Culture in mind : toward a sociology of culture and cognition

319 Pages·2002·2.982 MB·English

by  Karen A Cerulo

Culture in Mind

Culture
in Mind
T S
OWARD A OCIOLOGY
C C
OF U LTU RE AN D OG N ITION
EDITED BY
Karen A.Cerulo

Routledge
NEW YORK LONDON
Published in 2002 by
Routledge
29 West 35th Street
New York, NY 10001

Published in Great Britain by
Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane
London EC4P 4EE

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

Copyright © 2002 by Routledge
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Culture in mind: toward a sociology of culture and cognition/edited by Karen A.Cerulo
p. cm.
Includes bibliog raphical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-92943-1—ISBN 0-415-92944-X (pbk)
1. Cognition and culture—Congresses. I. Cerulo, Karen A.

BF311.C85 2001
153–dc21 2001019757
ISBN 0-203-90470-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-90474-5 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-92944-X (Print Edition)
For Joseph and Edna Nicastro,
bright and warm in my heart

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1. ESTABLISHING A SOCIOLOGY OF CULTURE AND COGNITION 1
Karen A.Cerulo
Section I:Sensation and Attention
SENSATION AND ATTENTION: AN INTRODUCTION 15
2. THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: NOTES ON THE SOCIAL
ORGANIZATION OF DENIAL 21
Eviatar Zerubavel
3. SIGNALS AND INTERPRETIVE WORK: THE ROLE OF CULTURE
IN A THEORY OF PRACTICAL ACTION 28
Diane Vaughan
Section II: Discrimination and Classification
DISCRIMINATION AND CLASSIFICATION: AN INTRODUCTION 57

4. COMMENSURATION AND COGNITION 63
Wendy Nelson Espeland
5. PRETERM BABIES IN THE “MOTHER MACHINE”: METAPHORIC
REASONING AND BUREAUCRATIC RITUALS THAT FINISH
THE “UNFINISHED INFANT” 89
Nicole Isaacson
6. COGNITION IN SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS: MARKET RIVALRY
PROFILE VERSUS COST SCHEDULE 101
Harrison C.White
vii
viii CONTENTS
Section III: Representation and Integration
REPRESENTATION AND INTEGRATION: AN INTRODUCTION 113
7. MORAL INQUIRY IN CULTURAL SOCIOLOGY 123
Robert Wuthnow
8. INDIVIDUALISM…PRO TEM: RECONSIDERING U.S. SOCIAL RELATIONS 135
Karen A.Cerulo
9. TRACKING DISCOURSE 172
David L.Altheide
10. HOW STORYTELLING CAN BE EMPOWERING 187
William A.Gamson
Section IV: Storage and Retrieval
STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL: AN INTRODUCTION 201
11. HONOR, DIGNITY, AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY: JUDGING THE
PAST IN KOREA AND THE UNITED STATES 209
Barry Schwartz and MiKyoung Kim
12. THINKING ABOUT EVIL: ADOLF HITLER AND THE DILEMMA
OF THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REPUTATION 227
Gary Alan Fine
Section V: Building Bridges
BUILDING BRIDGES: AN INTRODUCTION 241
13. FIXING A FOUCAULT SANDWICH: COGNITIVE UNIVERSALS AND
CULTURAL PARTICULARS IN THE CONCEPT OF MENTAL DISORDERS 245
Jerome C.Wakefield
14. CULTURE, HARMFUL DYSFUNCTIONS AND THE SOCIOLOGY
OF MENTAL ILLNESS 267
Allan V.Horwitz
15. WHY COGNITIVE (AND CULTURAL) SOCIOLOGY NEEDS
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 274

Paul DiMaggio
Appendix: Mapping the Field 283
Karen A.Cerulo
Contributors 294
Index 297
Acknowledgments
The papers that constitute this volume were originally presented at a conference entitled
“Toward a Sociology of Culture and Cognition,” held at Rutgers University in
November 1999. I am grateful not only to this volume’s contributors, but to all those
who presented their work at that event. These participants are all significant to the
establishment of a new and exciting intellectual agenda.
I take this opportunity to acknowledge gratefully the many sponsors that made this
project possible: the American Sociological Association’s Funds for the Advancement
of the Discipline, the Rutgers University Center for the Critical Analysis of
Contemporary Culture, the Rutgers University Research Council, the Rutgers
University Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging, and Rutgers University’s
Vice President of academic affairs, Dean of Social Sciences, Graduate School, and
Department of Sociology.
Special thanks go to my research assistant Ruth Simpson, who contributed
significantly to the conference organization and provided insightful feedback on
sections of this volume. Ruth also designed the wonderful Web site that accompanies
both of these efforts. This collection also greatly benefited from Lyn Spillman’s careful
and constructive review of the original proposal. I am grateful as well to Paul DiMaggio,
Allan V.Horwitz, Magali Sarfatti Larson, Janet Ruane, Robert Wuthnow, and Eviatar
Zerubavel for their intellectual and collegial support during various phases of this

project. Finally, thanks go to my wonderful editor Ilene Kalish and the equally
wonderful staff at Routledge (especially assistant editor Kimberly Guinta and
production editors Tom Wang and Hope Breeman) for their help in bringing this
project to fruition.
ix