An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture

This is a clear and comprehensive guide to the major theories of popular culture. Dominic Strinati provides a critical assessment of the ways in which these theories have tried to understand and evaluate popular culture in modern societies. Among the theories and ideas the book introduces are mass culture, the Frankfurt School and the culture industry, semiology and structuralism, Marxism, feminism, postmodernism and cultural populism. Strinati explains how theorists such as Adorno, Barthes, Althusser and Hebdige have grappled with the many forms of popular culture, from jazz to the Americanization of British popular culture, from Hollywood cinema to popular television series, and from teen magazines to the spy novel. Each chapter includes a guide to key texts for further reading and there is also a comprehensive bibliography. This new edition has been fully revised and updated.