies: An Introduction (Third ed.). London: Routledge.
—— 2012. What's Become of Cultural Studies? Los Angeles: SAGE.
Williams, Jeffrey, interviewer. 1994. "Questioning Cultural Studies: An Interview with Paul Smith." Hartford, CT: MLG Institute for Culture and Society, Trinity College. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
Williams, Raymond. 1985. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (revised ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
—— 1966. Culture and Society, 1780-1950. New York: Harper & Row.

== External links ==

CCCS publications (Annual Reports and Stencilled Occasional [sic] Papers) of the University of Birmingham Archived 10 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine
CSAA: Cultural Studies Association of Australasia
Cultural Studies
International Journal of Cultural Studies
Stuart Hall Archive Project, University of Birmingham, UK
Stuart Hall: Selected Writings, Duke University Press
Research institute for Interculturality