Manuel Castells: End of Millennium, 2nd ed. (1998/2010)

This final volume in Manuel Castells’ trilogy, with a substantial new preface, is devoted to processes of global social change induced by the transition from the old industrial society to the emerging global network society.

* Explains why China, rather than Japan, is the economic and political actor that is revolutionizing the global system
* Reflects on the contradictions of European unification, proposing the concept of the network state
* Substantial new preface assesses the validity of the theoretical construction presented in the conclusion of the trilogy, proposing some conceptual modifications in light of the observed experience

With a New Preface
Volume 3 of The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture
Verlag Wiley-Blackwell, 2000
ISBN 978-1-4051-9688-8
488 pages

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Jacques Barzun: Darwin, Marx, Wagner: Critique of a Heritage, 2nd ed (1941/1981)

The nomination of Wagner rather than Freud in the trinity of emblematic modern minds is a sign of Barzun’s profound interest in music and the arts. He argued that these men achieved their reputations by catching the spirit of the age, like surfers on a wave, backed by the formidable public relations exercises mounted by their followers . This earned them the status of intellectual icons despite their lack of originality and the significant flaws in their systems. He described in some detail how all the leading ideas of evolutionary theory, socialism and the leading role of the artist were commonplace for decades before the big three started work.

Barzun was especially critical of the way that their adherents promoted determinism and scientism, with truly disastrous political consequences in the twentieth century. In addition to the shortcomings of their systems, two of the three titans were monstrously egocentric and unprincipled exploiters of their friends and denigrators of their enemies. These personal characteristics became prominent in the modus operandi of their followers, setting the tone for bad manners in transactions between intellectuals that have persisted to the present time.

Second Edition with a new Preface
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
ISBN 0-226-03859-9
373 pages

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Jaron Lanier: You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto (2010)

Jaron Lanier, a Silicon Valley visionary since the 1980s, was among the first to predict the revolutionary changes the World Wide Web would bring to commerce and culture. Now, in his first book, written more than two decades after the web was created, Lanier offers this provocative and cautionary look at the way it is transforming our lives for better and for worse.

The current design and function of the web have become so familiar that it is easy to forget that they grew out of programming decisions made decades ago. The web’s first designers made crucial choices (such as making one’s presence anonymous) that have had enormous—and often unintended—consequences. What’s more, these designs quickly became “locked in,” a permanent part of the web’s very structure.

Lanier discusses the technical and cultural problems that can grow out of poorly considered digital design and warns that our financial markets and sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter are elevating the “wisdom” of mobs and computer algorithms over the intelligence and judgment of individuals.

Lanier also shows:
How 1960s antigovernment paranoia influenced the design of the online world and enabled trolling and trivialization in online discourse.
How file sharing is killing the artistic middle class.
How a belief in a technological “rapture” motivates some of the most influential technologists.
Why a new humanistic technology is necessary.

Controversial and fascinating, You Are Not a Gadget is a deeply felt defense of the individual from an author uniquely qualified to comment on the way technology interacts with our culture.

Publisher Knopf, 2010
ISBN 0307269647, 9780307269645
Length 224 pages

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Christopher Small: Musicking: The Means of Performing and Listening (1998)

Extending the inquiry of his early groundbreaking books, Christopher Small strikes at the heart of traditional studies of Western music by asserting that music is not a thing, but rather an activity. In this new book, Small outlines a theory of what he terms “musicking,” a verb that encompasses all musical activity from composing to performing to listening to a Walkman to singing in the shower.

Using Gregory Bateson’s philosophy of mind and a Geertzian thick description of a typical concert in a typical symphony hall, Small demonstrates how musicking forms a ritual through which all the participants explore and celebrate the relationships that constitute their social identity. This engaging and deftly written trip through the concert hall will have readers rethinking every aspect of their musical worlds.

