This focus on 'shared meanings' may sometimes make culture sound too unitary and too cognitive. In any culture, there is always a great diversity of meanings about any topic, and more than one way of interpreting or representing it. Also, culture is about feelings, attachments and emotions as well as concepts and ideas. The expression on my face 'says something' about who I am (identity) and what I am feeling (emotions) and what group I feel I belong to (attachment), which can be 'read' and understood by other people, even if I didn't intend deliberately to communicate anything as formal as 'a message', and even if the other person couldn't give a very logical account of how s/he came to understand what I was 'saying'. Above all, cultural meanings are not only 'in the head'. They organize and regulate social practices, influence our conduct and consequently have real, practical effects.
(Stuart Hall m fl: "Representation. Cultural representations and signifying practices")
1 kommentar:
Intressant! Jag har sett någon föreläsning av Stuart Hall någon gång på video, minns inte vad han pratade om utom att han nämnde "grooming" som något alla självklart höll på med. Jag var inne i en period av ovanligt begränsad "grooming" till och med för att vara jag, så resten av föreläsningen försvann under ett stort grubbel om varför inte jag kan vara lika välputsad som alla andra...
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