Hebdige, JReeves

 "In the early years...Cultural Studies sat rather uncomfortably on the fence between these two conflicting definitions - culture as a standard of excellence, culture as a "whole way of life" - unable to determine which represented the most fruitful line of inquiry." (125)

I decided to use this quote in my blog today because I still think some people are also on the fence between these two definitions when it comes to defining culture. Many people, especially those who might be older and less open and enjoy the company of people from different countries, might think of culture as someone's history or past, mainly where they were born and grew up. We often hear them use hate-packed comments like 'Go back to where you came from' or 'Go back to your country.' When these racist people make these comments they are defining culture in their eyes as a standard of excellence. I do not agree with that definition of culture or their hateful comments, I'm just using this example to show how they might define culture like Hebdige is talking about. I personally define culture as a whole way of life, it is how you live, how you carry yourself around others, how you interact with others, what you do with your time, and many other factors. As for me, part of my culture is very competitive because I was raised by two professional athletes. They ingrained that aspect of themselves into me, with other people that aspect of their culture might be compassion or wanting to heal others if their parents were a doctor or a nurse. There are many different scenarios that we could discuss.  Culture doesn't have a scale that goes from bad to good it just 'is', that first definition that Hebdige describes limits culture by putting it on a scale from good to bad. If in your mind the first definition makes sense then you are limiting yourself to who could evolve into. Having a closed mind when it comes to culture makes someone very hateful, scornful, and racist. Don't forget you are also conceited and BORING.