Culture, television, and opposition: Rethinking cultural studies

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Abstract
This essay critically addresses the issues of culture, cultural politics, social power, and the television audience in cultural studies. Although this approach has become a dominant one in media studies, its theoretical assumptions have not been sufficiently scrutinized. Our criticism focuses on two major themes. First, we argue that cultural studies tends to analyze all cultural interpretation in terms of struggles between dominant and subordinate groups. This reductionist perspective does not adequately conceptualize the formation of shared meanings nor the possibility of innovative cultural creativity. Its discussion of oppositional cultural politics lacks a strong normative dimension. Second, we argue that the text‐centered approach of cultural studies misses much of television viewing's complexity. We utilize Lembo's research on the television audience to suggest alternative ways that viewers may become critical of dominant ideas and practices.

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