Alles Flashcards
(116 cards)
1
Q
The history of cultural sociology
A
1930s-1960s culture as part of structural functionalism
1965-1980s culture not adressed
1980s-current cultural turn
2
Q
Traingle of structural functionalism (system level)
A
Cultural system: shared morals and values
social system: roles and expectations
personality system: needs and motivations
3
Q
pasonian sociology sees culture as ____
A
shared values
4
Q
Structural functionalism, what is the ‘real essence’ of society?
A
Stability -> social patterns contribute to stability, society is maintained.
Harmony -> The parts of society work together for the good of the whole.
Evolution -> Social structue and culture adopt to new needs and demands. if something is dysfunctional for the society it will be eliminated.
5
Q
The functional approach thinks of society as a ___
A
organism.
6
Q
Talcott parsons studies the cultural system via _____
A
meanings. Meanings, not people, are part of the process that brings us into the cultural systems, These meanings (language, morals, values) and the socialization process that accompany them help to maintain social control. Sociol control is the glue that holds society together.
7
Q
Critique parsonian sociology
A
- culture as to consensual, no conflict or opposition. to holistic.
- culture as too ‘derterminitstic’ people are cultural dopes.
- culture as to abstarct, general, idealistic. a free floating realm of values.
8
Q
The cultural turn
A
new conceptions of culture which avoid problems of culture as ‘values’.
It focuses on:
- concrete culture (text, language, symbols etc)
- context (grounding)
- culture as contradictory and complicated
9
Q
Three new approaches in cultural sociology
A
culture as cognitive structure
culture in action
production of culture
10
Q
How do sociologist see culture now?
A
they treat as culture all socially located forms and practices of human meaning making.
11
Q
production of culture
A
focus on how the content of culture is influenced by the milieux in which it is created, distributed, evaluated. How culture is made, culture as the dependent value.
12
Q
Culture as cognitive structure is partly influenced by ___
A
Durkheim
13
Q
Durkheim the elementary forms of religious life: sacred/profane
A
All religious divide social life in to two spheres: sacred/profane. There is nothing intrinsic about a particular object which makes it sacred, an object becomes sacred only when a community invests it with meaning.
14
Q
Religion according to Durkheim is _____
A
A unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, things set apart from the forbidden
15
Q
Totemisim
A
The most foundational form of religion. A community makes a non-human object it’s symbol and the community thinks of that object as sacred. they worship the totem, thereby revering themselves as a community. They are in fact worshipping the community.
16
Q
Collective efferveressence
A
With the totem at the center of the rituals, the share an intense emotions at collective gatherings.
17
Q
Durkheim: function of religion
A
Provide a sense of special belonging, bonding.
Make the religious community think of itself as sacred.
18
Q
Why the need for sacred totems?
A
collective representation and a symbol to prolong feelings of group membership.
19
Q
Agency in culture
A
agency is the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. Soooo how people actively and reflexively use culture
20
Q
Related founding father of culture in action ___
A
a CRITIQUE on Weber
21
Q
How did the protestant ethic lead to capitalism? (according to weber)
A
First people who live a religious life often turned away from money and business but calvinism changed that. Calvinism encouraged an other attitude to work. Calvinists believed that there was a fixed number of souls that could enter heaven, and they were terrified of not getting in, they wanted a sign that they had been saved. A sure sign that someone was on ‘the guest list’ was that they were actively contributing to the community, THROUGH THEIR WORK!!!! They needed to reassure themselves through the industry and invested every surplus back into their business. This al resulted in the rise and growth of capitalism!!!! the end!!!
22
Q
Weber’s model of cultural structure on action
A
culture defines ‘ends’ towards which action is orientated and constraint the ‘means’ to achieve them.
23
Q
Problems with the weberian model
A
unexamined lifes: people often continue lines of action out of habit, not out of reflextion.
definition of culture: culture is not just means to an end, it is embedded in action itself.
cultural complexity: to which culture do we belong?
cultural distance: some ideas we hold ‘deeply’ and others more on the surface
24
Q
Marx, media as means of production
A
the mass media are a ‘means of production’ which in capitalist society is in the hands of the ruling class. The class which has the means of material production at it’s disposal has control over the means of mental production.
