Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman

A welcome opportunity to return to a classic text of cultural studies pedagogy and to apply its insights to contemporary issues of culture, media and identity and their connections to the production and consumption of technology. The combination of the original Walkman case study with useful 'back to the future' sections provides a great opportunity for students to reflect on the cultural meanings of smart phones, social media and user-generated knowledge. - Dr Richard Elliott, University of Sussex Why think about the Walkman in the 21st century? Can the Walkman help us understand today’s media and cultural practices? Through the notion of the 'circuit of culture', this book teaches students to critically examine what culture means, and how and why it is enmeshed with the media texts and objects in their lives. Students will: Unpack the key concepts of contemporary culture, such as mobility, materiality, consumption and identity Learn to think about some of the cultural conundrums of the present and their relation to the past, such as branding culture Look with fresh eyes at today's media world and the cultural practices it gives rise to Gain practical experience with the historical comparative method Practice their critical skills with up-to-date exercises and activities This book takes students on a journey between past and present, giving them the skills do to cultural analysis along the way. It remains the perfect 'how to' for students in media studies, cultural studies, design and sociology. INDICE: Introduction to the Second EditionIntroduction to the First Edition1. MAKING SENSE OF THE WALKMAN Introduction What is 'Culture'? Back to the Future: Materiality and Culture Meanings and Practices Meaning by Association: Semantic Networks Back to the Future: Meanings and Associations Signifying Practices Contemporary Soundscapes Back to the Future: Produsage: The Changing Relationship Between Production and Consumption? Culture in the Age of Electronic Reproduction Back to the Future - Benjamin v/2.0 Back to the future: Mobile Privatization? Walk-men and Walk-women: Subjects and Identities Back to the Future: Advertizing and Branding Summary2. THE PRODUCTION OF THE SONY WALKMAN Introduction: The Many Origins of an Idea Cultures of Production, Contexts of Innovation Heroic Individuals Back to the Future: Technological Innovation, Heroic Individuals and Distributed Agency Sony, Japan and the United States Sony: Signifying 'Japan'? Happy Accidents at Work: Enter the Walkman Making the Walkman to Sell: Connecting Production and Consumption Assembling for the Young Consumer: The Mothers of the Invention Naming the Machine: Sony Grammar Marketing and Public Relations Back to the Future: Promotional Culture Monitoring Consumption and Market Research Back to the Future: Produsage Revisited3. DESIGNING THE WALKMAN: ARTICULATING PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION Designers as Cultural Intermediaries The Organization of Design at Sony Lifestyling the Walkman Back to the Future: The Power of Software: Culture Made Malleable? The Walkman: How 'Japanese' Is It?4. SONY AS A GLOBAL FIRM Following the Walkman: Competition and Financial Crisis Sony Goes Global and Local Back to the Future: The Global-Local Nexus Combining Hardware and Software: The Culture Industry Back to the Future: Synergies and Cultural Industries5. CONSUMING THE WALKMAN Introduction Perspectives on Consumption Back to the Future: Perspectives on Consumption Back to the Future: Authenticity The Production of Consumption The Walkman and the Production of Consumption Critique Back to the Future: Revolutionary Technologies? Back to the Future: Optimism and Pessimism in Relation to Web 2.0 Back to the Future: No sense of Place? Consumption as Socio-cultural Differentiation Walkman Consumption and Social Differentiation Consumption as Appropriation and Resistance6. REGULATING THE WALKMAN The Walkman and Questions of Cultural Regulation The Walkman: The Public and the Private Walkman Use and the Blurring of Boundaries Back to the Future: Cultural Regulation of Modern Technologies Summary of Chapters 5 and 6Selected Readings Reading A: Bruno Latour: 'Technology is society made durable' Reading B: Axel Bruns: 'Produsage: Towards a Broader Framework for User-Led Content Creation' Reading C: Walter Benjamin: 'The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction' Reading D: Raymond Williams: 'Mobile privatization' Reading E: Ana Andjelic: 'Time to rewrite the brand playbook for the digital' Reading F: Nick Lyons: 'Scratching a global dream' Reading G: Shu Ueyama: 'The selling of the Walkman' Reading H: Thomas A. Harvey: 'How Sony Corporation became first with kids' Reading I: Lev Manovich: 'There is Only software' Reading J: Jonathan Zittrain: 'The Personal Computer Is Dead' Reading K: Rey Chow: 'Listening otherwise, music miniaturized: a different type of question about revolution' Reading L: Lev Grossman: 'Iran´s protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement' Reading M: Tim O´Reilly: 'What Is Web 2.0' Reading N: Mirko Tobias Schäfer: 'Bastard Culture! How User Participation Transforms Cultural Production' Reading O: Lain Chambers: 'A miniature history of the Walkman' Reading P: Vincent Jackson: 'Menace II society'

• ISBN: 978-1-84920-549-8
• Editorial: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 208
• Fecha Publicación: 15/05/2013
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: