Publisher's Synopsis
An introductory textbook for tertiary courses in cultural studies, communications studies, and social semiotics. It aims to equip the student with the conceptual materials necessary for advanced undergraduate study in these fields. Where other textbooks in his area ask the student first to learn and then to apply a body of theoretical work, Tools for Cultural Studies begins by identifying a number of aspects found in actual situations of social sign use, and examines how these may be thought through in the most effective ways. Rather than treat its materials as elements of a single overall theory of communication, it develops a flexible set of conceptual tools for a practical analytic competence. As well as pointing out the complex nature of the social, it encourages a critical and inventive attitude to cultural theory itself.
