Cultural studies

Cultural Studies combines literary theory, film/video studies, sociology, and cultural anthropology to study cultural phenomena in industrial societies. Frequently, the major issue under examination is how a particular phenomenon pertains to matters of ideology, race, social class, and/or gender.

Ziauddin Sardhar lists five main characterics of Cultural Studies in his book "Introducing Cultural Studies." These are:

Cultural studies aims to examine its subject matter in terms of cultural practices and their relation to power.
Its objective is to understand culture in all its complex forms and to analyse the social and political context in which it manifests itself.
It is both the object of study and the location of political criticism and action.
It attemps to expose and reconcile the division of knowledge, to overcome the split between tacit (cultural knowledge) and objective (universal) forms of knowledge.
It is committed to a moral evaluation of modern society and to a radical line of political action.

Compare culture.