Week 2, Barker Chapter 4

Making meaning out of language seems to be the key to understanding this chapter from Barker. Common sense tells us that words have a singular meaning but in the world of cultural studies we learn that words contain different meanings for different reasons. I found the ideas of Foucault to be interesting in this chapter. Particularly, how Foucault runs opposite to the Marxist perspective which views cultural studies as dependent on economic reductionism. To Foucault it seems that power becomes a key variable in studying cultural studies. The understanding of not just what is being said, the text, but understanding who can speak, when, and where.