Popular Culture: A Users Guide

Popular Culture: A User s Guide, International Edition is a lively and engaging introduction to popular culture. It provides the tools and knowledge for an analysis of the contemporary cultural landscape across a range of disciplines, from literary theory and cultural studies to philosophy and sociology.

The text covers a broad range of key topics, such as the underlying socioeconomic structures that affect media and our consciousness, the politics of pop culture, the role of consumers, subcultures and countercultures, and the construction of social reality. It examines the ways in which individuals and societies act as consumers and agents of popular culture. It is also filled with a variety of helpful learning features including case studies, real–life examples, suggested activities, boxed features on specific topics, a glossary of terms, and an instructor s manual. Popular Culture helps readers navigate the complexities of 21st century popular culture, arming them with the awareness and ability to critically evaluate everyday life and practices.

Imre Szeman is Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) of Cultural Studies and Professor of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta, Canada. He is also Adjunct Professor of Visual and Critical Studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, Canada. He is the founder of the Canadian Association of Cultural Studies and a founding member of the US Cultural Studies Association. His main areas of research are in energy and environmental studies, social and political philosophy, and critical theory and cultural studies. He is the author or editor of more than 16 books, including Cultural Theory: An Anthology (Wiley Blackwell, 2010) and After Globalization (Wiley Blackwell, 2011). 

Susie O′Brien is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, Canada. Her research and teaching focus on postcolonial and environmental cultural studies.  She has published on postcolonial literature, the slow and local food movements, scenario planning, and the temporality of globalization.  She is co–editor of Time, Globalization and Human Experience (forthcoming 2017) and is currently working on a monograph on the power and vulnerability of resilience stories.