25
cognitive sociology x structuralism = culture as cognitive structure
cognitive:
meaning is not subjective, individaulistic or particular.
meaning resides in 'objective' cultural structues.
structuralism:
meaning can be studied 'objectively', it is concrete visible, recordable in texts, symbols, stories, objects, events
Meaning is relatively autonomous: has a structure and logic of its own; aim is to decode the logic
26
Cognitive sociology has _____ origens
Durkheim. 'our fundamental forms of thought have socia origins.
you are shaped by society while simultaneously shaping society.
27
(Critiques structuralism)
Ahistorical, Difference
28
Zerubavel uses cognitive sociology to explain ____
Why our thinking is similar to -as well as different from- the way other people think. Uses social aspects of cognitive functions such as mental focusing and classification
29
Cognitive pluralism
If you are a member of multiple thought communities
30
What causes cognitive pluralism?
Specialization and secularization
31
Why is contemporary culture and cognition different then durkheims?
The contemporary focus is on thinking individually, but what we do cognitively have in common
32
Zerubavel; Mental focusing
mentaly disengages 'the figure' from it's surrounding 'ground' (which we essentially ignore).
33
Zerubavel; We are not just acting as individuals but as
members of particular thought communities
34
Zerubavel; how we carve up reality in 3 mindsets
Rigid mindedness: either/or
flexible mindedness: both/and
fuzzy mindedness: no real boundaries
35
structuralism
deep structure of culture, logical relations among a few elements. reduce surface complexity with deep simplicity.
36
Saussure
relation between signifier and signified is arbitrary. Words have meaning because of difference from other words. Also language and parole
37
The structural analysis of myth
1 What are the basic elements: mythemes
= gross constituent units
2 How are they combined and related = structure of myth
3 Synchronic and diachronic reading of the myth
38
Binder, frames
‘schemata of interpretation that enable individuals to locate, perceive, identify and label events they have experienced directly or indirectly’
Frames ‘resonate’ with broader cultural beliefs in society at large
Invoking ‘referent images’ to make story convincible
39
Frames used on heavy metal vs rap
metal: corruption and protection frame, referent image is our own children, white middle age.
Rap: danger to society frame, referent image is young urban balck male
40
Main criticism on culture as cognitive structure
where are agency/reflexivity and conflict?
41
Culture in action
how interactionsand social practicesare themselves meaning-making processes.
the context-dependentways in which individuals and groups endow actions with meanings
relaxes the assumption that meanings and values are entirely shared, coherent, or consistentfor a given group or even an individual
analyzing how individuals and groups draw fluidly on different elementsin symbolic repertoires (“toolkits”) according to context
42
Diffences between culture in action and culture as a cognitive structure, elaborate
Culture as cognitive structure:
- Coherence: strong emphasis on logic of culture
- Autonomy: internal structure of culture
- Rather deterministic: cultural structures impel us to think in particular ways
Culture in action:
- Fragmentation: culture as a toolkit
- Grounding: cultural meaning as grounded in practical demands of everyday life
- Agency: active, reflexive uses of culture in contexts
43
sociological problem of culture and actions?
What do we actually mean when we say that group A does B because of their culture?
How does culture matter?
How is culture related to our actions of everyday life?
44
Differences between culture in action and culture as a cognitive structure, short
Fragmentation VS coherence
Grounded in particular context VS autonomy
Agency VS structure
45
Culture as a repetoire or toolkit
culture as equipment to act with - capacities, practical skills, habits, lines of action to solve practical problems
46
Swidler, the large question
how much culture people use, how much they intigrate it with their experience, how coherent or unified the culture is they employ
47
romantic love discourse VS prosaic-realism discourse
love at first sight vs not sudden or certain
one true love vs no one true love or unique other
love conquers all vs social compatibility
happily ever after vs does not last forever
48
Why did the romantic view of love remain?
marriage. marriage is structured reality which 'anchors' the romantic myth from outside in.
