The Heroic Life and Everyday Life Mike Featherstone The modern hero is no hero; he acts heroes. (... more The Heroic Life and Everyday Life Mike Featherstone The modern hero is no hero; he acts heroes. (Benjamin, 1973: 97) Perhaps it is precisely the petit-bourgeois who has the presentiment of the dawn of a new heroism, a heroism both enormous and collective, on the model of ...
Are there any cultural universals left? Does multiculturalism inevitably involve a slide into mor... more Are there any cultural universals left? Does multiculturalism inevitably involve a slide into moral relativism? This timely and insightful book examines questions of politics and identity in the age of multicultures. It draws together the contribution of outstanding contributors such as Fraser, Honneth, O'Neill, Bauman, Lister, Gilroy and De Swann to explore how difference and multiculturalism take on the arguments of universalist humanism. The approach taken derives from the traditions of cultural sociology and cultural studies rather than political science and philosophy. The book takes seriously the argument that the social bond and recognition are in danger through globalization and deterritorialization. It is a major contribution to the emerging debate on the form of post-national forms of civil society.
The Body: social process and cultural theory, 1991
... retirement in the USA, the professedly meliorative institution of retirement is itself the pr... more ... retirement in the USA, the professedly meliorative institution of retirement is itself the product of the desire to redeploy ... ages of me": toward personal and interpersonal defmitions of functionalageing', in R. Kastenbaum (ed.), Ageing in the ... Lurie, A.(1981) The Language of Clothes ...
TECHNOLOGIES OF POST-HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND THE POTENTIAL FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP Mike Featherstone... more TECHNOLOGIES OF POST-HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND THE POTENTIAL FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP Mike Featherstone Source: Jan Nederveen Pieterse led.), Global Fuiures: Shaping ...
This wide-ranging introduction to the special issue on Automobilities examines various dimensions... more This wide-ranging introduction to the special issue on Automobilities examines various dimensions of the automobile system and car cultures. In its broadest sense we can think of many automobilities - modes of autonomous, self-directed movement. It can be argued that there are many different car cultures and autoscapes which operate around the world, which cannot be seen as making driving (including freeways, motorways and autobahns) a uniform experience of movement in a controlled 'no-place' space. Yet, there clearly is an increasingly globalizing car system, conceptualized as a powerful socio-economic and technological complex which sustains the car as a key object of mass production (Fordism) and mass consumption, which has impacted on spatial organization through roads, city layout, suburban housing and shopping malls and demands new forms of social life, sociability and time-space flexibility. This automobile system currently accounts for some 1.2 million deaths through traffic accidents a year world-wide, with the reversal of the long normalization of this form of 'mass murder,' now seen as a key topic for public health authorities. At the same time while it is potentially possible to subject cars to greater surveillance and systemic control through information technology, this in itself may not automatically lead to a reduction of accidents. In recent years the car has become a complex communicative platform for multi-tasking, a command centre for telephone, television, Internet etc., a place of work and instrumental tasking; but also a place of dwelling and refuge, a comfort zone for emotional decontrol via the sound system. Something which requires a more flexible driving habitus in which the senses are reconfigured and extended through the technology, as driving increasingly depends on the software as we move to intelligent cars and roads. Yet this is also something which generates an expanding set of new risks. The logic is for the driver to become the auto pilot and the automobile to become a sort of datasuit wrap. Yet it is not surprising that this view of the controlled safe car should also summon up its opposite: the car as dangerous and powerful, as a vehicle for excitement and speed. Especially so given that car racing practically originated alongside the birth of the automobile and is now itself a massive global industry whose imagery is central to the marketing of many types of cars.
IN THE recent phase of globalization in the wake of expanding marketization and reactive national... more IN THE recent phase of globalization in the wake of expanding marketization and reactive nationalisms, there has been a revival of interest in cosmopolitanism.1 For some, the term holds out the prospect of global democratization along with the hope that cosmopolitan groups will be in the forefront of establishing values, institutions and lifestyles which are less directly embedded within nation-state societies. For others, the cosmopolitan is a figure to be reviled as it has become associated with ‘the revolt of the elites’, the inability of upper and middle class groups to sustain a sense of responsibility towards the growing numbers of the excluded around the world. These mobile elites, who enjoy the freedom of physical movement and communication, stand in stark contrast to those who are confined to place, whose fate is to remain located (Lasch, 1996; see also Bauman, 2000; Featherstone, 2000a, 2001; Urry, 2000). Equally harsh in its judgement of cosmopolitanism is the perspective which presents the cosmopolitan as dabbling rootlessly in a variety of cultures. This view of the cosmopolitan as voyeur, parasite, or some sort of cultural tourist again emphasizes this incapacity to form lasting attachments and commitments to place and others, the inability to participate in a community for which one feels obliged to make sacrifices. This restless pursuit of experience, aesthetic sensations and novelty, over duties, obligations and social bonds, is allegedly something which best fits anglophone societies such as the United States and Britain, in which the market values of the trader, who looks, deals and moves on, are often seen to be key formative features of the current world-view (See Featherstone, 1995, ch. 8). This raises two related questions. First, the extent to which cosmopolitan dispositions are closely associated with cities. Cities have long been the sites for markets and the mixing of people, commodities, ideas and
In this interview to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Theory, Culture & Society special is... more In this interview to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Theory, Culture & Society special issue on Global Culture, Roland Robertson reflects on his long involvement as one of the major theorists of globalization. He recounts how in his early years as a sociologist there was strong resistance to thinking beyond the nation-state society. He comments on the emergence of the field of transdisciplinary global studies, the concern with global culture and his own attempts to extend the concept of globalization by developing the term glocalization. He also discusses the present Covid-19 pandemic and ends with a number of reflections on global history.
