Concepts of Culture: Art, Politics, and Society

How do we define "culture?" To what uses should such a concept be put? What costs and benefits do these uses entail? In this volume, Adam Muller brings together contributions from a diverse group of established and emerging scholars each of whom probes the nature of the culture concept while shedding light on its many different applications and contexts of use. Of particular concern to Muller and his contributors is the putative unity of culture, a notion variously affirmed and denied in this volume over the course of discussions of such matters as popular culture, film, globalization, education, sport, aesthetics, and human values. The variety of perspectives gathered here, in addition to adding much needed substance to our understanding of the history and politics of "culture," taken together confirm the practical advantages to the sort of rigorous and dynamic interdisciplinarity ever more a part of academic life. Concepts of Culture also helps to secure a place for analytic philosophy, humanism, and liberal political theory in contemporary debates over what exactly "culture" is and how it works. Contributors include such distinguished scholars as Jacques Barzun, Geoffrey Hartman, Mette Hjort, and Martha Nussbaum.