Showing papers in "Cultural Sociology in 2013"
TL;DR: The idea of field analysis has been championed as an alternative to "variable based" accounts of social life, and offers the potential for cross-fertilization with complexity theory and forms of "d....
Abstract: The idea of field analysis has been championed as an alternative to ‘variable based’ accounts of social life, and offers the potential for cross-fertilization with complexity theory and forms of ‘d...
100 citations
TL;DR: The authors showed that people from different social classes draw strong symbolic boundaries on the basis of comedy taste and use their comedy taste to communicate distinction and cultural superiority in British and Dutch middle class audiences.
Abstract: Using British and Dutch interview data, this article demonstrates how people from different social classes draw strong symbolic boundaries on the basis of comedy taste. Eschewing the omnivorousness described in recent studies of cultural consumption, comedy audiences make negative aesthetic and moral judgements on the basis of comedy taste, and often make harsh judgements without the disclaimers, apologies and ambivalence so typical of ‘taste talk’ in contemporary culture. The article demonstrates how, in particular, Dutch and British middle class audiences use their comedy taste to communicate distinction and cultural superiority. We discuss several reasons why such processes of social distancing exist in comedy taste and not other cultural areas: the traditionally low status of comedy; the strong relation between humour and personhood; the continuity between comedy tastes and humour styles in everyday life; as well as the specific position of comedy in the British and Dutch cultural fields.
87 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how the recent internationalization and the increasing importance of cosmopolitan capital has impacted on the structure and character of the field of the Swiss business elite and show that international managers with transnational careers and networks not only grow in number, but come to conquer the apex of the biggest and highest capitalized Swiss firms.
Abstract: The aim of this contribution is to explore how the recent internationalization and the increasing importance of ‘cosmopolitan capital’ has impacted on the structure and character of the field of the Swiss business elite. For this purpose we will develop the notion of cosmopolitan capital and comparatively investigate the field of the Swiss business elite in 1980, 2000 and 2010 with multiple correspondence analysis. We can show that in this period international managers with transnational careers and networks not only grow in number, but come to conquer the apex of the biggest and highest capitalized Swiss firms. At the same time, national forms of capital decline in importance and Swiss managers themselves are differentiated increasingly into national and international fractions.
78 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace a link between brands and cosmopolitanism and argue that a stylized "cosmopolitan cool" is co-generated in the dynamic interplay.
Abstract: Engaging key issues in a growing sociological literature on the emergence of ordinary cosmopolitanisms in consumer culture, this paper traces a link between brands and cosmopolitanism. Focusing on the case of specialty coffee brands Starbucks and Second Cup, the paper draws on recent theoretical approaches to the brand, and substantial qualitative data from research conducted in Toronto, to outline how the brands frame and invoke a narrow form of cosmopolitanism as part of the brand experience. However, it is not assumed that such cosmopolitanism is straightforwardly taken up or reproduced by consumers. Rather, considering the interactive ways in which consumers engage with the brands, it is argued that a stylized ‘cosmopolitan cool’ is co-generated in the dynamic interplay. While elaborating the connection between cosmopolitanism and the brands, the paper will also consider the paradoxes, limits and tensions of such branded cosmopolitanism.
57 citations
TL;DR: This paper presented findings from an ethnography of fell running in the English Lake District and proposed a provocative concept -existential capital -to underscore the profits acquired from fell running activities in the Lake District.
Abstract: This article presents findings from an ethnography of fell running in the English Lake District. A provocative concept – existential capital – is proposed to underscore the profits acquired from fe...
54 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take advantage of detailed questions on preferences of Dutch respondents for music, films, and books from various geographical areas to show that taste for cosmopolitan items is multi-faceted and associated with three major cultural divisions: more cosmopolitan orientations are associated with wider cultural engagements, whereas exclusively Dutch references are more commonly found amongst those who are relatively culturally disengaged.