Publisher    Wesleyan University Press, 1998
ISBN    0819522570, 9780819522573
Length    230 pages

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Readings For Art Workmen #1: Culture, not profit (2009)

This is the first Volume of the Journal of Free / Slow University of Warsaw and a recap on first year of its activity. Internal diversity of the Volume corresponds to the mode of operation of this para-institution, which experiments with various avenues of knowledge production and exchange. The present and the first Volume is a recap on the 212 working days of the Free/Slow University of Warsaw during the first year of its activity. Internal diversity of the Volume corresponds to the mode of operation of our para-institution, which experiments with various avenues of knowledge production and exchange.

The subject of the first edition of the Free/Slow University of Warsaw was “culture not for profit.” The initiative referred to the tradition of free education, with a focus on establishing an environment that would enable critical reflection not only on culture, but also on its social, political and economic background. The participants made an attempt at a theoretical and practical research of the conditions of knowledge and culture production in the late capitalism, an analysis of the life conditions of activists, artists and cultural operators as well as at exerting an impact on the cultural policy and participating in debates on the current and the future shape of our societies.

Publication is available in Polish in printed form and online in English.

READINGS FOR ARTWORKERS VOL.1: CULTURE, NOT PROFIT. theorists, activists and artists about producing and functioning of culture
Edited by: Katarzyna Chmielewska, Kuba Szreder, Tomasz Żukowski
Authors: Jakob Jakobsen, Gerald Raunig, Marion von Osten, Peter Spillmann, Teresa Święćkowska, Martin Kaltwasser, Rebecca Gordon Nesbitt, Ewa Majewska, NetzNetz, Adrienne Goehler, Katarzyna Chmielewska, Michał Kozłowski, Tomasz Żukowski, Michał Herer
Publisher: Fundacja Bęc Zmiana, 2009
ISBN 978-83-929527-6-3
Published under Creative Commons, Attribution, Non Commercial, Share Alike, 3.0

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Stuart Sim: Manifesto for silence: confronting the politics and culture of noise (2007)

Silence has played a crucial role in human history in important areas of our existence such as religion and the arts. Yet we live in an increasingly noisy society in which silence is under perpetual assault from the 24/7 lifestyle. The business world cynically exploits noise as part of its marketing strategy; the military deploys noise as a weapon. Without question, noise is a political issue on a global scale.This book mounts a strong argument for silence, arguing that we need more rather than less of it in our lives. The alternative is an environment scarred even further by noise, so often the forgotten pollutant. Stuart Sim explores why silence matters, where it matters – in religion, health, the arts, thought – and why we’ll suffer if space is not made for it. The confrontation between the politics of noise and the politics of silence is an issue on which we cannot stay neutral. A defence of silence is a defence of our humanity, as well as of a beleaguered environment.Key Features:*An in-depth analysis of one of the main cultural conflicts of our time: noise versus silence. *Appeals across the reading spectrum, from the academic to the general reader. *Explores the critical role played by silence in cultural history and its continuing relevance to us now. *Provides a critique of the marketing strategies of the business world from a new perspective. *Puts the conflict between noise and silence in our world into sharp political focus. *Demonstrates why and where silence matters in our lives, and why we should seek to protect it.

Publisher    Edinburgh University Press, 2007
ISBN    0748625917, 9780748625918
Length    215 pages

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Herbert Marcuse: One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society (1964)

One of the most important texts of modern times, Herbert Marcuses analysis and image of a one-dimensional man in a one-dimensional society has shaped many young radicals ways of seeing and experiencing life. Published in 1964, it fast became an ideological bible for the emergent New Left. As Douglas Kellner notes in his introduction, Marcuses greatest work was a damning indictment of contemporary Western societies, capitalist and communist. Yet it also expressed the hopes of a radical philosopher that human freedom and happiness could be greatly expanded beyond the regimented thought and behaviour prevalent in the established society. For those who held the reins of power Marcuses call to arms threatened civilization to its very core. For many others, however, it represented a freedom hitherto unimaginable.

