In the past few years there has emerged a new and powerful interest in the study of culture, an interest that has produced important work through¬ out the humanities and social sciences. The very richness and diversity of the new cultural studies create certain pedagogical difficulties, however. The new material spans many different disciplines, and it brings into play a fantastic array of theoretical, ideological, and methodological view¬ points. It is not surprising, then, that there exists no single textbook that brings together examples of leading work.
In developing our anthology, we have been attentive not only to this perspectival diversity but to the significant bifurcation of contemporary cultural studies into two distinctive concerns. One is an analytical focus on the interpretation or explanation of culture; the other is a substantive focus on the fate of culture in modern and postmodern society. But whether analytical or substantive, our interest has been in finding selec¬ tions that illustrate perspectives through empirically arresting work. With the exception of the introductory material, we have not included any purely theoretical statements. That hard choices must be made in a proj¬ ect of this sort goes without saying. In the end, we are surprised and pleased that there has been space for so much.