Cultural Studies

"Culture is an instrument wielded by professors to manufacture professors." — Simone Weil

Cultural Dopes
The postmodernists had it right: all culture is the product of capitalism.
GD DessApr 8, 2022
- Cultural Studies
How Dictionaries Define Us: Margaret Boyle and Ilan Stavans in Conversation
What can dictionaries tell us about cultural crises and the politics of nationality?
Ilan Stavans, Margaret BoyleMar 30, 2022
- Cultural Studies
Biohacking Pain: On Leigh Cowart’s “Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose”
Why do some of us embrace — even pursue — painful experiences?
Rhoda FengMar 10, 2022
- Cultural Studies
On Cat Pictures
The innate wildness of cats makes them rich fodder for internet memes.
Teow Lim GohJan 31, 2022
- Cultural Studies
The Jewish Decadence or the Decadence of Jews?
Natan M. Meir reviews the recently published book by Jonathan Freedman, “The Jewish Decadence: Jews and the Aesthetics of Modernity.”
Natan M. MeirJan 25, 2022
- Cultural Studies
Imagining a More Habitable Present: On Grafton Tanner’s “The Hours Have Lost Their Clock: The Politics of Nostalgia”
Tanner’s new book examines how nostalgia circulates in our culture both innocuously and destructively.
Emmalea RussoDec 29, 2021
- Cultural Studies
Explicit and Confounding Books: On Christopher Hilliard’s “A Matter of Obscenity”
A lucid and engaging cultural history of censorship debates in Britain from 1857 to 1979.
Thomas J. SojkaDec 27, 2021
- Cultural Studies
Learning in Being Lonely: On Jay Caspian Kang’s “The Loneliest Americans”
Summer Kim Lee reviews “The Loneliest Americans,” the new book by Jay Caspian Kang.
Summer Kim LeeDec 7, 2021
- Cultural Studies
Semipublic Intellectual Sessions: “Where’s ‘the Discourse’?”
A transcript of the panel discussion “Where’s ‘the Discourse’?” – a conversation in the Semipublic Intellectual Sessions, which took place on October 7.
Daphne A. Brooks, Jesse McCarthy, Lexis-Olivier Ray, Lili Loofbourow, Sarah MarshallDec 3, 2021
- Cultural Studies
Say the Word: On Amanda Montell’s “Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism”
Words and their power are at the heart of Amanda Montell’s new book.
Olivia GerberNov 26, 2021
- Cultural Studies
Scandal on the Dance Floor
The allure of mixed-sex dancing in Jewish literature and contemporary popular culture.
Sonia GollanceOct 17, 2021
- Cultural Studies
Waves of Transformation: Five Women of the Chicago Avant-Garde
LARB presents an excerpt from “Chicago Avant-Garde: Five Women Ahead of Their Time.”
Liesl OlsonOct 10, 2021
- Cultural Studies