cultural criticism

Cultural critics have been around since the birth of civilization and the beginnings of history. Starting with the first cultivated fields, the first domesticated animals, the first city walls, the first standing armies, and the first enslavement of men by other men, there have been critics to bring into sharper relief the social stresses and psychic fractures that civilized culture invariably entails.

Some more notable culture critics might include Lao Tzu in ancient China, Siddhartha Gautama in India, Socrates in Athens, and somewhat later, Jean Jacques Rousseau in 18th century Geneva, Marx and Nietzsche in 19th century Germany, and more recently, Mikhail Bakhtin in 20th century Russia, Michel Foucault in France, and Allan Bloom in America.

A persistent voice in most modern societies, the cultural critic holds up a mirror in which a society and its citizenry can better judge itself. Born into social institutions and cultural conventions that he did not himself create, the critic wants to expose the hidden rules of the game and open us to what is behind our taken-for-granted assumptions about the world in which we live.

On the internet, Blogs like the Kulturcritic provide another way of grasping the world, the culture, and ourselves.

by zaykaman Are you a writer, passionate about this or any other topic? Join Blogcritics!

Latest blogosphere posts tagged “cultural criticism”

• Death Row inmate’s final words: Reason to rethink the death penalty

  
  Matador Change — Authority: 494
  Feature photo: ABA; Photo above: littledan77 The final words of a Death Row inmate give us another reason to rethink the death penalty. “The public execution is… a hearth in which violence bursts again into flame.”- Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison The words of the French ...
  5 days ago

• A Caution Against Christmas Materialism and Overspending

  
  Gently Hew Stone — Authority: 122
  Despite the recession, I’ve heard too many stories recently of people going overboard with Christmas shopping.  It brought back to mind the following, which I originally posted here over a year and half ago.  Though it’s written with a Latter-day Saint audience in mind, the principles it promotes apply to ...
  1 week ago

• "Take race out of it—American consumers love extremes. Our news-media features strategists who..."

  
  Conserva tive Radical — Authority: 139
  “ Take race out of it—American consumers love extremes. Our news-media features strategists who are “for” or “against” the issue of the moment. Our memoirs (as I quickly discovered) are either overwrought, sentimentalist fairy tales or shocking tales of perversion and abuse (the child molestation memoir ...
  1 week ago

• That’s disappointing. A song that embodies inclusion gets edited.

  
  Terry — Authority: 423
  So, the other day on television, I caught a rather nice rendition of Lennon’s “Imagine.” It was during an episode of Glee , which is newish show that has a lot of musical theatre elements (it’s a favourite of my wife’s). Anyway, this episode had a plot that focused around the highschool glee club (of ...
  2 weeks ago

• Manga

  
  Conserva tive Radical — Authority: 139
  Manga : Check out part one here . Jog puts his foot in it.
  2 weeks ago

• "The list is the origin of culture. It’s part of the history of art and literature. What does..."

  
  Conserva tive Radical — Authority: 139
  “ The list is the origin of culture. It’s part of the history of art and literature. What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible. It also wants to create order — not always, but often. And how, as a human being, does one face infinity? How does one attempt to grasp the incomprehensible? Through ...
  2 weeks ago

• The African Paradox: Iris Amuto

  
  Terry — Authority: 423
  Talk number four from TEDx Terry talks . One of compelling moments that stuck with us, was when Iris said, “I repeat. Not all Africans are hungry or poor…” - – - Name: Iris Amuto Talk Title: “The African Paradox” Notes: Faculty of Arts, Political Science Department, Major: Political ...
  3 weeks ago

• The Midwest

  
  Political Cartel — Authority: 114
  The following post is a piece written by my friend and fellow-PC blogger, Cody Rogers.  Cody’s interests and talents are a bit different from the rest of the PC crew.  His style is uniquely literary and his interests are much the same.  Since asking him to join us, I think he’s felt somewhat out-of-place.  ...
  4 weeks ago

• On the Perspectives of Global Nomads: Azim Wazeer

  
  Terry — Authority: 423
  Talk number three from TEDx Terry talks . Love the part about “butter chicken.” - – - Name: Azim Wazeer Talk Title: “On the Perspectives of Global Nomads” Notes: 4th year, Sauder School of Business. Topic: The last five years of Azim’s life have seen him undertake undergraduate ...
  4 weeks ago

• Chimera, Chimeric, Chimerian, Chimerical

  
  Classics in Contemporary Culture — Authority: 91
  ...are all real words.  In a New York Times op-ed from this past Sunday , however, Niall Ferguson and Moritz Schularick cite their own coinage, Chimerica, and speculate about its potential demise: A FEW years ago we came up with the term “Chimerica” to describe thecombination of the Chinese and American ...
  4 weeks ago

Comments about cultural criticism