Showing papers in "Cultural Sociology in 2021"
TL;DR: This paper identified five key themes, or sets of criticisms, that emerged in online commentary on the new musical system centred on streaming platforms, and in related academic research:Strategies:
Abstract: This article identifies five key themes, or sets of criticisms, that have emerged in online commentary on the new musical system centred on streaming platforms, and in related academic research:Str...
14 citations
TL;DR: The sociology of cultural tastes and practices seeks, on the one hand, to show how tastes and behaviours are structured, and on the other hand, explain them as discussed by the authors. But the sociology of taste and behavior is not a monolingual approach.
Abstract: The sociology of cultural tastes and practices seeks, on the one hand, to show how tastes and practices are structured, and on the other hand, to explain them. For this purpose, multivariate analys...
14 citations
TL;DR: The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connected World explores what the title promises, first presenting a clear and useful exploration of today's platform ecosystem and culminating with a larger set of theoretical questions asking if and how platforms should consider "public values" in their design.
Abstract: The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connected World explores what the title promises, first presenting a clear and useful exploration of today’s platform ecosystem and culminating with a larger set of theoretical questions asking if and how platforms should consider ‘public values’ in their design. Authors Van Dijck, Poell and De Waal thoughtfully lay out this exploration, grounding it in an in-depth mapping of the underlying infrastructure of the platforms that have become not only ubiquitous in our society, but have emerged as governing actors within it. Expanded from the authors’ work on a 2016 Dutch report, the book acknowledges the hope to speak to a wider academic audience, particularly students and cross-disciplinary scholars. The front matter reflexively addresses the ever-evolving digital landscape in which it was written and foregrounds its findings with the caveat that fast-paced governmental, societal and corporate evolution makes it stand on shifting sands. This serves not only as an honest context for the book, but a reminder for other researchers to understand the temporal nature of studying emerging technologies. Despite this inherent challenge to studying platforms, this monograph successfully makes visible their practices, infrastructure and interests that are often obscured from non-corporate researchers, therefore providing a most useful foundation for scholars to reference when studying platforms. This book draws on a wealth of scholarship from a diverse range of disciplines and also turns to media coverage, policy and information provided by the platforms themselves to construct a wide and thorough representation of the platform ecosystem. As a result, it formally brings this knowledge to academia in a comprehensive way. It is structured like a manual, clearly organized into thematic chapters that contain distinct insights delineated by sub-sections to guide the reader through its intellectual project. The introduction gives a helpful guide to reading the book and weaves together larger themes that chapters address both individually and in concert with each other. The first two chapters are the most widely useful to cultural sociologists as they chart the landscape for the platform society that the rest of the book will explore and deconstruct through examples. They give helpful written and visual diagrams of the platform ecosystem, noting that the vast majority of it is influenced by five dominating players: 959306 CUS0010.1177/1749975520959306Cultural SociologyBook Review book-review2020
14 citations
TL;DR: The authors provided a sociological explanation for the global emergence of Slavoj Žižek as a public intellectual and presented an integrative account encompassing both personal and institutional a...
Abstract: This article provides a sociological explanation for the global emergence of Slavoj Žižek as a public intellectual. It presents an integrative account encompassing both personal and institutional a...
13 citations
TL;DR: The authors propose a possible path for a materialist cultural sociology of art, focusing on the dynamics of art(s) domains and harnessing Adorno's dialectical notion of material anew.
Abstract: This article proposes a possible path for a materialist cultural sociology of art, focusing on the dynamics of art(s) domains and harnessing Adorno’s dialectical notion of material anew. I seek to ...
12 citations
TL;DR: Since the 1990s, the central references of the sociology of cultural practices have been the theoretical frameworks developed by Pierre Bourdieu and Richard A. Peterson around the concepts of disti...
Abstract: Since the 1990s, the central references of the sociology of cultural practices have been the theoretical frameworks developed by Pierre Bourdieu and Richard A. Peterson around the concepts of disti...
12 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the ways that homosocial bonding is bound up with, and produced in sexting in contemporary youth cultures, and found that it is an important aspect of contemporary youth culture.
Abstract: Building on research identifying sexting as an important aspect of contemporary youth cultures, this article critically explores the ways that homosocial bonding is bound up with, and produced in t
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the development of the sociology of culture in Czechia is analyzed and its focus is on sociology of the arts and cultural sociology, which, it is argued, are connected through the notion of "culture sociology".
