SOCIOLOGY OF CULTURE
Sociology 920:422:03
Location and time: Murray Hall 208, MTH 11:30-12:50
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 1:00-2:30, LSH A336; and by appointment
Phone: 445-3705
E-mail: pmclean@sociology.rutgers.edu
Website : http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~pmclean/
The theme of culture and empirical research on
culture has grown IMMENSELY in sociology and the other social sciences over the
last twenty years. Many disciplines
have experienced the so-called ‘cultural turn.’ Beyond just recognizing that culture matters, scholars have
developed a variety of theories of just what culture is and how it
operates. Cultural processes and practices,
and symbolic and classificatory systems, are constitutive elements of social
life and important sites of, and vehicles for, political contestation. To speak of culture this way is to speak in
terms of shared ways of life, shared repertoires of action, shared orientations
to the world, shared common sense, shared points of contention, shared
‘operating systems,’ shared webs of significance, and so on.
We can also speak of culture in terms of cultural
objects: plays, art, music, food, conspicuously consumed goods, and the
like. In our capitalistic, increasingly
globalized world, we have a sense that there is ‘more’ culture available than
ever before, and that these cultures and cultural objects are being produced in
new ways for us; hence sociologists have spoken of the ‘production of
culture.’ This course will cover some
of the most important theoretical perspectives in sociology on the role of
culture, understood broadly as widely shared specific attitudes, values,
behaviors, and practices. We will
discuss our relationship to the culture(s) in which we live, and the
relationship between culture and power.
We will consider how culture operates in micro-interactional settings on
the basis of widely shared cultural beliefs, and how it can exist in more
clearly delimited settings (for example, organizational cultures). Finally, we will examine how certain
cultural industries, or venues for experiencing culture, such as Hollywood
film, popular music, books, high art, and fashion are organized and how they
have changed over time in response to both larger social forces and to each
other.
This class will be run as a discussion seminar. This means you will HAVE to do the reading and come prepared to discuss the material in class! The 400-series courses in sociology are explicitly designed to afford you the experience of a high-end, free-flowing, and open-ended discussion of stimulating ideas, in a setting where you can speak often, get to know each other, and experience college the way most people hoped it would be.
The requirements for this course
are as follows:
1)
leading
class discussion twice during the semester (20% of final grade)
2)
participation
in class discussions on other days (15% of final grade)
3)
an
in-class closed-book test during the sixth week of the semester (25% of final
grade)
4)
a
final paper, approximately 15 pages in length (40% of final grade)
On the two days you are scheduled to lead
discussion, you will provide me with a brief report on the reading(s) for that
day, no later than the beginning of class.
The report should take roughly the following form: a) a two- to
three-paragraph summary of the main points; b) definitions of one or more key
concepts that are brought up in the reading; and c) at least two questions you
would like the class to discuss in regards to that reading. At least two students will be assigned to
each session; you may work separately or together, as you choose. You will also be assessed for your
contributions on days when you are not scheduled as a presenter. I will take into consideration both the
quality and the quantity of your contribution.
Support your fellow students when they are on the hot seat and they will
support you when your time comes!
The test on March 1 will require you to identify key
concepts we have covered and/or match authors to concepts. It will allow me to assess relatively early
on how thoroughly you are reading the material, and to assist you in preparing
for your final paper. The final paper
should follow one of two possible forms: 1) a critical review and comparison of
multiple texts we have read during the semester; or 2) an independent research
project on some sphere of social life or cultural production, either exploring
in greater depth or breadth one of the topics we read about together, or
looking at something completely different.
You will be required to discuss your paper proposal with me no later
than the end of 11th week.
There is a LOT of reading for this course, some of it quite difficult. I have had to exclude lots of very interesting topics and readings. If you are curious about pursuing other topics, let me know and I might be able to steer you in the right direction. You are required to purchase the following books:
Some
other material will be available via Rutgers electronic reserve, as
indicated in the syllabus. Many of the
readings from the Spillman anthology, marked SR in the syllabus, may be
available this way also. I have copied
links to these materials on my own webpage as well (http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~pmclean/).
