Cultural Sociology

250 Pages·2012·14.11 MB·English

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Cultural Sociology

Cultural Sociology
An Introduction
Les Back
Andy Bennett
Laura Desfor Edles
Margaret Gibson
David Inglis
Ronald Jacobs
Ian Woodward
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
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Thiseditionfirstpublished2012
(cid:2)C 2012LesBack,AndyBennett,LauraDesforEdles,MargaretGibson,DavidInglis,RonaldJacobs,
IanWoodward
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Culturalsociology:anintroduction/LesBack...[etal.].
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-4051-8985-9(hardback)–ISBN978-1-4051-8984-2(paper)
1.Culture. 2.Sociology. I.Back,Les,1962–
HM621.C853462012
306–dc23 2011036315
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
Setin10/12.5ptMinionbyAptaraInc.,NewDelhi,India
1 2012
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Contents
NotesonAuthors vii
Preface ix
GlossaryofTerms xiii
PartI: TheoryandMethod
1 StartingtoWriteaHistoryofthePresentDay:CultureandSociology 3
DavidChaney
2 DefiningCulturalSociology 19
3 MethodologicalIssuesinCulturalSociology 31
PartII: NewCulturalIdentities
4 Class,CultureandSocialDifference 47
5 GenderandSexuality 63
6 Racism,‘Race’andDifference 77
7 BodiesandIdentities 91
PartIII: FragmentedIdeology
8 PoliticsandCulture 107
9 Globalization 121
10 CultureandReligion 133
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vi Contents
PartIV: LeisureandLifestyle
11 PopularMusic:Place,Identity,Community 151
12 FashionLogicsandtheCulturalEconomy:TheSocialPowerofTastes,
AestheticsandStyle 163
13 Food,EatingandCulture 177
14 Media,CultureandPublicLife 189
References 201
Index 219
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Notes on Authors
LesBackisProfessorofSociologyatGoldsmithsCollege,UniversityofLondon,United
Kingdom.HisbooksincludeTheArtofListening (Berg,2007),OutofWhiteness (with
VronWare,UniversityofChicagoPress,2002)andTheChangingFaceofFootball:Racism
andMulticultureintheEnglishGame(withTimCrabbeandJohnSolomos,Berg,2001).
Heisalsoajournalist,andhasmadedocumentaryfilms.
Andy Bennett is Professor of Cultural Sociology and Director of the Griffith Centre
forCulturalResearchatGriffithUniversity,Queensland,Australia.Hehasauthoredand
editednumerousbooks,includingPopularMusicandYouthCulture(PalgraveMacmillan,
2000),CulturesofPopularMusic (OpenUniversityPress,2001)andMusicScenes(with
RichardA.Peterson,VanderbiltUniversityPress,2004).
DavidChaneyisProfessorEmeritusofSociologyattheUniversityofDurham,United
Kingdom.Hehaspublishedextensivelyonaspectsofculturalchangeinthemodernera.
HisbooksincludeTheCulturalTurn(Routledge,1994),Lifestyles(Routledge,1996)and
CulturalChangeandEverydayLife(Palgrave,2002).
LauraDesforEdlesisProfessorofSociologyatCaliforniaStateUniversity,Northridge.
SheistheauthorofSymbolandRitualintheNewSpain:TheTransitiontoDemocracy
AfterFranco(CambridgeUniversityPress,1998),CulturalSociologyinPractice(Blackwell,
2002), Sociological Theory in the Contemporary Era (Pine Forge Press, 2nd edn, 2010)
andClassicalandContemporarySociologicalTheory(PineForgePress,2ndedn,2011).
MargaretGibsonisaSeniorLecturerinCulturalSociologyintheSchoolofHumanities,
GriffithUniversity, Queensland,Australia.Sheisauthorofnumerouspublicationson
death, mourning and material culture, including Objects of the Dead: Mourning and
MemoryinEverydayLife(MelbourneUniversityPublishing,2008).
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viii NotesontheAuthors
DavidInglisisProfessorofSociologyattheUniversityofAberdeen,UnitedKingdom.
HeisfoundingeditorofthejournalCulturalSociology,publishedbySageandtheBritish
SociologicalAssociation.Heistheauthorandeditorofmanybooksandpapers,including
The Globalization of Food (with Debra Gimlin, Berg, 2010), Culture and Everyday Life
(Routledge,2005)andTheSociologyofArt (withJohnHughson,Palgrave,2005).
Ronald Jacobs is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University at Albany, State
UniversityofNewYork.HismostrecentbooksincludeTheSpaceofOpinion (Oxford
UniversityPress,2011)andTheOxfordHandbookofCulturalSociology(OxfordUniver-
sityPress,2011).
IanWoodwardisaSeniorLecturerinSociologyintheSchoolofHumanities,Griffith
University, Queensland, Australia. He is the author ofUnderstandingMaterial Culture
(Sage, 2007) and co-author of The Sociology of Cosmopolitanism (with Gavin Kendall
andZlatkoSkrbis,Palgrave,2009).
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Preface
This book has been written by a diverse group of researchers who have in common a
ferventbeliefthatitisessentialtogiveprioritytoculturalprocessesasaprimaryelement
ofanysocialexplanation.Moreover,theauthorsarecommittedtothedevelopmentofa
culturalsociology,whichmeansthattheygivegreatweighttoaspectsanddimensionsof
sociallifethathavereceivedlittleormarginalconsiderationfrompreviousgenerations
ofsociologists.Tobelieveinthevalueofaculturalsociologyistoperceivesuchmatters
asemotion,affect,discourse,narrative,reflexivity,andthevisualandmaterialbasisof
sociallifeascrucialtosocialexperienceandindeedasbasicelementsofanyconsidered,
viabletheoryofsociallife.Inaddition,tobelieveinthevalueofculturalsociologyisto
understand that culture should not be reduced to other aspects of social explanation,
orexplainedintermsoffactorssuchastheeconomyorideology,forexample.Rather,
culture is an independent force and deserves to be treated as central to the many and
variedareassociologistshavetraditionallystudied.
While cultural sociology has become a very influential area of research, there are
diversewaysofapplyingaculturalsociologicalapproach.Asweemphasizeabove,what
theauthorshaveincommonisabeliefinthevalueofstudyingculture,culturalforces
andculturalprocessesasawayofunderstandingsociety.Abroaddistinctioncanbemade
between the general sociological study of culture and what might be called a ‘cultural
sociology’.Theformercanbetakentorefertotheuseofalreadywidelyusedsociological
methodsandconceptstostudyculturalphenomena,whilethelatterreferstothebelief
thatsociologicalapproachesrequireamoresystematicconceptualandmethodological
overhaultoaccountforthewaycontemporarysocietyworks.Althoughthequestionof
the relative merits of each approach is a matter of some contention within the global
fieldofculturalsociology,webelievethatitisvalidtocallbothofthesestylesofanalysis
‘culturalsociology’,andtorecognizeadvocatesofeachasprovidingadistinctivemodel
fordoingculturalsociology.Thesedistinctionsareelaboratedfurtherintheintroductory
chaptersofthisbook.However,itisenoughtosayatthepresenttimethatthechapters
in this book represent scholarship from across the spectrum of cultural sociological