Feminist criticism has become a major part of cultural studies research, and if there's one name that stands out in this area it's Butler. In this book, Butler channels the spirit of Michel Foucault and Louis Althusser—namely, their interest in how power operates in daily life—but brings gender into the mix. Spicy!
Specifically, she talks about how gender roles and behavior are ingrained and socially prescribed rather than a matter of "choice." She emphasizes the performativity of gender, meaning it's something you do to fit into the social role people expect of you in daily life, whereas performance is way more deliberate, because it usually involves climbing onstage and trying to earn some dollars while you shake your groove thing.
If performativity is the ingrained repetition of gendered norms, are there any potential openings for agency and subversion? If so, under what conditions might this be possible?
"Identity" is a big debate word within cultural studies. Whether we're talking about individuals or groups of individuals, is a sense of unity what we should be setting our sights on? How is the answer to that question different if you're talking about literature vs. a protest movement, for example?