Cultural Sociology and the Politics of Canonization: An Anglo-Canadian Perspective

Abstract

This article offers a regional spotlight introduction to Anglo-Canadian cultural sociology. The question of what makes Canada unique has long preoccupied Canadian writers, artists, and policy makers, and is central to scholarly debates about Canadian sociology’s position relative to British, American, and other national sociologies, as well as the need for decolonization and diversification of the disciplinary canon. As a subfield, Anglo-Canadian cultural sociology receives little attention within these wider debates despite its emphasis on issues of cultural difference, identity, and evaluation. We provide an analysis of the dynamics of the field. Using course syllabi and survey data from instructors (N = 28), we examine whether there is a unique canon in Anglo-Canadian cultural sociology, and how cultural sociology is taught across Canada. Network analysis of texts assigned on syllabi and survey responses from cultural sociology instructors reveal, first, a thematic canon in Canadian cultural sociology, with a plurality of authors used to teach four main themes: identity and representation, cultural production, cultural consumption, and conceptualizing and measuring culture. Second, we find the positionality of Anglo-Canadian cultural sociology (with respect to both other national sociologies and neighboring subfields/disciplines) is uncertain and widely variant. Finally, survey responses concerning identity and representation suggest a reflexivity about the politics of canonization, and a gendered interest in decolonizing curricula. We conclude by arguing that a thematic canon in cultural sociology facilitates the maintenance of fuzzy boundaries with other subfields, national and Indigenous intellectual traditions, and a critical feminist lens.

Language Matters: The Study of Canadian Politics through an Exploration of Syllabi and Comprehensive Exams

“…5In comparison, other research has drawn important conclusions and implications from samples that are substantially smaller in terms of both the number of courses examined and the number of readings (de Laat and Stokes, 2022; Millard-Ball et al, 2021; Skitka et al, 2021)…”

“…4 On how we coded English-and French-speaking scholars, see the data and indicators section of Study 1. 5 In comparison, other research has drawn important conclusions and implications from samples that are substantially smaller in terms of both the number of courses examined and the number of readings (de Laat and Stokes, 2022;Millard-Ball et al, 2021;Skitka et al, 2021) 6 Regions are coded, for sake of convenience, on distribution of observations across the country, as follows: West, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic. 7 For example, if there are 10 chapters assigned as compulsory reading from an edited textbook, we will have 10 different entries (that is, readings) in our dataset for this course.…”