Cultural theory : an introduction / Philip Smith and Alexander Riley.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 280-295) and index.

Culture in classical social theory -- Culture and social integration in the work of Talcott Parsons -- Culture as ideology in western marxism -- Culture as action in symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, and ethnomethodology -- The Durkheimians : ritual, classification, and the sacred -- Structuralism and the semiotic analysis of culture -- The poststructural turn -- Culture, structure, and agency : three attempts at synthesis -- British cultural studies -- The production and reception of culture -- Culture as text : narrative and hermeneutics -- Psychoanalytic approaches to culture and the self -- The cultural analysis of postmodernism and postmodernity -- Postmodern and poststructural critical theory -- Cultural theories of race and gender -- The body in cultural theory.

"The second edition of this book provides a systematic and accessible introduction to cultural theory, encapsulating a usually complex field in a concise and balanced overview." "Cultural Theory has been fully revised and expanded for this second edition. It provides a comprehensive tour of the major figures, themes, and debates in cultural theory, from Durkheim and Weber through to Foucault and Butler, and from charisma to consumption, but also introduces entirely new chapters on race and gender theory, and the body. Other new material includes treatments of thinkers such as Nietzsche, DuBois, and Eagleton, and considers important contemporary themes, including virtual reality and cosmopolitanism."--Jacket.