Cultural studies cover those reviews of culture that do not traditionally fall under psychology or sociology such as gender and sexuality, film and media, cultural economy, African-American studies, contemporary museum studies and popular culture. For the most part, cultural studies look at the role each person plays within his society and how that role affects his opinion of self and his relationship to society. More broadly, cultural studies include the review of the "machines" that define roles.
Reported by Rutgers University, Wendell Harris, former head of the English department at Penn State, stated that between 2020 and 2030 most English departments will become cultural studies departments. Harris may be right:
Studies at Rutgers show that a majority of majors flock to an English degree for the chance to study gender, sexuality and identity, while a minority still find classical literary study purposeful. Necessarily, the English classroom is quickly becoming the cultural studies classroom.
In cultural studies, literature, like any art, serves as a reflective base. The author tends to say something about a part of culture, whether intentionally or not. With modern intellectual culture focusing on the reflection of the self and understanding the self in a global world, literature's mirror-like qualities support a natural context for conversations in cultural theory.
In practice, a student reads a literary piece, discusses the messages about society within the work and then compares these messages with those of other writers.
Many contemporary authors' works fit naturally within the cultural studies/English classroom. Alice Walker, for example, spent much of her literary career writing about the identity of women and blacks in contemporary society. Chuck Klosterman (sometimes Chuck Klosterman IV) writes about music and culture, and the intersection of "rock and roll" with young people. Even classical authors can reflect contemporary cultural standpoints: An instructor could teach Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" in conjunction with a section on women's identities.