Publisher    Beacon Press, 1964
ISBN    0807014176, 9780807014172
Length    260 pages

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Donna J Haraway: Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (1991)

The idea that nature is constructed, not discovered – that truth is made, not found – is the keynote of recent scholarship in the history of science. Tracing the gendered roots of science in culture, Donna Haraway’s writings about scientific research on monkeys and apes is arguably the finest scholarship in this tradition. She has carefully studied the publications, the papers, the correspondence, and the history of the expeditions and institions of primate studies, uncovering the historical construction of the pedigrees for existing social relations – the naturalization of race, sex, and class. Throughout this book she is analysing accounts, narratives, and stories of the creation of nature, living organisms, and cyborgs (cybernetic organisms: systems which embrace organic and technological components). She also looks critically at the immune system as an information system, and shows how deeply our cultural assumptions penetrate into allegedly value-neutral medical research. In several of these essays she explores and develops the contested terms of reference of existing feminist scholarship; and by mapping the fate of two potent and ambiguous worlds – ‘nature’ and ‘experience’ – she uncovers new visions and provides the possibility of a new politics of hope.

Her previous book, Primate visions, has been called ‘outstanding’, ‘original’, ‘brilliant’, ‘important’ by leading scholars in the field. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women contains ten essays written between 1978 and 1989. They establish her as one of the most thoughtful and challenging feminist writers today.

Publisher Free Association, 1991
ISBN 1853431397, 9781853431395
Length 287 pages

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James V. Wertsch: Vygotsky and the Social Formation of Mind (1985)

In a book of intellectual breadth, James Wertsch not only offers a synthesis and critique of all Vygotsky’s major ideas, but also presents a program for using Vygotskian theory as a guide to contemporary research in the social sciences and humanities. He draws extensively on all Vygotsky’s works, both in Russian and in English, as well as on his own studies in the Soviet Union with colleagues and students of Vygotsky.

Vygotsky’s writings are an enormously rich source of ideas for those who seek an account of the mind as it relates to the social and physical world. Wertsch explores three central themes that run through Vygotsky’s work: his insistence on using genetic, or developmental, analysis; his claim that higher mental functioning in the individual has social origins; and his beliefs about the role of tools and signs in human social and psychological activity Wertsch demonstrates how the notion of semiotic mediation is essential to understanding Vygotsky’s unique contribution to the study of human consciousness.

In the last four chapters Wertsch extends Vygotsky’s claims in light of recent research in linguistics, semiotics, and literary theory. The focus on semiotic phenomena, especially human language, enables him to integrate findings from the wide variety of disciplines with which Vygotsky was concerned Wertsch shows how Vygotsky’s approach provides a principled way to link the various strands of human science that seem more isolated than ever today.

Publisher Harvard University Press, 1985
ISBN 0674943511, 9780674943513
Length 262 pages

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Rasheed Araeen, Sean Cubitt, Ziauddin Sardar (eds.): Third Text Reader on Art, Culture and Theory (2002)

Third Text has been the world’s leading journal on art in the global context. Known for challenging received notions of art practice, art history, popular media and cultural theory, it has never accepted unquestioningly the claims of anti-racism, multiculturalism or postcolonialism. Similarly, Third Text has not only championed new artists from six continents, it has raised the critical temperature and the political stakes for art and cultural practice in the age of globalization. This Reader brings together classic essays by some of the best-known critics in global art and cultural studies, together with some of the most exciting new voices to emerge over the last decades. Divided into sections that cover history, representation, identity, film, “post” theory, globalization, the Reader will be invaluable to students and teachers of art, cultural studies, media studies, postcolonialism and globalization.
Selected contributors: Zygmunt Bauman, Rustom Bharucha, Zeynap ¦elik, James Clifford, Sean Cubitt, Jimmie Durham, Clifford Geertz, Stuart Hall, Kobener Mercer, Benita Parry, George Ritzer, Edward Said, Ziauddin Sardar, Julian Stallabrass, Slavoj Zizek

Publisher Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002
ISBN 0826458513, 9780826458513
Length 392 pages

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John Tomlinson: The Culture of Speed. The Coming of Immediacy (2007)

Is the pace of life accelerating? If so, what are the cultural, social, personal and economic consequences?

