Work Time

English Departments and the Circulation of Cultural Value

By: Evan Watkins

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Paperback | 1 March 1992

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306 Pages

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22.86 x 15.24 x 1.75

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This book shares with a number of recent studies an interest in the historical development of English in the United States, in how it became a central discipline in the humanities, and in what the ideological affiliations of literature and literary study might be. It is strikingly original, however, in that instead of focusing on the subject matter of English (e.g., the canon or critical positions), as most recent studies, it examines precisely how work time is spent within English departments, as well as what circulates through them, and to where. For in terms of immediate social authority, such activities as writing letters of recommendation are more directly relevant than critical methodology.

The author concludes by locating cultural work in English between such massively capitalized sites of cultural production as television and advertising, and "popular cultures," meaning what people do every day with whatever is cheaply available to them. English is like the former in that it requires highly developed, socially certified skills and knowledges. Like popular cultures, however, work in English is carried out with readily available material means. By recognizing this actual situation, he argues, one can view English as not just passively reproducing the existing system of social values, but as working within popular culture to provide the possibility of meaningful political opposition.

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"A new and nuanced reformulation of an enduring leftist slogan: the duty of the revolutionary is to make the revolution." - boundary 2

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Sociology & Anthropology Sociology Education Literature, Poetry & Plays History & Criticism of Literature Literary Theory

Acknowledgments	p. 337
Introduction	p. 1
English Departments as Workplaces	p. 11
The Possibilities of Political Criticism: Gramsci's Example	p. 45
Literary Criticism: Work as Evaluation	p. 77
Work and Value	p. 142
Cultural Work as Political Resistance	p. 248
Reference Matter	p. 277
Notes	p. 279
Index	p. 287
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Work Time

English Departments and the Circulation of Cultural Value

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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