Jeff Lewis defines culture as an assemblage of imaginings and meanings generated by a social group. These meanings may be consonant, overlapping, or contentious. Social groups form around various human communities and activities, each with their own cultures. Communication binds social groups through culture, now dominated by global networked media. Lewis sees culture as shaped by both individuals and collective consciousness.

1. Jeff Lewis’
Definition of Culture

2. References
• Lewis, Jeff. Cultural Studies: The Basics.
London: Sage, 2002. Print.
• Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies: Theory and
Practice. London: Sage, 2003. Print.

3. “Culture is an assemblage of imaginings and
meanings that are generated by a given social
group. These meanings may be consonant,
disjunctive, overlapping, contentious,
continuous or discontinuous. The given social
group may be formed around a broad gradient
of human communities, activities and purposes.
Communication is the central force which binds
social groups to culture; in contemporary culture
these communicational processes are
dominated by various modes of global
networked media.”
(Lewis 18)

4. “Culture is an assemblage of imaginings and
meanings that are generated by a given social
group.”
“The conscious, liminal, and subliminal mental
operations which are mobilized by individuals and
groups”
“The forming power of mind, sensibilities,
emotions, and experience”
“The invisible knowledge articulated as attitudes, beliefs,
values, opinions, ideas, identity, art, and actions”
“It shapes and is shaped by the individual and collective
consciousness of a given social group”

5. “These meanings may be consonant,
disjunctive, overlapping, contentious,
continuous or discontinuous.”

6. “The given social group may be formed around
a broad gradient of human communities,
activities and purposes.”
Society ≠ Culture
Individuals belong to
various forms of social
groupings, each with
its own cultures
Staff
Junior
English
Married
SJC
All cultures, macro and micro, operate through particular
discourses, rules, belief systems, values, rituals, and practices
that are imbued with meaning.

7. “Communication is the central force which
binds social groups to culture; in contemporary
culture these communicational processes are
dominated by various modes of global
networked media.”
Text
AudienceProducer
Culture
Culture, the media
and meaning-making

8. Bennett’s
Definition of Cultural Studies
Quoted in Chris Barker

9. *
Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary field
in which perspectives from different disciplines
can be selectively drawn on
to examine the relations of culture and power.

10. * *
Cultural Studies is concerned with all those
practices, institutions and systems of
classification through which there are
inculcated in a population particular values,
beliefs, competencies, routines of life and
habitual forms of conduct.

11. * * *
Cultural Studies seeks to explore the
connections between diverse forms of power
(such as gender, race, class, and colonialism) and
to develop ways of thinking about culture and
power that can be utilized by agents in pursuit
of change.

12. * * * *
Cultural Studies is like other academic
disciplines. However, it tries to forge
connections outside of the academy with social
and political movements, workers in cultural
institutions, and cultural management.