Abstract: This article analyses the development of the sociology of culture in Czechia. Its focus is on the sociology of the arts and cultural sociology, which, it is argued, are connected through the notion...
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the current status of art's critical power in a world of intensifying economic inequality is discussed, and the art world is saturated with economic imperatives that limit the ability of artists to express themselves.
Abstract: This article reflects on the current status of art’s critical power in a world of intensifying economic inequality. We document how the art world is saturated with economic imperatives that limit t...
11 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a new category emerges through bifurcation of pre-existing cat categories through sociology of culture and "categorization" research, and the authors propose a new theoretical link between sociology and culture.
Abstract: Pursuing a new theoretical link between sociology of culture and ‘categorization’ research, the article articulates the process whereby new categories emerge through bifurcation of pre-existing cat...
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present findings from their Data Personas study, in which they invited Australian adults to respond to the stimulus of the "data persona" to help them consider personal data profiling.
Abstract: In this article, I present findings from my Data Personas study, in which I invited Australian adults to respond to the stimulus of the ‘data persona’ to help them consider personal data profiling ...
TL;DR: In this article, the co-workers also have an impact on the experiences an aesthetic worker has, and the authors focus on aesthetic labour practices and experiences of managerial control and self-discipline.
Abstract: Research on aesthetic labour has largely been confined to studying practices and experiences of managerial control and self-discipline. However, co-workers also have an impact on the experiences an...
TL;DR: The authors argued that any policy requires a "frame" and entails an "overflow" which externalizes a certain part of the world as irrelevant, externalizing it as irrelevant to the general public.
Abstract: Any policy requires a ‘frame’ and, by the same token, entails an ‘overflow’, externalizing a certain part of the world as irrelevant. This mundane business of policy framing and overflowing became ...
TL;DR: In this article, the relationship between aesthetic practices and racialised conceptions of belonging is explored, in particular attributions of beauty and ugliness, order and disorder, and the relation between aesthetics and race.
Abstract: In this essay we reflect on the relationship between aesthetic practices and racialised conceptions of belonging. In particular, we explore attributions of beauty and ugliness, order and disorder, ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe how small live music venues rely on complex systems of cultural and social capital to bring revenue into each venue space and how these intangible forms of value are quickly exchanged for economic ca...
Abstract: Small live music venues rely on complex systems of cultural and social capital to bring revenue into each venue space. Although these intangible forms of value are quickly exchanged for economic ca...
TL;DR: The research on social media, networks and collective action currently lacks a strong cultural component, often focusing on network formation and characteristics from afar as discussed by the authors. But, at the same time, research i...
Abstract: Research on social media, networks and collective action currently lacks a strong cultural component, often focusing on network formation and characteristics from afar. At the same time, research i...
TL;DR: For instance, cultural pragmatics is a fruitful analytic tradition in sociology as mentioned in this paper, however, theoretical use of this six-element model has largely focused on actors. Despite fusion's definition as a product made be...
Abstract: Cultural pragmatics is a fruitful analytic tradition in sociology. However, theoretical use of this six-element model has largely focused on actors. Despite fusion’s definition as a product made be...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore cultural contents and gendered politics that inform women's discourse about power in hypermasculine organizations, and find that powerful women in a hyper-masculinized organization talk about power.
Abstract: How do powerful women in a hyper-masculine organization talk about power? To answer this question, we should explore both cultural contents and gendered politics that inform women’s discourse about...
TL;DR: In this article, the concept of moral entrepreneurialism is extended to corporate actors and the authors build on this research to investigate how corporations succeed in this effort by uncovering the strategi...
Abstract: Recent research has extended the concept of moral entrepreneurialism to corporate actors. We build on this research to investigate how corporations succeed in this effort by uncovering the strategi...
TL;DR: This paper found that the establishment of collectivity is influenced by three symbolic boundaries: (1) intercultural, (2) interclass, and (3) intraclass in Dutch music genre levenslied.
Abstract: The last few decades have seen a surge in the consumption of locally produced popular music in the West. Domestic music – music made by national artists and sung in the national language – has gained increasing popularity, specifically within the lower to middle-class segments of the native population. This article uses the Dutch music genre levenslied to explore this growing trend. From a neo-Durkheimian perspective, we can assume the presence of collective effervescence – a shared intensified mood drawn from collective assembly. However, it is less clear how this collectivity is brought about and experienced. In other words, what are the requirements for this state of effervescence to occur? Looking not only at the totems these concertgoers celebrate but also the established symbolic boundaries, can help us understand how the group defines itself, adding to our knowledge of the rise in popularity of domestic music.
