Everybody s got a theory . . . or do they?
Thomas McLaughlin argues that critical theory raising serious, sustained questions about cultural practice and ideology is practiced not only by an academic elite but also by savvy viewers of sitcoms andTV news, by Elvis fans and Trekkies, by labor organizers and school teachers, by the average person in the street.
Like academic theorists, who are trained in a tradition of philosophical and political skepticism that challenges all orthodoxies, the vernacular theorists McLaughlin identifies display a lively and healthy alertness to...