Cultural Studies In Australia

The world is becoming increasingly more interconnected and as it does societies become more complex as well. Globalization, multiculturalism, schisms within society, subcultures, and polarizing issues all come together to create a multilayered society of competing factions, ideals, values, beliefs, religious identities, political and social identities, and cultures. We see this happening all over in the West, and even here in Australia we see this clashing of divergent cultures. These conflicting ideologies within a single national geographic area have made it increasingly difficult for policy makers to understand these different factions and to create policy which serves the greatest number of people. Traditional sources of knowledge and guidance,
With its traditional interest in “…the interplay between lived experience, texts or discourses, and the social context” (Saukko, 2003) cultural studies can approach the complexities of intercultural and interracial issues by offering a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the different factors involved. Similarly, the adaptability and multifaceted nature of cultural studies make it capable of researching complex modern social issues and helping to create solutions and understanding based on a more in depth analysis of the various interdependent parts. Likewise, the practice of cultural studies on combining humanism, new leftist Marxism, and structuralism has allowed it to explore beyond traditional social research (Saukko, 2003) which still holds value today as society grows more complicated. Similarly, combining different methodologies in studies has given cultural studies a greater understanding of cultural issues. Additionally, cultural studies has also begun to accept the notion of multiple validities, or the idea that different studies on the same subject may reflect different data and knowledge, due to the particular dichotomy of cultural studies as simultaneously both within and without culture but all being equally valid. This is of particular value in an increasingly multicultural society in which multiple perspectives and consideration of multiple views of the interrelatedness of society can offer a greater breadth of
As Saukko states, “…reality does not hold still, but is amoeba like, multifaceted, evolving, looking different from different angles…” (Saukko, 2003, p. 24). Likewise, the context within which other humanities disciplines approach research, as something outside of and apart from that which they are studying makes them insufficient for tackling the nebulousness of existing within the very thing one is researching. Cultural studies however, approaches its subject with the dichotomous understanding of being both within society and an observer of said society. Cultural research, as Ang prefers to call it, is further able to offer to policy makers a more ‘insider’s perspective’ as its Mode 2 production of knowledge takes place from within and as a part of society rather than as an outsider detached from the subject. Lastly, cultural studies stands to offer policy makers a greater degree of information by which they can make informed decisions regarding the convoluted nature of modern society by virtue of being multifaceted. Another practice that sets cultural research apart from its fellow humanities disciplines is both in its willingness to combine multiple methodologies in order to get a