Everyman an Ubermensch: The Culture of Cultural Studies

The utmost emphasis on distinctions of value, in all the things that man makes and does, is not an emphasis on inequality of being.

–Raymond Williams (318)

The rise of cultural studies within the United States, predominantly in English departments, has been greeted with no small measure of disquiet within French departments, and not only on the part of traditionalists unwilling to move with the times. Though a certain pressure to stay up to date is without a doubt making itself felt, it is still unclear what this movement means for the future of French studies. Indeed, even as the announcements of jobs within French departments for specialists in cultural studies proliferate on the MLA job list, the question of exactly what such specialists in fact do within the context of French studies is as yet undefined (Petrey 382). While this question continues to work itself out within hiring committees and editorial boards, it nevertheless behooves us to ask the question: “What is cultural studies?”