Culture in History Production, Consumption and Values in Historical Perspective

This volume of interdisciplinary essays brings together leading academics from the disciplines of history, economic history, politics and sociology to review and take forward a series of debates on the role of culture in social explanation. The book will interest all those involved in cultural studies, but it is particularly concerned with the relationship between the economic and the cultural. The contributors suggest that the boundaries of production and consumption are themselves cultural constructs, formed by changing conceptions of economic and cultural explanation, but offer very different approaches to resolving the problems created by this. They agree only on the need for a self-critical exploration of the issues associated both with invoking culture as a factor in economic and social change and with seeking to correlate cultural trends -- whether in art or the history of ideas -- with social and economic developments. The case-studies are complemented by general essays, which show how both cultural studies and economic analysis can be enriched through an historical approach.

Joseph Melling is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. Jonathan Barry is Professor of History at the University of Exeter.