This chapter addresses a range of questions about the dreams and consequences of consumption. The... more This chapter addresses a range of questions about the dreams and consequences of consumption. The roots of consumer culture can be traced back to long-standing dreams of abundance and unrestricted consumption. With consumer culture now the dominant force central to the maintenance of the contemporary neoliberal global economy, the chapter asks the question how far are these dreams still viable? Today’s cultural heroes prominent in the media are still the rich, superrich, and celebrities, who enjoy excessive luxury lifestyles. Yet what are the consequences of 200 years of increasing consumption? Some would argue that the ecological consequences of a consumer society are evident in climate change and impending planetary disaster through the accumulation of excessive waste and unknown risks. If the unintended consequences now threaten planetary existence, what is the potential for thinking beyond consumer culture? Does consumer culture merely provide an extension of work, with increasing surveillance through digital devices effectively locking people into more compulsive patterns of behaviour with the loss of genuine free time and sociability? Can consumer culture still deliver the good life and happiness? The chapter explores alternative ways of being together that could reverse the excessive individualism, egoism of consumer cultures.
This chapter looks at two dynamics of luxury — the ‘democratisation’ of luxury, which occurs when... more This chapter looks at two dynamics of luxury — the ‘democratisation’ of luxury, which occurs when such goods are made more widely available; and the rebranding of luxury goods as art objects, which emphasize their value in how unique and exclusive they are. The expansion of the luxury market and the more general ‘democratisation of luxury’ not only means that luxuries are everywhere, it also creates pressures to develop even more exclusive goods, stimulating ultra-luxury brands and the bespoke luxury market. Moreover, if it is possible for the luxury house to appropriate the aura of the artist and artistic production, then the prestige of their goods will necessarily rise. In exploring these tensions, the chapter looks at the broader issues of access to luxuries, the sustainability of their production, their just distribution, and the possibility of a space beyond.
The Heroic Life and Everyday Life Mike Featherstone The modern hero is no hero; he acts heroes. (... more The Heroic Life and Everyday Life Mike Featherstone The modern hero is no hero; he acts heroes. (Benjamin, 1973: 97) Perhaps it is precisely the petit-bourgeois who has the presentiment of the dawn of a new heroism, a heroism both enormous and collective, on the model of ...
Are there any cultural universals left? Does multiculturalism inevitably involve a slide into mor... more Are there any cultural universals left? Does multiculturalism inevitably involve a slide into moral relativism? This timely and insightful book examines questions of politics and identity in the age of multicultures. It draws together the contribution of outstanding contributors such as Fraser, Honneth, O'Neill, Bauman, Lister, Gilroy and De Swann to explore how difference and multiculturalism take on the arguments of universalist humanism. The approach taken derives from the traditions of cultural sociology and cultural studies rather than political science and philosophy. The book takes seriously the argument that the social bond and recognition are in danger through globalization and deterritorialization. It is a major contribution to the emerging debate on the form of post-national forms of civil society.
The Body: social process and cultural theory, 1991
... retirement in the USA, the professedly meliorative institution of retirement is itself the pr... more ... retirement in the USA, the professedly meliorative institution of retirement is itself the product of the desire to redeploy ... ages of me": toward personal and interpersonal defmitions of functionalageing', in R. Kastenbaum (ed.), Ageing in the ... Lurie, A.(1981) The Language of Clothes ...
TECHNOLOGIES OF POST-HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND THE POTENTIAL FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP Mike Featherstone... more TECHNOLOGIES OF POST-HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND THE POTENTIAL FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP Mike Featherstone Source: Jan Nederveen Pieterse led.), Global Fuiures: Shaping ...
