Angela Moke Luo Than The Birmingham Cultural Studies,

Cultural studies has obtained a significant position in contemporary academic circle. However, the introduction and transplantation of western cultural studies theory in China is still limited: most of them are confined to the description of cultural phenomena while lack a profound explore to their theoretic basis. This thesis attempts to introduce and evaluate the academic thought of Angela Mcrobbie in a systematicway. Angela Mcrobbie is one of the most brilliant figures in Birmingham School--the cradle of western cultural studies. By analyzing her academic results, the author hopes to grasp some characteristics of Birmingham cultural studies in a comparatively comprehensive way. this thesis investigates three of her representative research fields: youth subculture and feminism, cultural studies in the context of postmodernism, empirical studies on fashion and popular music.Mcrobbie relates her research on youth subculture with feminism. She is stimulated by the fact that Birmingham researchers in the early period hold a perspective of male chauvinism and neglect female subjects. Mcrobbie conducts a close observation and a deep analysis on the life of working class girls. She completes several works on female subculture, which serve as trailblazers in Birmingham School's female studies. Meanwhile, because most of her subjects are underclass women who are ignored by traditional feminists, her research also expands the boundary of feminism.As an over-arching theme, postmodernism also influences the field of cultural studies. Generally speaking, Mcrobbie's attitude towards postmodernism is objective and impartial. On one hand, she claims postmodernism enriches the theory basis of cultural studies; on the other hand, she warns cultural researchers against the absence of political sense caused by postmodernism. She mainly elaborates this issue on four aspects: media studies, postcolonialism, feminism and consumerism.Mcrobbie's research on popular music and fashion is set under the background of the "aestheticisation of everyday life". She keeps the tradition of Birmingham's cultural studies: to combine the analysis of aesthetic with the politics and economic issue. And at a time when many scholars are fond of consumerism, Mcrobbie shifts her eyes on ordinary culture producers, exploring their existence condition and the social factors that form it.Through analysis of Mcrobbie's academic thought, we may take a glimpse at the characteristics of Birmingham research: concerns for marginal groups, stance of social critiques, emphasis on the micro-politics of everyday life.