Abstract: Most field analyses have overlooked the geographical range of cultural preferences and tastes, adopting an implicitly national focus. This paper takes advantage of detailed questions on preferences of Dutch respondents for music, films and books from various geographical areas to show that taste for cosmopolitan items is multi-faceted and associated with three major cultural divisions. Firstly, more cosmopolitan orientations are associated with wider cultural engagements, whereas exclusively Dutch references are more commonly found amongst those who are relatively culturally disengaged. Secondly, the more 'highbrow' Dutch are pre-disposed towards European forms of culture. American culture appeals to the younger and better educated who engage in popular cultural forms. Thirdly there is a distinction between those attracted to specifically non-Dutch, and Dutch culture. This field analysis of cosmopolitanism taste shows how it operates in several different registers which cannot helpfully be captured through a unitary approach.
52 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that the vitality of genre, and particularly music genre, is often missing from social and cultural research, despite its central presence as a structural force within increasingly popular forms of field analysis.
Abstract: This article suggests that the vitality of genre, and particularly music genre, is often missing from social and cultural research. This is despite its central presence as a structural force within increasingly popular forms of field analysis. To deal with this absence, the article draws upon conceptual material on everyday forms of classification and new forms of digital data. It is argued that the concept of a classificatory imagination might be used to develop a more contingent and transient vision of genre as a form of everyday cultural classification or as a structuring force in cultural fields. The article describes three problems facing cultural sociology in its use of genre categories. Two are briefly presented whilst the third is developed through a case study of hip hop. The article concludes with some reflections upon what this reveals about cultural boundary drawing and the impact of decentralized media upon genre formation.
39 citations
TL;DR: The "new" sociology of culture has provided us with valuable insights regarding the performative, corporeal, and unpredictable dimensions of art tasting, which the "old", critical sociology of art....
Abstract: The ‘new’ sociology of culture has provided us with valuable insights regarding the performative, corporeal, and unpredictable dimensions of art tasting, which the ‘old’, critical sociology of art ...
37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an ethnographic study of the conservation laboratory at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is presented, where the temporal and spatial trajectory of artworks led to processes of competition, collaboration, and repositioning among the agents involved in the acquisition, exhibition and conservation of these artworks.
Abstract: The paper explores the central role of artworks in the field of contemporary art. It is based on an ethnographic study of the conservation laboratory at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and draws from three detailed case studies where the temporal and spatial trajectory of artworks led to processes of competition, collaboration, and repositioning among the agents involved in the acquisition, exhibition and conservation of these artworks. The study demonstrates the importance of artworks qua physical objects in the field of contemporary art, claiming attention to materiality in field theory and engaging with an object-oriented methodology in field analysis. Artworks are shown to intervene in field processes, both reproducing divisions and re-drawing boundaries within and between fields, and actualizing positions of individuals and institutions.
32 citations
TL;DR: Based on focus groups and interviews with first-time voters in the UK, the authors reflect critically on the role of popular culture as a resource of political engagement. Unlike previous studies,...
Abstract: Based on focus groups and interviews with first-time voters in the UK, this study reflects critically on the role of popular culture as a resource of political engagement. Unlike previous studies, ...
29 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors extend Butler's theory of gender performativity to analyse the routine bodily practices and gender performances of men and women in fashion, investigating what happens when men perform the same work but under different gendered expectations.
Abstract: Gender performativity has had significant influences in cultural studies and sociology, yet empirical cases of the theory remain scarce. While some analysis examines performativity in work, the focus is on organizations and how gender ‘gets done and undone’ within them with little attention paid to bodies outside organizations. Based on two empirical studies of freelancing fashion models, we extend Butler’s gender performativity to analyse the routine bodily practices and gender performances of men and women in fashion, investigating what happens when men and women perform the same work but under different gendered expectations. Fashion modelling presents a case that reproduces heteronormative definitions of femininity while potentially challenging traditional notions of masculinity and work. Observing ‘everyday transgressions’, we evidence how gender performativity, while largely reiterative of normative heterosexuality, may subtly confound the conventions. Observing how models ‘do and undo’ gender exten...
TL;DR: The second generation of immigrants from North Africa have succeeded in rising up the Israeli social hierarchy by appropriating established modes of cultural expression as discussed by the authors, and they realized that cultural appropriation was the way by which they could reclaim their ethnic identity yet still establish themselves among the elite of Israel.