This wide-ranging introduction to the special issue on Automobilities examines various dimensions... more This wide-ranging introduction to the special issue on Automobilities examines various dimensions of the automobile system and car cultures. In its broadest sense we can think of many automobilities - modes of autonomous, self-directed movement. It can be argued that there are many different car cultures and autoscapes which operate around the world, which cannot be seen as making driving (including freeways, motorways and autobahns) a uniform experience of movement in a controlled 'no-place' space. Yet, there clearly is an increasingly globalizing car system, conceptualized as a powerful socio-economic and technological complex which sustains the car as a key object of mass production (Fordism) and mass consumption, which has impacted on spatial organization through roads, city layout, suburban housing and shopping malls and demands new forms of social life, sociability and time-space flexibility. This automobile system currently accounts for some 1.2 million deaths through traffic accidents a year world-wide, with the reversal of the long normalization of this form of 'mass murder,' now seen as a key topic for public health authorities. At the same time while it is potentially possible to subject cars to greater surveillance and systemic control through information technology, this in itself may not automatically lead to a reduction of accidents. In recent years the car has become a complex communicative platform for multi-tasking, a command centre for telephone, television, Internet etc., a place of work and instrumental tasking; but also a place of dwelling and refuge, a comfort zone for emotional decontrol via the sound system. Something which requires a more flexible driving habitus in which the senses are reconfigured and extended through the technology, as driving increasingly depends on the software as we move to intelligent cars and roads. Yet this is also something which generates an expanding set of new risks. The logic is for the driver to become the auto pilot and the automobile to become a sort of datasuit wrap. Yet it is not surprising that this view of the controlled safe car should also summon up its opposite: the car as dangerous and powerful, as a vehicle for excitement and speed. Especially so given that car racing practically originated alongside the birth of the automobile and is now itself a massive global industry whose imagery is central to the marketing of many types of cars.
IN THE recent phase of globalization in the wake of expanding marketization and reactive national... more IN THE recent phase of globalization in the wake of expanding marketization and reactive nationalisms, there has been a revival of interest in cosmopolitanism.1 For some, the term holds out the prospect of global democratization along with the hope that cosmopolitan groups will be in the forefront of establishing values, institutions and lifestyles which are less directly embedded within nation-state societies. For others, the cosmopolitan is a figure to be reviled as it has become associated with ‘the revolt of the elites’, the inability of upper and middle class groups to sustain a sense of responsibility towards the growing numbers of the excluded around the world. These mobile elites, who enjoy the freedom of physical movement and communication, stand in stark contrast to those who are confined to place, whose fate is to remain located (Lasch, 1996; see also Bauman, 2000; Featherstone, 2000a, 2001; Urry, 2000). Equally harsh in its judgement of cosmopolitanism is the perspective which presents the cosmopolitan as dabbling rootlessly in a variety of cultures. This view of the cosmopolitan as voyeur, parasite, or some sort of cultural tourist again emphasizes this incapacity to form lasting attachments and commitments to place and others, the inability to participate in a community for which one feels obliged to make sacrifices. This restless pursuit of experience, aesthetic sensations and novelty, over duties, obligations and social bonds, is allegedly something which best fits anglophone societies such as the United States and Britain, in which the market values of the trader, who looks, deals and moves on, are often seen to be key formative features of the current world-view (See Featherstone, 1995, ch. 8). This raises two related questions. First, the extent to which cosmopolitan dispositions are closely associated with cities. Cities have long been the sites for markets and the mixing of people, commodities, ideas and
In this interview to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Theory, Culture & Society special is... more In this interview to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Theory, Culture & Society special issue on Global Culture, Roland Robertson reflects on his long involvement as one of the major theorists of globalization. He recounts how in his early years as a sociologist there was strong resistance to thinking beyond the nation-state society. He comments on the emergence of the field of transdisciplinary global studies, the concern with global culture and his own attempts to extend the concept of globalization by developing the term glocalization. He also discusses the present Covid-19 pandemic and ends with a number of reflections on global history.
This chapter addresses a range of questions about the dreams and consequences of consumption. The... more This chapter addresses a range of questions about the dreams and consequences of consumption. The roots of consumer culture can be traced back to long-standing dreams of abundance and unrestricted consumption. With consumer culture now the dominant force central to the maintenance of the contemporary neoliberal global economy, the chapter asks the question how far are these dreams still viable? Today’s cultural heroes prominent in the media are still the rich, superrich, and celebrities, who enjoy excessive luxury lifestyles. Yet what are the consequences of 200 years of increasing consumption? Some would argue that the ecological consequences of a consumer society are evident in climate change and impending planetary disaster through the accumulation of excessive waste and unknown risks. If the unintended consequences now threaten planetary existence, what is the potential for thinking beyond consumer culture? Does consumer culture merely provide an extension of work, with increasing surveillance through digital devices effectively locking people into more compulsive patterns of behaviour with the loss of genuine free time and sociability? Can consumer culture still deliver the good life and happiness? The chapter explores alternative ways of being together that could reverse the excessive individualism, egoism of consumer cultures.
This chapter looks at two dynamics of luxury — the ‘democratisation’ of luxury, which occurs when... more This chapter looks at two dynamics of luxury — the ‘democratisation’ of luxury, which occurs when such goods are made more widely available; and the rebranding of luxury goods as art objects, which emphasize their value in how unique and exclusive they are. The expansion of the luxury market and the more general ‘democratisation of luxury’ not only means that luxuries are everywhere, it also creates pressures to develop even more exclusive goods, stimulating ultra-luxury brands and the bespoke luxury market. Moreover, if it is possible for the luxury house to appropriate the aura of the artist and artistic production, then the prestige of their goods will necessarily rise. In exploring these tensions, the chapter looks at the broader issues of access to luxuries, the sustainability of their production, their just distribution, and the possibility of a space beyond.
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