Cultural Theory for the Humanities

This theory of culture, a synthesis of thinking from Europe, the Americas and Asia, illustrates the function and meaning of culture rather than form. It fuses philosophy, anthropology, sociology, history, science, psychology, literature, literary criticism and linguistics all areas that a comprehensive theory must comprise because they constitute culture. The essence of culture is identity, or psychosocial homeostasis. A primary problem for cultural solution is the determination of what has identity. As social concepts, individuals can have identity in some cultures but not in others. Where identity is possible, it is generally derived from shared identities of defined groups and even of the culture itself. Essential identity of individuals, even in cultures that admit it, does not occur within the scope of culture. This theory concerns the possibilities and forms of culturally recognizable identity. The Editor of this book examines this Cultural Theory for the humanities.

Robert Pennington, Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1991) has held faculty positions at several universities in the USA and Taiwan in departments of communication, management, foreign languages and cultures, and in graduate institutes of international communication studies, technology and innovation management, and e-commerce. He has also lectured at universities in South Korea. The primary focus of his research is mass media as an expression of cultural theory. His writing appears is publications with global readership. The range of topics has included the cultural development implications of communication technology, and consumption and marketing communication as cultural processes for satisfying basic human needs. He has written as well about marketing communication development, advertising and brands within consumer culture, the meanings of consumer brands and psycho-linguistic methodology. His research extensively explicates a theory of culture as a system of symbolic forms, utilizing methodology that selects influential literature from a range of disciplines to form a synthesis of seemingly diverse perspectives.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.