Abstract: This article examines the production of ‘high culture’ and how it shapes social mobility. I observe how the second generation of immigrants from North Africa have succeeded in rising up the Israeli social hierarchy by appropriating established modes of cultural expression. The founders of the Israel Andalusian Orchestra became aware that the road to full integration was closed to them by the politics of difference, that the way to total segregation from wider Israeli society was closed by economic and ontological dependence on the national state, and the option of multi-culturalism condemned them to a permanently marginal status. They realized that they needed a new political approach and that cultural appropriation was the way by which they could reclaim their ethnic identity yet still establish themselves among the elite of Israel.
TL;DR: This article explored the issues raised by the use of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and mixed methods in comparative work on cultural tastes in the UK and Finland, by identifying the problems in the construction of two comparable yet nationally relevant research instruments, the importance of the similarities and differences in the meaning of items in different national spaces for Bourdieu-inspired comparative analysis.
Abstract: Drawing on two projects which develop the methodological model of Bourdieu’s Distinction in the UK and Finland, this paper explores the issues raised by the use of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and mixed methods in comparative work on cultural tastes. By identifying the problems in the construction of two comparable yet nationally relevant research instruments, the paper considers the importance of the similarities and differences in the meaning of items in different national spaces for Bourdieu-inspired comparative analysis. The paper also reports on the evident similarities between the two constructed spaces and draws on the dialogue between quantitative and qualitative methods enabled by MCA in examining what different positions in social space appear to mean in these countries country. It concludes by suggesting that, whilst Bourdieu’s model provides a robust set of methods for exploring relations between taste and class within nations, used appropriately, it can also provide particular insight to the comparison between national fields.
TL;DR: The authors explore the symbolic dynamics of the Christian "left" and argue that in addition to their structural disadvantages, progressive Christians face thorny dilemmas regarding authority/legitimacy, rationalization, de-mystification, disenchantment, charisma (or the lack thereof), and profanation that, though not insurmountable, are not easily resolved.
Abstract: In the last decade, progressive Christians have been mounting an increasingly perceptible challenge to the ‘Christian right’ in the United States. New organizations and websites are cropping up, a wellspring of books are being published, and long-standing progressive writers and theologians are garnering more attention and support than ever before. Despite significant advances, however, the impact of the ‘religious left’ in the American public sphere is still limited. In this paper, I ask why. Based on participant observation, discourse analysis, and in-depth interviews, and using a multidimensional culturalist perspective rooted in Durkheimian and Weberian ideas, I explore the symbolic dynamics of the Christian ‘left’. I argue that in addition to their structural disadvantages, progressive Christians face thorny dilemmas regarding authority/legitimacy, rationalization, de-mystification, disenchantment, charisma (or the lack thereof), and profanation that, though not insurmountable, are not easily resolved.
TL;DR: The authors examines three discussions in the American public sphere between 1998 and 2008 about whether irony is good for America: the response to a 1999 book against irony, the declared ‘death of...
Abstract: This paper examines three discussions in the American public sphere between 1998 and 2008 about whether irony is good for America: the response to a 1999 book against irony, the declared ‘death of ...
TL;DR: The authors compare professional music criticism with the technologically-mediated forms of cultural judgment that have increasingly replaced it, analyzing the shift from aesthetics to consensus as the basis for cultural judgment, and argue that the recent transformations of the music world are marked by the emergence of authority of a different kind.
Abstract: What is the role, if any, of professional music criticism in the age of the internet, and what are the potential consequences of its likely demise? How do we evaluate the claim that the erosion of traditional forms of cultural authority, including professional criticism, is inherently democratic? To address these questions, this paper compares professional music criticism with the technologically-mediated forms of cultural judgment that have increasingly replaced it, analyzing the shift from aesthetics to consensus as the basis for cultural judgment. Rather than signaling the end of cultural authority, the recent transformations of the music world are marked by the emergence of authority of a different kind.
TL;DR: The authors examine the social world of competitive chess and examine forms through which chess publics are cemented through remembrances of the past, focusing on the hero, critical moment, and validated styles.