49
DeNora, what is her article about
reflexive use of 'culture' as equipment for living
50
DeNora culture in action
music as a part and constitutive of everyday life,
| music as 'affording' different actions, motivations, thoughts etc.
51
The making of the self through music
Cognition (how do I want to think)
Emotion (how do I want to feel)
Action (how do I want to act).
Identity (who do I want to be)
52
Affordances of popular music memories
a sense of self and identity,
a sense of place and local identity
a sense of cultural change and nostalgia
53
Structure or social order =
A set of forces abd facts that limit and constrain people's actions and agency
54
Agency or human action
What individuals, groups, or organizations say or do
| also free will
55
Production of culture
examination of the ways particular meanings, values, and artifacts are generated in particular organizations, institutions, and networks, and how those social contexts influence emergent meanings
this approach challenged over-generalizations about cultural “reflection” of societies as wholes
attention to particular institutional circumstances and constraints affecting meaning-making processes is also crucial for the study of more diffuse cultural phenomena such as national identity, social movements, collective memory, or religion
56
Six facets (6)
Technology, law and regulation, occupational careers, organizational structure, industry structure, market
57
A key figure in the production of culture
Richard A. Peterson
58
Technology facet example
The role of casette tapes as subcultural artifacts in the underground hiphop scene (Harrison)
59
Law and regulation facet example
The role of fans - instead of large corporations - in pulling japenese products to the US (leonard)
60
Industry structure facet example
Long periods of industrial concentration and short periods of competition in the singles chart (Peterson, Berger)
61
Organizational facet example
Conflict between organizational form (‘impersonal entrepreneurial firm aiming at the mass market’) and cultural product (‘interpersonal emotions’) (West)
62
Occupational careers facet example
To what extent does ‘generalism’/‘specialism’
| affect careers of jazz musicians? (Pinheiro, Dowd)
63
Market facet example
To what extent is perceived success alone
| sufficient to generate continued success? (Salganik, Watts)
64
Kosut, artification of the tattoo
How tattoo has become legitimated as art, focus on institutional factors
65
Baumann, film as art external and internal changes
External to the film world: changing of the opportunity space
Internal to the film world: institutionalization of resources and practices + legitimating ideology
66
Why are trained artists increasingly moving into the tattoo business?
As visual artists changes of success are slim,
Economic stability and success
Empowerment by rejecting art world (autonomy)
67
Rossman, a mismatch between
collaborative nature of artistic production and individualistic nature of most awards
68
Possible explainatons in Rossman
Social status:
One’s past transactions with peers shape the perception of one’s place in the pecking order?
Team spillovers:
Efforts of top workers spill over to their team members?
69
Criticism Rossman
Neglects cultural meanings?
- ‘weak’ program of sociology of culture
- Not culture as independent variable, only effects of social organizations on cultural products
- Culture strictly defined as ‘field of arts'
70
Gender, culture and the three approaches
The production of culture
Bielby and Bielby (Screenwriters)
Gendered use of culture in everyday life (in action)
Cairns and Finley (Foody + Roller derby)
Gender as cognitive structure
Berkers and Eeckelaer (Rock and Roll and Fall)
71
Sex VS gender, which is which
Sex is related to the biological distinctions between males and females primarily found in relation to the reproductive functions of their bodies.
Gender is a social definition of how to be or the ways of “being” –that is, how men and women should act, dress, move, and comport themselves in the context of everyday social interaction –considered appropriate for one's sex category.
72
Gender socialization
The lessons children learn, and the processes through which roles, cultural expectations and norms, associated with each sex category (“masculine” or “feminine”), are passed from one generation to the next.
73
Actors involved in gender socialization
Institution of the family, outside in
Schools, hidden curriculum
Mass media
74
A sociological explanation of lack of woman in music
In the mid 1950s, women accounted for 1/3 of the artists on the singles chart, listened to music three times as much as boys, and bought more and more frequently records
BUT: In the 1950s, boys did not have many option to acquire peer status besides sports; emergence of rock and roll band.
Why didnt involve females:
Parents did not want their daughters involved,
Early bands are formed on the basis of friendship, not skill, meaning the composition reflects sex-segregated early adolescent social life.
