What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.)

Hartley and Potts (2014) argue that cultural science represents a new theoretical and methodological approach to the study of cultural structure, dynamics and use. We explain how this differs from the extant analytic frameworks of cultural studies, both as a research program and as a policy platform...

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Main Authors: Potts, J., Hartley, John
Format: Journal Article
Published: Cultural Science 2014
Online Access:http://cultural-science.org/journal/index.php/culturalscience/issue/view/14
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/29559
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author Potts, J.
Hartley, John
author_facet Potts, J.
Hartley, John
author_sort Potts, J.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Hartley and Potts (2014) argue that cultural science represents a new theoretical and methodological approach to the study of cultural structure, dynamics and use. We explain how this differs from the extant analytic frameworks of cultural studies, both as a research program and as a policy platform. The central idea is to reconceptualize what culture is, through a reinterpretation of what culture does. We argue that the semiotic productivity of culture makes groups – which we call demes – and demes make knowledge (what we call the externalism hypothesis); and the interaction of demes makes newness – new knowledge. Cultural science, then, is a new model of the cultural processes involved in socio-economic evolution and innovation of knowledge-making demes. The paper is in three sections, the first on the exhaustion of cultural studies; the second on the emergence of cultural science; and the third on some implications for cultural policy – illustrated by reference to Matthew Arnold’s policy on language preservation.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-295592017-01-30T13:13:45Z What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.) Potts, J. Hartley, John Hartley and Potts (2014) argue that cultural science represents a new theoretical and methodological approach to the study of cultural structure, dynamics and use. We explain how this differs from the extant analytic frameworks of cultural studies, both as a research program and as a policy platform. The central idea is to reconceptualize what culture is, through a reinterpretation of what culture does. We argue that the semiotic productivity of culture makes groups – which we call demes – and demes make knowledge (what we call the externalism hypothesis); and the interaction of demes makes newness – new knowledge. Cultural science, then, is a new model of the cultural processes involved in socio-economic evolution and innovation of knowledge-making demes. The paper is in three sections, the first on the exhaustion of cultural studies; the second on the emergence of cultural science; and the third on some implications for cultural policy – illustrated by reference to Matthew Arnold’s policy on language preservation. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/29559 http://cultural-science.org/journal/index.php/culturalscience/issue/view/14 Cultural Science fulltext
spellingShingle Potts, J.
Hartley, John
What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.)
title What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.)
title_full What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.)
title_fullStr What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.)
title_full_unstemmed What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.)
title_short What is Cultural Science? (And what it is not.)
title_sort what is cultural science? (and what it is not.)
url http://cultural-science.org/journal/index.php/culturalscience/issue/view/14
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/29559