Reading Theory: Toward a Comparative Cultural Studies. A Review Article

A review essay on books edited by (1) Nicholas B. Dirks, Geoff Eley, & Sherry B. Ortner, Culture/Power/History: A Reader in Contemporary Social Theory (Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 1994); (2) Simon During, The Cultural Studies Reader (London & New York: Routledge, 1993); & (3) Charles Lemert, Social Theory: The Multicultural and Classic Readings (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1993). Lemert offers excerpts from 89 classical, lesser-known, & contemporary theorists; however, the brevity of the selections hinders full understanding of the scholars' work. During's collection examines cultural studies from its inception as a sociological project focusing on the everyday lives of GB workers to its current embrace of a wide variety of projects that include the local & global, theoretical, & ethnographic. Dirks, Eley, & Ortner cross disciplinary lines to examine three shifting objects of knowledge that they argue have each experienced a series of destabilizations. Taken together, these books are a testament of the trend toward comparative cultural studies & emphasize both the limits & transformative possibilities of knowledge. J. Lindroth