This chapter talked about space and place. The book used examples of a home to illustrate how different rooms have different meanings. It is true that many rooms in a home do have different meanings. Not everyone believes a living room should be occupied with people. Barker then goes into discussion of “gendered space”. Some places seem to take on a masculine identity while other places have feminine identity. Why these traditional roles still hold true in today’s time is a mystery. Women should cook and men should play football. Barker also writes, “Space is a construction and material manifestation of social relations which reveals cultural assumptions and practices” (379). In my opinion, people make choices based on where they live. Sometimes, a city location is symbolic within itself. In other words, some places just have meaning. I would like to say that Los Angeles is symbolic for its fast pace of life. That’s one reason why some people come to Los Angeles and to see Hollywood. In addition to that, the chapter talks about “privatizing public space” (389). We do this every day without even realizing it. Meeting at coffee shops or dinner at an airport is classic examples of this. The last part Barker discusses is technology. Technology is all around us and it’s something we cannot live without. This topic is brought up a lot because people are being replaced by machines, and the Internet. However, let’s get real. Technology is not always a plus, and a human being is needed in certain situations.
Chris Barker. Cultural Studies. Third Edition. Sage Publications. 2008
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