Francisco Carballo

Bio: Francisco Carballo is an academic researcher from University of Warwick. The author has contributed to research in topics: Sociology of culture & Conversation. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 2 publications receiving 18 citations.

Performing Cultural Sociology: A Conversation with Jeffrey Alexander

Abstract: Traditionally, sociologists have referred to the study of culture that concerns their discipline as ‘sociology of culture’. Since the mid-1980s Jeffrey Alexander has been turning the discipline on its feet, coining a new term: ‘cultural sociology’. The purpose of this upheaval is to redefine the sociological understanding of meaning in relation to social action as well as to rework both meaning and social action as categories for social research in general (see Alexander, 2007). Alexander’s work seeks to construct above and beyond Parsons’ theoretical edifice. This implies that, for Alexander, culture is a structure analytically different and autonomous from society, which is, in turn, understood as the internal environment of action. Consequently, Alexander regards culture as an ‘independent variable’ for sociological analysis (Alexander and Smith, 2003). His rethinking of culture stresses the need for a new sub-discipline within sociology, while reinvigorating other fields such as politics, economics or law due to its emphasis on the creative and performative character of meaning. In this sense, Alexander’s ‘strong program’ in cultural sociology, is also a strong bet for the social sciences. In the last two decades cultural sociology has become an increasingly institutionalized field within American sociology. Alexander has played a major role in advancing his own theoretical paradigm while shaping generations of graduate students under its workings. It is no wonder that the ‘strong program in cultural sociology’ is an unvarying reference among different schools of cultural analysis (Kurasawa, 2004). Alexander’s work has been the object of several critical reviews generating as much adhesion as rejection (i.e. Collins, 1985; Colomy and Turner 1998; Emirbayer, 2004; Fuhrman, 1986; Inglis et al., 2006; Joas, 2005; Kurasawa, 2004; McLennan, 2004, 2005; Mouzelis, 1999; Poggi, 1983; Wallace, 1984). In the present interview Jeffrey Alexander discusses the intellectual evolution of his work, from early attempts in rethinking the theoretical logic of sociology to his latest pragmatic turn in terms of a theory of social performance. Moreover, he contextualizes his cultural sociology and explains the points of agreement and European Journal of Social Theory 11(4): 523–542

The sociology of the sacred: A conversation with Jeffrey Alexander

Abstract: Over the past 20 years, Jeffrey C. Alexander has been a leading social theorist and a pioneer of the ‘strong program’ in cultural sociology, which emphasises the significance of cultural structures of meaning for social life. Following an introductory overview of his work, this article records a public conversation with Alexander about the role and significance of the concept of the sacred in his sociological work. Issues addressed in this conversation include situating Alexander's interest in the sacred in his intellectual biography (including his significant intellectual influences), the mistrust of the concept of the sacred within the wider sociological community, the universality of cultural structures of sacred meaning, the limitations of sociological analysis focused on sacred meaning and methodological approaches to the study of the sacred.

Becoming a dominant misinterpreted source: The case of Ferdinand de Saussure in cultural sociology:

Abstract: Cultural analysts in sociology typically cite the work of Ferdinand de Saussure to motivate a narrow theory of meaning. In so doing, sociologists incorrectly attribute to Saussure (1) the postulate...

Cultural Sociology as Social Research: A conversation with Jeffrey C. Alexander

Abstract: During recent decades, Jeffrey C. Alexander has been occupied with studying social life from a cultural perspective, developing a cultural sociology concerned with the shaping or constitutive impact of cultural formations and discursive practices on other aspects of social life. In 2003 he published the highly influential book The Meanings of Social Life, which is a collection of substantial papers on various topics analyzed from a cultural sociological perspective, with the programmatic text “The Strong Program in Cultural Sociology” (Alexander and Smith, 2003) leading the way. Ten years have passed. When Alexander was in Oslo in May 2013 giving the Vilhelm Aubert Memorial Lecture,1 I met up with him at the Institute for Social Research to discuss the institutionalization of cultural sociology as a school of social research.

Situating Zelizer: A Beginners’ Guide

Abstract: This short text could work both as a long footnote that contextualizes the interview with Viviana Zelizer published in this issue, and as a very brief beginner’s guide to Zelizer’s economic sociology. The premise is that a good way of introducing Zelizer’s contribution to the study of economic life is by situating her oeuvre in the context of recent research. The main argument is that Zelizer’s work is not simply a cultural counterbalance of the mostly structural “new economic sociology”. She has constructed an original angle to the study of economic life. From this perspective, sociologists learn to focus on the frictions in which economic life unfolds.