The New American Cultural Sociology
The New American Cultural Sociology
American Cultural Sociology presents a serious challenge to British Cultural Studies and European grand theory alike. This exciting volume brings together sixteen seminal papers by leading figures in what is emerging as an important intellectual tradition. It places them in the context of related work in Sociology and other disciplines, exploring the connections between cultural sociology and different approaches, such as comparative and historical research, postmodernism, and symbolic interactionism. The book is divided into three sections: Culture as Text and Code, The Production and Reception of Culture, and Culture in Action. Each section contains edited contributions, both theoretical and empirical, addressing the key debates in cultural sociology, including the autonomy of culture, power and culture, structure and agency and how to conceptualise meaning.
- Ideal for teaching: wide-ranging and up-to-date collection of key works by leading figures in sociology of culture, with commentary
- Combines theoretical and empirical work (unlike competition)
- Defines 'The New American Cultural Sociology' and places it in the context of competing and complementary approaches
Product details
July 1998Paperback
9780521586344
300 pages
228 × 156 × 20 mm
0.495kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Preface
- The new American cultural sociology: an introduction Philip Smith
- Part I. Culture as Text and Code: Introduction
- 1. Textuality and the postmodern turn in sociological theory Richard Harvey Brown
- 2. The computer as sacred and profane Jeffrey C. Alexander
- 3. AIDS and the discursive construction of homosexuality Steven Seidman
- 4. Fundamentalism and liberalism in public religious discourse Robert Wuthnow
- 5. Analytic and concrete forms of the autonomy of culture Anne Kane
- Part II. The Production and Reception of Culture: Introduction:
- 6. The reception of Derrida's work in France and America Michèle Lamont
- 7. Censorship, audiences and the Victorian nude Nicola Beisel
- 8. The devil, social change and Jacobean theatre Wendy Griswold
- 9. Victorian women writers and the prestige of the novel Gaye Tuchman and Nina Fortin
- 10. The ambiguous and contested meanings of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Robin Wagner-Pacifici and Barry Schwartz
- Part III. Culture in Action: Introduction:
- 11. Culture and social action Ann Swidler
- 12. Culture, structure, agency and transformation William H. Sewell Jr
- 13. Discourse, nuclear power and collective action William A. Gamson
- 14. Moral boundaries, leisure activities and justifying fun Gary Alan Fine
- 15. Honour and conflict management in corporate life Calvin Morrill
- 16. The role of cultural capital in school success Paul DiMaggio
- Index.
