Question 1

1) Why do cultural studies theorists separate words with capital letters from those without, even when the words in question are not proper nouns (e.g., woman vs. Woman)? Explain why we do this (i.e., what is the convention a shorthand for), and what significance it has. (30-50 words)

In cultural studies the capitalized words usually reference what the word signifies due to the construction of the word. So, where as the uncapitalized word could be anything like "men" or "women" or "others", the capitalized word is the construction of that word. For example the "Man" is what a man is constructed to be (i.e., head of the household, the “bread winner,” buff). This is significant because you know that it’s the stereotypical version of whatever they’re discussing.