We interviewed 20 concertgoers about their experience of these concerts. The analysis finds that the establishment of collectivity is influenced by three symbolic boundaries: (1) intercultural, (2) interclass, and (3) intraclass. Through the negative othering of ethnic monitories – those considered socially higher, and those considered morally lower than themselves – the audiences of these concerts glorify a very narrow image of Dutchness, obtaining a sense of self-worth through the celebration of an idealized national image rooted in nostalgia. The increasing popularity of levenslied concerts (and domestic music more generally) can, therefore, be understood in relation to broader societal changes and connected with a ‘squeezed middle’ class, clinging to tradition and their declining social position.
TL;DR: The authors explored some of the earliest comments on the topic, which are to be found amongst Georg Simmel's writings about secrecy, and contributed to the development of the sociology of lying.
Abstract: This article contributes to the development of the sociology of lying by exploring some of the earliest comments on the topic, which are to be found amongst Georg Simmel’s writings about secrecy. W...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate how human-animal interactions are uniquely important to the negotiation of group identity and its boundaries, using ethnographic, interview, and archival historical data.
Abstract: This article demonstrates how human–animal interactions are uniquely important to the negotiation of group identity and its boundaries. I use ethnographic, interview, and archival historical data t...
TL;DR: The ways that music creates bridges and boundaries between people has long been of interest in the sociology of music, and a core problem is understanding patterns in relationships between consumer and music as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The ways that music creates bridges and boundaries between people has long been of interest in the sociology of music, and a core problem is understanding patterns in relationships between consumer
TL;DR: In 2016, the Olympic Movement had to face a major crisis of state sponsored doping in Russia as discussed by the authors, which raised suspicions about the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-doping...
Abstract: In 2016, the Olympic Movement had to face a major crisis of state sponsored doping in Russia. This crisis raised suspicions about the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-doping...
TL;DR: The role of institutions in the co-production of 'untouchable' celebrity icon status was examined in this paper. But the authors focused on the role of the BBC, the NHS, and the British establishment.
Abstract: The aim of this article is to develop the concepts of masks and masking to interrogate the role of institutions in the co-production of ‘untouchable’ celebrity icon status. The empirical focus is the multi-institutional masking of Sir Jimmy Savile OBE KCSG. For decades, Savile was celebrated as one of the UK’s best-loved celebrity icons. One year after his death, he was exposed as a serial sexual predator. We argue that the largely compartmentalised official reports on Savile have presented a partial analysis. They have emphasised the importance of Savile’s celebrity status while taking it for granted, downplayed the significance of his moral standing in British society, and marginalised the proactive, enabling role of the BBC, the NHS and the British establishment. However manipulative the individual, we propose that it was Savile’s cumulative multi-institutional masking as celebrity personality (the BBC), celanthropist (the NHS) and, ultimately, celebrity icon (the British establishment) that co-produced his ‘untouchable’ status and enabled him for decades to deflect and discredit rumour, gossip and allegations about his sexually predatory behaviour. We conclude by reflecting on the ‘researchability’ of powerful elites, and by suggesting how our analysis might inform further research into the power dynamics that have co-produced the ‘untouchability’ of other celebrities subsequently exposed as serial sexual predators.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore material loss and develop a new conceptual agenda, synthesising and developing debates on the sociology of consumption and material culture in combination with those of the s...
Abstract: This article explores material loss and develops a new conceptual agenda. Synthesising and developing debates on the sociology of consumption and material culture in combination with those of the s...
TL;DR: This article explored international, national, and local media coverage of a conflict between Barb Reddick, a rural, working-class, African-Nova Scotian woman, and her nephew over the o...
Abstract: This thematic case study explores international, national, and local media coverage of a conflict between Barb Reddick, a rural, working-class, African-Nova Scotian woman, and her nephew over the o...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors shed light on the division of intermediation labour in the commerci cation of graffiti writing to the art market, through a case study of a case of a graffiti writer and an art market.
Abstract: Various cultural intermediaries have become involved in connecting graffiti writing to the art market. Through this case study, I shed light on the division of intermediation labour in the commerci...