This book is about the claims of Cultural Theory as a particular kind of intellectual ethos or discipline. The book argues that Cultural Theory is best seen, at least in its 'modern' form, as an ethical discipline. As such, it should be seen as a form of inquiry governed by the guiding idea of the cultivation of critical autonomy and, as such, is designed as much to change what we are in our relations to ourselves as to describe the world as it is in particular 'positive' ways. The content of the book develops this argument through critical readings of three canonical writers, namely Theodor Adorno, Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. A final chapter contrasts the ethical idea of modern Cultural Theory developed here with its postmodern derivations, which, it is argued, have taken both a more positivist and even more moralistic form.

本书是关于文化理论作为一种特殊的知识精神或学科的主张。本书认为，文化理论最好被视为，至少在其 "现代 "形式中，是一门伦理学科。因此，它应该被看作是一种由培养批判性自主的指导思想所支配的探究形式，因此，它的目的是改变我们与自己的关系，以及以特定的 "积极 "方式描述世界。本书的内容通过对三位经典作家，即西奥多-阿多诺、米歇尔-福柯和皮埃尔-布尔迪厄的批判性解读来发展这一论点。最后一章将这里发展的现代文化理论的伦理思想与它的后现代衍生品进行了对比，它认为后现代衍生品采取了更加实证主义甚至更加道德主义的形式。