Abstract: Although examinations of social memory have largely focused on societies and large populations, much remembrance occurs within bounded publics. This memory, especially when it is held in common, ties individuals to their chosen groups, establishing an ongoing reality of affiliation. I term this form of memory work as sticky culture, recognizing the centrality of the linkage of selves and groups. To examine how sticky culture operates, I examine the social world of competitive chess with its deep history and rich literature. More specifically, I examine forms through which chess publics are cemented through remembrances of the past, focusing on the hero, the critical moment, and validated styles. Champions, memorable games, and recognized strategies establish a lasting public.
TL;DR: In this article, the relationship between childhood and consumption is explored in the context of sociologic studies, and the authors attempt to deepen sociologically defined topics in sociology.
Abstract: Childhood and consumption are each firmly established as substantive topics in sociology, yet the relationship between them remains narrowly considered. In this paper I attempt to deepen sociologic...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine wind music from three points of view: (1) in light of its position in the musical field, (2) as a specific sub-field and (3) at the local level of concrete practices.
Abstract: This paper is based on research on wind music in France, where this music is situated at the lowest level in the cultural hierarchy. We examine this music from three points of view: (1) in light of its position in the musical field, (2) as a specific sub-field and (3) at the local level of concrete practices. Then, thanks to the socio-cultural mapping of the orchestras and of their musicians, we establish various combinations of these three levels in the concrete and symbolic organization of musical activities. This framework allows us to evaluate the various degrees of exposure to cultural domination and the possibilities of escaping it.
TL;DR: The loss of iconic buildings and artifacts can result in public mourning which may even overshadow the loss of human life as discussed by the authors, and cultural trauma theory examines how such processes are socially constructe...
Abstract: The loss of iconic buildings and artifacts can result in public mourning which may even overshadow the loss of human life. Cultural trauma theory examines how such processes are socially constructe...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the ways in which the creative activity of artists is shaped by democratic norms and practices using the case of the Amber Film and Photography Collective in the northeast of England, and investigate how this practice became a vital feature of their everyday creative lives.
Abstract: We use the term ‘creative democracy’ – coined by John Dewey – to explore the ways in which the creative activity of artists is shaped by democratic norms and practices. Using the case of the Amber Film and Photography Collective in the northeast of England, we discuss their process of creative democracy – featuring norms of project initiation, collective scrutiny and empowerment – and investigate how this practice became a vital feature of their everyday creative lives. We discuss the significant benefits of creative democracy, explore how the collective navigated its complexities and dilemmas, and investigate its relevance for contemporary cultural activists.
TL;DR: The relationship between the work of art and the sociological work of globalization has been explored in this paper, where the authors argue that to grasp a phenomenon as complex as globalization, collaborative work between different forms of knowledge construction plays a crucial role.
Abstract: This article sets out to rethink the relationship between the work of art and the work of sociology, drawing on Jacques Ranciere’s writing on the work of art to provide the basis for recognizing affinities and differences between these two processes. In juxtaposing the sociology of globalization with the art of globalization, beginning with their common desire to understand globalization through rendering invisible forces visible, the article suggests ways in which artistic practice might be said to be ‘proto-sociological’, while also considering the role that aesthetic categories play in producing sociological knowledge. These questions are approached through a detailed case study that focuses on the cultural response to the oil industry offered by Ursula Biemann in her film essay, Black Sea Files (2005). The article argues that to grasp a phenomenon as complex as globalization, collaborative work between different forms of knowledge construction plays a crucial role.
TL;DR: This article examined philanthropist George Soros's reputation in the United States, Russia and post-Soviet Lithuania from the 1990s to 2005-6 and found that his reputation served domestic political needs and was interpreted within a local cultural context, suggesting the value of a'sceptical' perspective on globalization debates on how reputational attacks travel and are received.
Abstract: This article examines philanthropist George Soros’s reputation in the United States, Russia and post-Soviet Lithuania from the 1990s to 2005–6. A billionaire currency speculator and left-wing philanthropist, Soros has a ‘difficult reputation’. Attacks from American right-wingers and post-Soviet authoritarians circulated internationally, but his reputation was not constituted globally as extreme globalization theorists might predict. We draw on Bourdieu’s analysis of the international circulation of ideas and emphasis on local context. Reputational entrepreneurs in the United States, Russia and Lithuania certainly made extensive use of internationally circulating attacks in the age of the internet. Nonetheless, Soros’s reputation served domestic political needs and was interpreted within a local cultural context, suggesting the value of a ‘sceptical’ perspective on globalization debates on how reputational attacks travel and are received.