January
22 Introduction to the course
After class, skim: Spillman, “Introduction: Culture
& Cultural Sociology” (SR, pp. 1-15)
Week 2
January 26 THE PLACE (AND PROBLEM) OF CULTURE IN MODERN CIVILIZATION
Read: Georg Simmel, “Subjective Culture,” in Georg
Simmel: On Individuality and Social Forms, ed. Donald N. Levine (Chicago,
1971), pp. 227-234 (electronic)
Read: Georg Simmel, “The Metropolis and Mental Life”
(SR, pp. 28-38)
January 29 THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL TRADITION:
CULTURE AS ‘WAY OF LIFE’
Read: Ruth Benedict, “The Diversity of Cultures” (SR,
pp. 19-27)
Read: Clifford Geertz, “The Impact of
the Concept of Culture on the Concept of Man,” chapter 2 in The
Interpretation of Cultures (Basic Books, 1973) (electronic)
February 2 CULTURE AS WEBS OF SIGNIFICANCE
Read: Clifford Geertz, “Thick Description: Towards
an Interpretive Theory of Culture” (SR, pp. 63-68)
Read: Clifford Geertz, “Deep Play:
Notes on the Balinese Cockfight,” chapter 15 in The Interpretation of
Cultures (Basic Books, 1973) (electronic)
February 5 THE COGNITIVE AND CLASSIFICATORY
DIMENSION OF CULTURE
Read: Eviatar Zerubavel, “The Fine
Line: Making Distinctions in Everyday Life” (SR, pp. 223-232)
Read: Eviatar Zerubavel, selection on
“Frames” from The Fine Line (electronic)
Read: Edwin Hutchins, selections from Cognition
in the Wild, pp. 229-239, 263-270 (electronic)
Completely optional reading: Paul Dimaggio, “Culture
and Cognition,” Annual Review of Sociology 23 (1997): 263-287 (via
JSTOR, or link on my webpage)
February 9 MARXISM AND CULTURE: HEGEMONY AND
DOMINATION
Read: Karl Marx, selections from The
German Ideology, in The Marx-Engels Reader, edited by Robert C.
Tucker (Norton, 1978), pp. 154-55, 172-75 (electronic)
Read: Raymond Williams, “Base and
Superstructure” (SR, pp. 56-62)
Read: Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The
Meaning of Style, chapter 1
Read: James C. Scott, Domination and
the Arts of Resistance (Yale, 1990), selections from chapter 4 (electronic)
February 12 PIERRE BOURDIEU: CULTURE AS HABITUS,
AND CULTURAL CAPITAL
Read: Pierre Bourdieu, “Cultural Power” (SR, pp.
69-76)
Read: Pierre Bourdieu, “The Forms of
Capital,” in Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education,
ed. by J. G. Richardson, pp. 241-258 (electronic)
For a sophisticated but tersely stated
critique of Bourdieu’s framework, you could read: William H. Sewell, Jr., “A
Theory of Structure: Duality, Agency, and Transformation” (SR, pp. 324-328)
February 16 SYMBOLIC PRODUCTION AND SOCIALIZATION:
AN EXAMPLE
Read: John Levi Martin, “What Do
Animals Do All Day?: The Division of Labor, Class Bodies, and Totemic Thinking
in the Popular Imagination” Poetics
27 (2000):195-231 (retrieve online through IRIS)
Read:
Richard Scarry, brief selections from What Do People Do All Day? (electronic
or handout)
Read: Jean de Brunhoff, brief
selections from Le roi Babar (electronic or handout)
February 19 CULTURAL CAPITAL, DISTINCTION AND
SYMBOLIC BOUNDARIES
Read: Pierre Bourdieu, brief selections
from Distinction (handout)
Read: Bonnie Erickson, “Culture, Class,
and Connections,” American Journal of Sociology 102 (1996): 217-251 (electronic,
or retrieve online through JSTOR)
Read: Michèle Lamont, “Symbolic
Boundaries and Status” (SR, pp. 98-107)
Optional reading: Bethany Bryson,
“Symbolic Exclusion and Musical Dislikes” (SR, pp. 108-119)
February 23 CULTURAL REPERTOIRES AND PERSONAL
RELATIONSHIPS
Read: Ann Swidler, Talk of Love: How Culture Matters
(Chicago, 2001), chs. 1, 2, 4, 5
February 26 Read: Ann Swidler, Talk of Love:
How Culture Matters (Chicago, 2001), chapters 6-8 and conclusion
March 1 IN-CLASS TEST!
March 4 WHAT IS CULTURAL ABOUT ‘BIG
BUSINESS’?
Read: Gideon Kunda, “Corporate Culture”
(SR, pp. 88-97)
For a rich but difficult historical overview, you
could read: Frank R. Dobbin, “Cultural Models of Organization: the Social
Construction of Rational Organizing Principles,” in The Sociology of Culture
(Blackwell, 1994), edited by Diana Crane, pp. 117-141.
March 8 WHAT IS CULTURAL ABOUT POLITICS?
