Consuming Pleasures

Intellectuals and Popular Culture in the Postwar World

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Popular Culture, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book Consuming Pleasures by Daniel Horowitz, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Daniel Horowitz ISBN: 9780812206494
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: March 15, 2012
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Daniel Horowitz
ISBN: 9780812206494
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: March 15, 2012
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

How is it that American intellectuals, who had for 150 years worried about the deleterious effects of affluence, more recently began to emphasize pleasure, playfulness, and symbolic exchange as the essence of a vibrant consumer culture? The New York intellectuals of the 1930s rejected any serious or analytical discussion, let alone appreciation, of popular culture, which they viewed as morally questionable. Beginning in the 1950s, however, new perspectives emerged outside and within the United States that challenged this dominant thinking. Consuming Pleasures reveals how a group of writers shifted attention from condemnation to critical appreciation, critiqued cultural hierarchies and moralistic approaches, and explored the symbolic processes by which individuals and groups communicate.

Historian Daniel Horowitz traces the emergence of these new perspectives through a series of intellectual biographies. With writers and readers from the United States at the center, the story begins in Western Europe in the early 1950s and ends in the early 1970s, when American intellectuals increasingly appreciated the rich inventiveness of popular culture. Drawing on sources both familiar and newly discovered, this transnational intellectual history plays familiar works off each other in fresh ways. Among those whose work is featured are Jürgen Habermas, Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, Walter Benjamin, C. L. R. James, David Riesman and Marshall McLuhan, Richard Hoggart, members of London's Independent Group, Stuart Hall, Paddy Whannel, Tom Wolfe, Herbert Gans, Susan Sontag, Reyner Banham, and Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

How is it that American intellectuals, who had for 150 years worried about the deleterious effects of affluence, more recently began to emphasize pleasure, playfulness, and symbolic exchange as the essence of a vibrant consumer culture? The New York intellectuals of the 1930s rejected any serious or analytical discussion, let alone appreciation, of popular culture, which they viewed as morally questionable. Beginning in the 1950s, however, new perspectives emerged outside and within the United States that challenged this dominant thinking. Consuming Pleasures reveals how a group of writers shifted attention from condemnation to critical appreciation, critiqued cultural hierarchies and moralistic approaches, and explored the symbolic processes by which individuals and groups communicate.

Historian Daniel Horowitz traces the emergence of these new perspectives through a series of intellectual biographies. With writers and readers from the United States at the center, the story begins in Western Europe in the early 1950s and ends in the early 1970s, when American intellectuals increasingly appreciated the rich inventiveness of popular culture. Drawing on sources both familiar and newly discovered, this transnational intellectual history plays familiar works off each other in fresh ways. Among those whose work is featured are Jürgen Habermas, Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, Walter Benjamin, C. L. R. James, David Riesman and Marshall McLuhan, Richard Hoggart, members of London's Independent Group, Stuart Hall, Paddy Whannel, Tom Wolfe, Herbert Gans, Susan Sontag, Reyner Banham, and Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Righteous Persecution by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Uncertain Democracy by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Strangers Nowhere in the World by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Subjects unto the Same King by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book In Chocolate We Trust by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Deterring Rational Fanatics by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book The Markets for Force by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Public Capitalism by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Parrot Culture by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Cutting Along the Color Line by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Compassion's Edge by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Front Lines by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Adam Usk's Secret by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book Internationalism in the Age of Nationalism by Daniel Horowitz
Cover of the book A Rationale of Textual Criticism by Daniel Horowitz
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy