What is culture? Should we understand it as ideas floating in our head? As ways of acting? And where do cultures come from? How do they affect our world? Following both theoretical debates as well as empirical work on music, fashion, film, and food this course is an introduction to the study of meaning in social life. Through these studies and debates, we will try to think about the role of power relations in culture, as well as the place for creativity and ways of challenging power; to see how cultural industries are organized, and how sub-cultures provide alternative ways for people to imagine their world.