TL;DR: In this paper, a particular cultural assemblage, the editorial practices arising in an interdisciplinary project concerned with researching and publishing the letters of South African feminist writer and social theorist Olive Schreiner, is detailed.
Abstract: Programmatic ideas regarding cultural sociology and its inter-relationship with cultural production inspired by the work of Inglis et al., Mukerji and Bennett are explored. A particular cultural assemblage, the editorial practices arising in an interdisciplinary project concerned with researching and publishing the letters of South African feminist writer and social theorist Olive Schreiner, is detailed. Four key aspects of the particular ‘bringing-into-being’ which these working practices involve are interrogated, regarding the ‘moment of writing’, archive stories, the ‘editorial moment’ and the involvement of the later reader, with these examined in depth in relation to examples of Schreiner’s letters.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the concept of location as a supplement to the concepts of position and disposition in understanding how strategies are enacted in cultural fields and highlight the importance of location in the use of these strategies in the field of black popular music-making.
Abstract: Extending Bourdieu’s work, this paper introduces the concept of location as a supplement to the concepts of position and disposition in understanding how strategies are enacted in cultural fields. To illustrate my argument, this paper is organized into four sections. First, the applicability and extension of Bourdieu’s theory of cultural production is discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on illustrating how the concept of location adopts an intersubjective understanding of reflexivity in order to address some of the limitations of Bourdieu’s concepts of position, disposition and strategy. Second, two different strategies of legitimation (crowd pleasing and crowd commanding) adopted by DJs within the field are outlined. Third, the importance of location in the use of these strategies in the field of black popular music-making is illustrated. Finally, this paper concludes by summarizing the key dimensions of the concept of location and suggesting how the concept has broader applicability in other cultur...
TL;DR: In the 1990s, some theorists implied that lesbian and gay identities were classless or post-class ones as mentioned in this paper, and this idea was challenged by the authors of this paper.
Abstract: How significant are class identities to lesbians and gay men? In the 1990s some theorists implied that lesbian and gay identities were classless or post-class ones. This paper challenges this idea ...
TL;DR: Peberdy as mentioned in this paper proposes a model of ongoing instability for men as it is performed through these films, rather than mapping social change onto film performance, which is more resonant than the unnecessary drama of the language of crisis and is certainly more effective for dealing with the internal struggles dramatized in many movies.
Abstract: of instability for men as it is performed through these films, rather than mapping social change onto film performance. The model of ongoing instability is more resonant than the unnecessary drama of the language of ‘crisis’ and is certainly more effective for dealing with the internal struggles dramatized in many movies. In turn, one wonders whether angst might be open to women as well as men, why American cinema tends to suggest otherwise, and why the characteristic presentation of male uncertainty suggests not an alliance with women but either blank incomprehension or outright hostility. Though these are not questions with which Peberdy’s book is centrally concerned, her achievement is to require us to ask these questions in a way that takes account of performance, in all its registers. In a developing area of critical work, she offers a fresh and rich perspective, one which acknowledges the cinema as a medium bound by history but which insists on the complexities of filmmaking and film performance.
TL;DR: This article analyzed diasporic versions of Schuhplattler (slap dance), a German-Austrian folk dance, as a community activity among German and Austrian emigres.
Abstract: This paper analyses diasporic versions of Schuhplattler (slap dance), a German-Austrian folk dance, as a community activity among German and Austrian emigres. It offers two case studies: one focusing on the anti-Nazi emigrant youth organization ‘Young Austria’ in the late 1930s, the other on the practice and politics of Schuhplattler dancing by German emigres to the USA in the late 2000s. Discussions address how the dance has been deployed to serve starkly differing cultural objectives and political ideologies. The paper draws on concepts from nationalism, globalization and multiculturalism to contextualize the dance’s role as a source of national and regional identity.