CCCS - Böcker

First published in 2006. History and politics are fundamentally connected – indeed historians themselves have often made links between the two explicit. Making Histories explores the relationship between history and politics as it has developed in histories which are critical of the dominant, academic traditions of history writing, and makes a substantial contribution to the debate about the most appropriate way to handle the relations between theory and history. Part One is concerned with the development of ‘people’s history’ – a social history with popular sympathies and links with radical politics. Three phases are discussed: the work of the Hammonds, the Communist Party Historians’ Group of the 1950s, and the historical-political projects of E. P. Thompson. Part Two focuses on the relation between history and theory within Marxism generally and argues that philosophical and methodological assumptions play a key role in more narrowly empirical and historical debates. Part Three presents discussions of three newer forms of political history writing which take a more ‘popular’ turn: oral history, the public construction of the national past in the form of National Heritage or community, and a feminist assessment of histories of the suffragette movement. In challenging received opinion about the scope of ‘history’, the authors stress that historiography is concerned not with the past, but with the relation between the past and the present and argue that popular conceptions of history have an importance usually denied or ignored by academic historians.

First published in 2006 as WPCS 10, On Ideology is a product of discussions which were common to a number of working groups in the Centre. It confronts the recurring problem of the articulation of cultural studies with some Marxist theories of ideology. The first part is explicitly theoretical, comprising expositions and critical readings of important theorists of ideology – from Lukacs and Gramsci to Althusser and Poulantzas, and an overview of sociological approaches. Part II considers the theme in relation to two significant contributions to social-democratic theories and policies: education and ‘community studies’. Part III discusses the problems raised by the notions of ‘subjectivity’ and ‘individuality’. From a series of theoretical engagements, the book aims to provide perspectives from which to develop concrete and politically relevant studies of a key aspect of contemporary social formations.The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) was a research centre at the University of Birmingham. It is notable for producing many key studies and researchers in the field of Cultural Studies. It was founded in 1964 by Richard Hoggart, who became the first centre director. The Cultural Studies department at the University of Birmingham was closed in 2002.

First published in 2006. Women Take Issue draws on collective and individual research by members of the Women’s Studies Group at the Centre. It concentrates on the problems of analysing women’s subordination in Britain.The book opens with a retrospective article which comes to grips with the problem of doing feminist intellectual work through the experience of the Women’s Studies Group. This is followed by an analysis of some aspects of the early women’s movement. In the third section economic approaches to the basis of women’s oppression are examined for their usefulness and limitations.The second half of the book includes articles on: The culture of teenage girlsYoung working class women at homeWoman - the problem of femininity as constructed in this magazineWomen’s reproductive role through class and historyAnthropologyWomen, kinship structures and family.This combination of theoretical work and contemporary case studies engages constructively with the traditions of cultural analysis from a feminist perspective, and contributes to the study of women’s situation in Britain.

Published in the year 2006, Unpopular Education is a valuable contribution to the field of Media and Cultural Studies.

First published in 2006. Women Take Issue draws on collective and individual research by members of the Women’s Studies Group at the Centre. It concentrates on the problems of analysing women’s subordination in Britain.The book opens with a retrospective article which comes to grips with the problem of doing feminist intellectual work through the experience of the Women’s Studies Group. This is followed by an analysis of some aspects of the early women’s movement. In the third section economic approaches to the basis of women’s oppression are examined for their usefulness and limitations. The second half of the book includes articles on: The culture of teenage girls Young working class women at home Woman - the problem of femininity as constructed in this magazine Women’s reproductive role through class and history Anthropology Women, kinship structures and family. This combination of theoretical work and contemporary case studies engages constructively with the traditions of cultural analysis from a feminist perspective, and contributes to the study of women’s situation in Britain.

First published in 2006 as WPCS 10, On Ideology is a product of discussions which were common to a number of working groups in the Centre. It confronts the recurring problem of the articulation of cultural studies with some Marxist theories of ideology. The first part is explicitly theoretical, comprising expositions and critical readings of important theorists of ideology – from Lukacs and Gramsci to Althusser and Poulantzas, and an overview of sociological approaches. Part II considers the theme in relation to two significant contributions to social-democratic theories and policies: education and ‘community studies’. Part III discusses the problems raised by the notions of ‘subjectivity’ and ‘individuality’. From a series of theoretical engagements, the book aims to provide perspectives from which to develop concrete and politically relevant studies of a key aspect of contemporary social formations.The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) was a research centre at the University of Birmingham. It is notable for producing many key studies and researchers in the field of Cultural Studies. It was founded in 1964 by Richard Hoggart, who became the first centre director. The Cultural Studies department at the University of Birmingham was closed in 2002.

First published in 2006. History and politics are fundamentally connected – indeed historians themselves have often made links between the two explicit. Making Histories explores the relationship between history and politics as it has developed in histories which are critical of the dominant, academic traditions of history writing, and makes a substantial contribution to the debate about the most appropriate way to handle the relations between theory and history. Part One is concerned with the development of ‘people’s history’ – a social history with popular sympathies and links with radical politics. Three phases are discussed: the work of the Hammonds, the Communist Party Historians’ Group of the 1950s, and the historical-political projects of E. P. Thompson. Part Two focuses on the relation between history and theory within Marxism generally and argues that philosophical and methodological assumptions play a key role in more narrowly empirical and historical debates. Part Three presents discussions of three newer forms of political history writing which take a more ‘popular’ turn: oral history, the public construction of the national past in the form of National Heritage or community, and a feminist assessment of histories of the suffragette movement. In challenging received opinion about the scope of ‘history’, the authors stress that historiography is concerned not with the past, but with the relation between the past and the present and argue that popular conceptions of history have an importance usually denied or ignored by academic historians.