This book discusses Cultural Studies in a Multidisciplinary Perspective. It includes an introduction to cultural studies: concepts, scope, and history, interdisciplinary approaches in cultural studies, culture and identity: anthropological and sociological perspectives, language, symbols, and meaning in cultural studies, and gender, sexuality, and power in cultural discourse.

Culture is one of the oldest and most debated concepts in the history of the social sciences and humanities. Since it was first formulated academically, the meaning of culture has continued to shift in line with the development of scholarly paradigms and the sociohistorical contexts that have shaped them.

The earliest and most influential definition in the anthropological tradition was proposed by Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) in 1871, who formulated culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” This definition is encyclopedic and cumulative. Culture is understood as the totality of human achievements acquired through social life, not through biological inheritance. Tylor’s perspective reflects the spirit of nineteenth century evolutionism, in which culture was viewed as developing linearly from the stage of “savagery” toward “civilization.”