The importance of culture, as well as political and economic institutions, in shaping our thought has been a powerful theme in 20th century social science. Much, but far from all, of this work stems from the powerful analyses of Marx and Engels who, whatever the flaws in their suggestions for the good life, pointed to the tremendously important role of economic systems or more generally culturally provided ideologies in the ways we think. One modern version of this tradition is called the sociology of knowledge. In the past quarter century various theories, collectively called post-modernist, have argued strongly that human knowledge is contextualized in the sense that it is created within specific cultural contexts to solve culturally defined problems and depends solely on support from those contexts for its legitimacy and truth value. I have listed a few of the interesting and seminal works in the post-modernist tradition, but the literature on this topic is huge.
Berger, Peter, & Luckmann, Thomas. The Social Construction of Reality. (*) Doubleday Anchor, 1967. This is a classic and readable introduction to the sociology of knowledge. The book explores how our cultures and our social interactions shape the ways we think about the world.
. (*) Basil Blackwell, 1989. A book that attempts to place modernism and post-modernism in both intellectual as well as economic and cultural contexts.Best, Steven & Kellner, Douglas. Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations. (*) Guilford Press, 1991. While this book is critical of certain aspects of postmodernism, it also provides reasonably clear expositions of the various theories of leading exponents such as Foucault, Deleuze, Baudrilliard, Lyotard as well as the critical theories of Adorno and Habermaus and modern feminist theory.
Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization. (*) various editions, originally published in 1961. Foucault has been one of the most influential post-modernist thinkers. In this book he takes on the issue of how we have changed our conceptions of mental illness over the past several centuries. He has also written books on the history of punishment of criminals (Discipline & Punish) and sexuality (The History of Sexuality and The Use of Pleasure). Foucault's main themes center around how we create beliefs and knowledge and how such beliefs are used by powerful people to preserve power through illusions of objectivity. Foucault is not for the casual reader, and these books are not standard histories of their subject matter. Those wanting a less grueling introduction to Foucault are better off with one of the many books written about him. Gary Gutting's Michel Foucault's Archaeology of Scientific Reason (Cambridge University Press, 1989) or Mark Cousins and Athar Hussain's Michel Foucault (St. Martin's Press, 1984) are both considerably easier to read although far from easy. Foucault had a colorful life (to put it mildly), and you might also want to read one of the several biographies that are available on him.
Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. (*) Basic Books, 1973. One of our most influential social scientists writes about the problems in understanding other cultures as well as our own. Some of this material is a bit off the beaten track (unless you regularly read cultural anthropology), but Geertz is a beautiful writer so the material is reasonably accessible. He has written many books of which Local Knowledge (Basic Books, 1983) can also be recommended.
Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity
Marcus, George E., & Fischer, Michael. Anthropology as Cultural Critique. (*) University of Chicago Press, 1986. Two Rice anthropologists argue for a radical role for anthropology. The book considers problems of imposing our cultural standards on other cultures but also suggests that we use cultural analysis to understand modern American society. This is now a slightly dated, but still reasonable, introduction to what has come to be called cultural studies.
Popper, Karl R. The Open Society and Its Enemies. (*) several editions, originally published in 1945. A classic argument tailored for its times that some political theories are based on the notion that there are well defined and discoverable truths that should govern human behavior, and that properly educated people can lead the rest of us to true happiness if only we would let them rule. While the book is not an easy read (and is long -- 2 volumes), it remains the classic warning about the dangers of basing society on claims of absolute truth, whether from religion, philosophy, or science. Unfortunately those claims are never in short supply.
Remmling, Gunter. Road to Suspicion. Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967. An interesting discussion of the increasing suspicion of rationality and growth of suspicion and skepticism in modern culture.
Sokal, Alan & Bricmont, Jean. Intellectual Impostures. Profile Books, 1998. Sokal is infamous for publication of an article spoofing post-modernist attacks on science, an article which was accepted as legitimate by many. This book is highly critical of the French post-modernists and points out that their criticisms of modern science are based on a total lack of understanding of science.