Constructing a Sociology of the Arts

Abstract

At a time when a pile of bricks is displayed in a museum, when music is composed for performance underwater, and the boundaries between popular and fine art are fluid, conventional understandings of art are strained in describing what art is, what it includes or excludes, whether and how it should be evaluated, and what importance should be assigned the arts in society. In this book, Vera Zolberg examines diverse theoretical approaches to the study of the arts. Ranging over humanistic and social scientific views representing a variety of scholarly traditions, American and European, she then develops a sociological approach that evaluates the institutional, economic, and political influences on the creation of art, while also affirming the importance of the question of artistic quality. The author examines the arts in the social contexts in which people become artists, the institutions in which their careers develop, the supports and pressures they face, the publics they need to please, and the political forces with which they must contend. Particular subjects covered include the process by which works are created and 're-created' at different times, with changed meanings, and for new social uses; the role of the audience in the realization of artistic experiences; the social consequences of taste preferences; the reasons for change in artistic styles and for the coexistence of many art forms and styles.

Art at the crossroads: The arts in society and the sociology of art

“…Influential studies in this model for research include Griswold (1987a) on literature, Wolff (1990) on the visual arts, and DeNora (1995DeNora ( , 2000 on music. Such empirical studies have been bolstered by theoretical and methodological arguments for the necessity of advancing the discipline along these lines (Alexander, 2003;Bowler 1994;Griswold, 1987b;Wolff, 1992;Zolberg, 1990). Zolberg has been a particularly leading figure in this area, whose Constructing a Sociology of the Arts (Zolberg, 1990) constitutes a classic text in the discipline.…”

“…Such empirical studies have been bolstered by theoretical and methodological arguments for the necessity of advancing the discipline along these lines (Alexander, 2003;Bowler 1994;Griswold, 1987b;Wolff, 1992;Zolberg, 1990). Zolberg has been a particularly leading figure in this area, whose Constructing a Sociology of the Arts (Zolberg, 1990) constitutes a classic text in the discipline. More recently, Zolberg (2005b) has called for "bringing the arts back in," a phrase by which she draws attention to the need for more attention to the arts in cultural sociology, as well as an approach to the study 32 of the art capable of addressing the aesthetic dimension.…”

“…On the system of classification that characterized eighteenth-century aesthetic philosophy, see Kristeller (1951). For a sociological overview of the distinctions between fine/popular, elite/mass, and high/low, see Alexander (2003) and Zolberg (1990). …”

“…At the same time, and until fairly recently, sociology as a discipline has paid relatively little attention to the study of the arts (Lang 2000;Zolberg, 1990Zolberg, , 2005b. As Lang (2000, p. 172) reports, "As recently as 1968 the term sociology of art was not indexed in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, which sought to sum and assess the thinking and accomplishments in the rapidly expanding social sciences of the post-World War II period."…”

“…If the neglect of fine art stemmed from its close association with exclusivity and elite privilege, popular art tended to be disdained for its connection to the commercial, capitalist market (Gans, 1974;Zolberg, 1990Zolberg, , p. 31, 2005a. While distinctions were made among different kinds of popular art, 6 the mass culture theory that dominated the intellectual discourse on the popular arts in the post-World War II period overwhelmingly focused on the deleterious effects of popular cultural forms.…”