Read: Nina Eliasoph, “‘Close to Home’:
The Work of Avoiding Politics” (SR, pp. 130-140)
Read: Mabel Berezin, “Cultural Form and
Political Meaning: State-subsidized Theater, Ideology, and the Language of
Style in Fascist Italy” (SR, pp. 245-256)
For a different survey of ways of connecting
politics and culture, you could read: Mabel Berezin, “Fissured Terrain:
Methodological Approaches and Research Styles in Culture and Politics,” in The
Sociology of Culture (Blackwell, 1994), edited by Diana Crane, pp. 91-116.
March 11 TRADITION IS A RED HERRING
Read: Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, eds., The
Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983), introduction (electronic,
packaged as one with the Trevor-Roper reading)
Read: Hugh Trevor-Roper, “The Invention of Tradition: The Highland Tradition of Scotland,” pp. 15-41 in The Invention of Tradition (electronic, packaged with the Hobsbawm and Ranger reading))
SPRING
BREAK – NO CLASSES MARCH 15 OR MARCH 18
March 22 Read: Dick Hebdige, Subculture:
The Meaning of Style, introduction and chapters 2-4
March 25 Read: Dick Hebdige, Subculture:
The Meaning of Style, pp. 84-89 and chapters 6-9
Part II: The Production of Culture (broadly understood)
Week 10
March 29 FASHION
Read: Georg Simmel, “Fashion,” in Georg
Simmel: On Individuality and Social Forms, ed. Donald N. Levine (Chicago,
1971), pp. 294-323 (electronic)
Read: Diana Crane, Fashion and Its
Social Agendas: Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing, selections (electronic)
April 1 IS HIGH ART ‘HIGH,’ AND IF SO,
HOW AND WHY?
Read: Howard S. Becker, “Art Worlds” (SR,
pp. 178-188)
Read: Magali Sarfatti Larson, “Behind
the Postmodern Façade: Architectural Change in Late Twentieth Century America” (SR,
pp. 199-209)
For a harder version, you might read: David Brain, “Cultural Production as ‘Society in the Making’: Architecture as an Exemplar of the Social Construction of Cultural Artifacts,” in The Sociology of Culture, edited by Diana Crane (Blackwell, 1994), pp. 191-220.
Optional supplemental reading: Paul
Dimaggio, “Cultural Boundaries and Structural Change: The Extension of the High
Culture Model to Theater, Opera, and the Dance, 1900-1940,” in Cultivating
Differences: Symbolic Boundaries and the Making of Inequality, edited by
Michèle Lamont and Marcel Fournier, pp. 21-57
April 5 ELEMENTS OF CRAFTING A MESSAGE
Read: Michael Schudson, “How Culture
Works: Perspectives from Media Studies on the Efficacy of Symbols” (SR, pp.
141-148)
Optional supplemental reading on formal
analysis in the sociology of culture: Karen Cerulo, “Deciphering Violence: The
Cognitive Structure of Right and Wrong” (SR, pp. 257-271)
April 8 MASS CULTURE—OR NOT???
Read: Max Horkheimer and Theodor
Adorno, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” (SR, pp.
39-46)
Read: Paul Dimaggio, “Market Structure,
the Creative Process, and Popular Culture: Toward an Organizational
Reinterpretation of Mass-Culture Theory” (SR, pp. 151-163)
April 12 Read: Richard A. Peterson, “Why
1955? Explaining the Advent of Rock Music” (SR, pp. 164-177)
April 15 Read: Richard A. Peterson, Creating
Country Music, chs. 1, 2, 4, 5 and pp. 89-94
April 19 Read: Richard A. Peterson, Creating
Country Music, chs. 9, 11, 12, 13
April 22 Read: David Grazian, Blue
Chicago (Chicago, 2003), introduction and selections from chapters 2 and 3 (electronic)
April 26 Read: Robert Faulkner, Music
on Demand: Composers and Careers in the Hollywood Film Industry (Rutgers,
2003 [1982]), chapters 1, 3, 4
April 29 Read: Robert Faulkner, Music
on Demand: Composers and Careers in the Hollywood Film Industry (Rutgers,
2003 [1982]), chapters 5, 7
For another aspect of the Hollywood
scene, you could read: William T. Bielby and Denise D. Bielby, “‘All Hits Are
Flukes’: Institutionalized Decision Making and the Rhetoric of Network
Prime-Time Program Development,” American Journal of Sociology 99,5
(March, 1994), pp. 1287-1313.
May 3 Robin Wagner-Pacifici and Barry Schwartz, “The
Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Commemorating a Difficult Past” (SR, pp. 210-220)