This stimulating and accessible book examines how speed emerged as a cultural issue during industrial modernity. The rise of capitalist society and the shift to urban settings was rapid and tumultuous and was defined by the belief in ‘progress’. The first obstacle faced by societies that were starting to ’speed up’ was how to regulate and control the process. The attempt to regulate the acceleration of life created a new set of problems, namely the way in which speed escapes regulation and rebels against controls. This pattern of acceleration and control subsequently defined debates about the cultural effects of acceleration. However, in the 21st century ‘immediacy’, the combination of fast capitalism and the saturation of the everyday by media technologies, has emerged as the core feature of control. This coming of immediacy will inexorably change how we think about and experience media culture, consumption practices, and the core of our cultural and moral values.

Incisive and richly illustrated, this eye-opening account of speed and culture provides an original, essential guide to one of the central features of contemporary culture and personal life.

Publisher SAGE, 2007
ISBN 1412912024, 9781412912020
Length 180 pages

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Neil Postman: Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1993)

Neil Postman is one of the most level-headed analysts of education, media, and technology, and in this book he spells out the increasing dependence upon technology, numerical quantification, and misappropriation of “Scientism” to all human affairs. No simple technophobe, Postman argues insightfully and writes with a stylistic flair, profound sense of humor, and love of language increasingly rare in our hastily scribbled e-mail-saturated world.

In this witty, often terrifying work of cultural criticism, the author of Amusing Ourselves to Death chronicles our transformation into a Technopoly: a society that no longer merely uses technology as a support system but instead is shaped by it–with radical consequences for the meanings of politics, art, education, intelligence, and truth.

Publisher Vintage Books, 1993
ISBN 0679745408, 9780679745402
Length 222 pages

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Keith Hart: Memory Bank. Money in an Unequal World (2001)

Hart believes that humanity stands on the threshold of a new era in which there will be a pressing need to develop, conceptually and in practice, an awareness of the common problems facing world society as a whole. We have scarcely begun to contemplate how to establish and maintain the social, technological and cultural infrastructures we will need to survive in the 21st century. In a polarized world characterized by staggering economic inequalities, recent advances in technology offer radical possibilities for the development of human freedom and equality. Hart’s particular focus in this book is the Internet, which he argues holds the potential for a re-personalization of economic relations. In this world, new means of exchange could be harnessed to the ends of a truer economic democracy. Money is the problem, but it is also the solution. Hart, an anthropologist by training, offers a new view on the interaction between money, capitalism, and culture – now, in the future, and throughout history. The many important strands of thought and experience in this book will challenge established views from all quarters of economic, political, and social thought.

Publisher Texere, 2001
ISBN 1587990970, 9781587990977
Length 320 pages

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Marc Pachter, Charles Landry: Culture at the Crossroads: Culture and Cultural Institutions at the Beginning of the 21st Century (2001)

This highly acclaimed short book explores the disquiet on the cultural front brought about by clashes between commerce and culture and how to think through the dilemmas

Publisher Comedia, 2001
ISBN 1873667132, 9781873667132
Length 113 pages

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Frank Webster (ed.): Culture and Politics in the Information Age: A New Politics? (2001)

This volume addresses these key issues through an analysis of important theoretical debates on issues such as digital democracy, cultural politics and transnational communities. Featuring contributors from both sides of the Atlantic, the book contains a series of case studies on new social movements including campaigns on the environment, gender, animal rights and human rights. It combines cutting edge research with theoretical material and makes an important contribution to this highly topical and rapidly growing area.

Publisher Routledge, 2001
ISBN 0415246369, 9780415246361
Length 231 pages

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