The Performativity of Value

On the Citability of Cultural Commodities

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy
Cover of the book The Performativity of Value by Steve Sherlock, Lexington Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Steve Sherlock ISBN: 9780739168622
Publisher: Lexington Books Publication: December 18, 2013
Imprint: Lexington Books Language: English
Author: Steve Sherlock
ISBN: 9780739168622
Publisher: Lexington Books
Publication: December 18, 2013
Imprint: Lexington Books
Language: English

The Performativity of Value: On the Citability of Cultural Commodities addresses the increased commodification of language in the U.S. cultural economy. The marketing of cultural commodities in formats such as websites, videos, movies, books, online games, or television episodes—as distributed across a wide range of technological devices—means that language is moving across situational contexts to an unprecedented degree. Just as authors quote or paraphrase sources in the construction of a text, subjects “cite” the commodified words, images, and works of others as they construct their social identities. Steve Sherlock discusses how consumer citational practices generate demand for those cultural commodities which align the self with particular subcultural groups. By “re-citing” the exchange value frame within which language itself has acquired an economic worth, consumer citational practices have become performative of the U.S. cultural economy.

In order to describe this process, the book extends the work of Judith Butler on the performativity of gender to the performativity of exchange value, as well as to the performativity of subcultural values. The book also develops a critique of the increasing commodification of language in the contemporary economy. Sherlock follows Butler in developing a model of performativity based on Jacques Derrida’s work, particularly regarding the citability of language into new situational contexts. Derrida’s critique of the metaphysics of presence in Western philosophy and culture is extended toward a critique of the assumed presence of exchange value in the cultural marketplace. The book also incorporates the work of the Bakhtin Circle into this framework—especially their insight into how everyday utterances, which “report on” the words of others, become a site for the re-negotiation of values between self and others. The re-citational process used in contemporary identity construction can thus either re-cite the current cultural economy, or resist it.

The Performativity of Value contributes to themes examined in social theory, social psychology, literary theory, continental philosophy, and cultural studies, and thus will be of interest to students and scholars working in those areas.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Performativity of Value: On the Citability of Cultural Commodities addresses the increased commodification of language in the U.S. cultural economy. The marketing of cultural commodities in formats such as websites, videos, movies, books, online games, or television episodes—as distributed across a wide range of technological devices—means that language is moving across situational contexts to an unprecedented degree. Just as authors quote or paraphrase sources in the construction of a text, subjects “cite” the commodified words, images, and works of others as they construct their social identities. Steve Sherlock discusses how consumer citational practices generate demand for those cultural commodities which align the self with particular subcultural groups. By “re-citing” the exchange value frame within which language itself has acquired an economic worth, consumer citational practices have become performative of the U.S. cultural economy.

In order to describe this process, the book extends the work of Judith Butler on the performativity of gender to the performativity of exchange value, as well as to the performativity of subcultural values. The book also develops a critique of the increasing commodification of language in the contemporary economy. Sherlock follows Butler in developing a model of performativity based on Jacques Derrida’s work, particularly regarding the citability of language into new situational contexts. Derrida’s critique of the metaphysics of presence in Western philosophy and culture is extended toward a critique of the assumed presence of exchange value in the cultural marketplace. The book also incorporates the work of the Bakhtin Circle into this framework—especially their insight into how everyday utterances, which “report on” the words of others, become a site for the re-negotiation of values between self and others. The re-citational process used in contemporary identity construction can thus either re-cite the current cultural economy, or resist it.

The Performativity of Value contributes to themes examined in social theory, social psychology, literary theory, continental philosophy, and cultural studies, and thus will be of interest to students and scholars working in those areas.

More books from Lexington Books

Cover of the book Gay and Lesbian Communities the World Over by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Rationality and Cultural Interpretivism by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Early Childhood Literacy Teachers in High Poverty Schools by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book The Concept of the Beautiful by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Cosmos and the Rhetoric of Popular Science by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Popular Leadership in the Presidency by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Ecopoetics and the Global Landscape by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Gerald Ford and the Separation of Powers by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Black Male Violence in Perspective by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Lima Barreto by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Word, Liturgy, Charity by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Children on the Threshold in Contemporary Latin American Cinema by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Language Choice and Identity Politics in Taiwan by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book The Pull of Postcolonial Nationhood by Steve Sherlock
Cover of the book Intellectuals and Apparatchiks by Steve Sherlock
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy