‘It's a thin line between love and hate’: Why cultural studies is so ‘naff‘ 1

Abstract

nce upon a time intellectuals knew where they stood with regard to popu- lar culture. For those on the left, it was pas- sive and distracting, the vehicle for the transmission of those myths, values and tra- ditions with which the dominant class sought to infect other classes in order to ensure its hegemony; while for the conserv- gary hall ative defenders of Culture with a capital 'C, it was simply barbaric and banal, evidence of a process of Americanization and levelling down which was...