Cultural sociology at the crossroads of the discipline

Jacobs, Mark; Spillman, Lyn

doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2005.01.001

Cited by 56 publications

(27 citation statements)

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“…I have reiterated and in some respects developed this ontological specification in all my work on culture since (Jacobs and Spillman 2005;Spillman 1995aSpillman , b, 1996aSpillman , 2002Spillman , 2007. I am sorry that, even so, I have failed to communicate why I think my view of culture is useful and important, and perhaps Smith's argument calls for its repetition and amplification.…”

Section: Coherence In Complexitymentioning

confidence: 90%

Culture’s Coherence: How the Trees Compose the Woods

Spillman

2016

Am Soc

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In cultural sociology, the concept of culture refers to processes and products of meaning-making. This concept sustains coherence while also encompassing empirical complexity and theoretical difference. Much of the variety in the way cultural sociologists talk about culture is simply attributable to inconsequential terminological difference, and the remainder is attributable to differences of empirical angle and theoretical emphasis within the field which are encompassed by this core idea. Cultural sociologists understand meaning as transcending biology, irreducible to social structure, and public rather than private. These conceptual boundaries provide a firm foundation for empirical research and guide the development of cultural theory. Further exploration of the concept of Bmeaning^is better pursued in the analytic philosophy of meaning, but such exploration is unnecessary and potentially counter-productive for cultural sociology.Keywords Culture . Cultural sociology . Meaning . Practices . Schema . Biology/culture . Structure/culture . Public culture . Philosophy of meaning I do not share Chris Smith's worries about how culture is conceptualized in contemporary sociology. His thoughtful and passionate search for some fundamental and shared ontological referent takes up what I have long considered an old and annoying cliché about the Bculture^concept -that it is ambiguous and confusing Bamorphous mist.^1 For a long time -perhaps irresponsibly-I have been very reluctant to revisit this old ground. I have thought for many years now that doing empirical cultural sociology is more productive and interesting than recycling old Am Soc

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Section: Coherence In Complexitymentioning

confidence: 90%

Culture’s Coherence: How the Trees Compose the Woods

Spillman

2016

Am Soc

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“…What sort of consensus underlies the ‘cultural sciences?’Jacobs and Hanrahan (2005a; see also Jacobs and Spillman 2005) argue that this consensus consists of the idea that social, political, and economic structures are embedded in patterns of everyday life and interaction and in systems of meaning–making, such as discourses, beliefs, and negotiations among social actors, that perform important roles in generating and maintaining social institutions.…”

Section: Cultural Specialties In the Social Sciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Sociology and Other Disciplines: Interdisciplinarity in the Cultural Sciences

Crane

2010

Sociology Compass

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The subject of this article is the relationship between cultural sociology and approaches to culture in other social science disciplines. What are the characteristics of the theoretical environment, in which cultural sociology is operating? The article begins by reviewing the literature on interdisciplinarity. Many authors argue that interdisciplinarity is increasing or should be increasing, but the general consensus is that disciplinary isolation is the norm. From this perspective, the relationships between disciplines can be understood in terms of trading zones, in which fields in different disciplines have little in common, theoretically, or empirically. Interdisciplinary communication in ‘trading zones’ requires that participants laboriously construct a set of terms that permits them to exchange ideas. Alternatively, I propose that clusters of fields in different disciplines are linked by free‐floating paradigms. Participants in disciplines that share ‘free‐floating paradigms’ are able to communicate with one another more readily. The article presents evidence for the second interpretation, drawn from survey articles in disciplinary handbooks. Disciplines and fields in which the study of culture draws from the same pool of paradigms and models and shares a set of lines of inquiry with cultural sociology include traditional disciplines, such as anthropology, communication, geography, history and psychology, and interdisciplinary fields, such as cultural studies, communication, feminist theory, material culture, science studies, and visual culture. Interdisciplinary fields – particularly cultural studies – perform an important role in diffusing paradigms across disciplinary boundaries. Free‐floating paradigms are associated with the work of major theorists, such as Lévi‐Strauss, Barthes, Foucault, Bourdieu, Lyotard, Baudrillard, Clifford Geertz, Bruno Latour, Adorno, Gramsci, and Habermas.

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“…19 Jacobs and Spillman also argued that cultural sociology is 'not limited to the study of specialized cultural systems such as art, media, or science but rather that it is an analytic perspective on any social arena' , and 'a shift to analyzing specific meaning-making processes, from earlier conceptualizations of culture as an integrated whole' . 20 It is arguable therefore that cultural sociology 'makes a distinctive contribution by providing conceptual tools for handling the intersection of macro-level social dynamics and micro-level subjectivity in meso-level processes' , and this sub-discipline within sociology is thought to build 'on the examination of cultural processes in concrete contexts' . 21 In Judaism, dance has presented a social tradition since early times because Jews have always expressed joy through dancing.…”

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“…20 It is arguable therefore that cultural sociology 'makes a distinctive contribution by providing conceptual tools for handling the intersection of macro-level social dynamics and micro-level subjectivity in meso-level processes' , and this sub-discipline within sociology is thought to build 'on the examination of cultural processes in concrete contexts' . 21 In Judaism, dance has presented a social tradition since early times because Jews have always expressed joy through dancing. For example, the Torah describes Miriam leading the dance ceremony after escaping slavery in Egypt and taking part in the Exodus around 1270 BCE.…”

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Israel Affairs

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Cultural sociology at the crossroads of the discipline

Cited by 56 publications

References 8 publications

Culture’s Coherence: How the Trees Compose the Woods

Culture’s Coherence: How the Trees Compose the Woods

Cultural Sociology and Other Disciplines: Interdisciplinarity in the Cultural Sciences

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