75
Bielby and Bielby
Study gender inequality among writers for feature films. Production of culture approach.
76
Empty field by Bielby and Bielby
In the silent era, woman writers made up most of the filmmaking business, with the invention of sound the profession got lucrative so invasion of men.
77
Cumalative disadvantage
Net returns for experience, prior (‘lagged’) employment earnings and earningsare expected to be lower for women than men
78
Continous disadvantage
Pervasive bias against women equallythroughout career; does not depend on stage in their career
79
Doing Gender
West and Zimmerman argue that people “do” gender, that it is a practice (or even a performance) that is enacted in social relations
80
Gender norms, woman and food:
Role within the private sphere;
Care work;
Cooking for others;
Food is about restriction;
81
Gender norms, men and food
Role within the public sphere,
Helping out the fam
cooking for themselves (prestige, creative)
Food is about indulgence
82
Hegemonic masculinity
refers to the way that masculinity is presented as an ideal for both men and woman. Both woman and men are encouraged to 'do' masculinity
Hegemonic - though guy
complicit - admiring tough guy
subordinated - 'gay' men
83
In order to earn esteem, man need to strive for ideal masculinity, woman have two choices:
1 They can try to acquire the esteem that comes with attracting a masculine man.
2 can strive for ideal masculinity themselves
84
Different types of femininities
Emphasized femininity:
Complementary to hegemonic masculinity.
Pariah femininity:
Refuse to complement hegemonic masculinity, challenging the gender hierarchy. These ways of doing gender are stigmatized (Bitch, Slut)
Alternative femininity:
Destigmatizing pariah femininity
85
Gender maneuvering:
collective effort to negotiate actively the meaning and rules of gender to redefine the hegemonic relationship between masculinity and femininity in the normative structures of a specific context.
86
Roller girl as alternative femininity
Roller girl does sort of “masculinity”
ex: being tough, physical, aggressive.
But: intentionally feminized
ex: cleavage, short skirts, make-up, pink shoelaces
87
The marked and the unmarked
marked: the side of a contrast explicitly given positive or negative value
unmarked: the side of a contrast which is ignored as being neutral or unproblematic
88
Race: production of culture text
Berkers, Janssesn, Verboord:
1) to what extent have U.S., Dutch and German literary critics drawn ethnic boundaries in their reviews of ethnic minority authors between 1983 and 2009
2) to what extent have such ethnic classifications by critics changed in each country in the course of ethnic minority writers’ careers and across time?
89
Race: the production of culture & cognition
Mears:
Size zero and high end ethic. How do fashion bookers define beauty (size and ethnicity) and why is their definition so narrow?
90
Race: culture in action and cognition
Hancock: How is it that african american culture continues to be symbolically central in american society, while african americans remain economically and politically marginalized?
91
Race VS ethnicity
Race (e.g. ‘Caucasian’)
About physical traits that are shared by a category of people as skin color, facial feature etc.
Ethnicity (e.g., ‘Turkish’)
About cultural traits that are shared by a category of people as language, religion, or national origin (but also food, music).
92
Boundary change occurs when
Ethnic classifications no longer fit
| ethnic classifications are easily accessible
93
2 types of boundary change
boundary crossing: individual career - success
| boundary shifting: group - over time
94
conclusion Berkers/Janssen/Verboord
US: weak ethnic boundaries, and individual level assimilation
NL: strong ethnic boundaries and group level assimilation
Germany: strong ethnic boundaries and individual level ethnicization
95
Fields of cultural production (Bourdieu VS Mears)
Large scale production:
focus on profit (economic capital)
consumers
heteronomous pole
Restricted production
Focus on prestige (symbolic capital)
Other producers
Autonomous pole
96
Colour-blind ideology
A color-blind ideology emphasizes “essential sameness between racial and ethnic groups despite unequal social locations and distinctive histories (Bonilla-Silva).
Color-blind ideology unconsciously constructs whiteness as the default, normal or “unmarked” category, hiding existing structural inequality
97
Central frames in colour-blind ideology
Abstract liberalism (‘opportunity has no color’)
Biologization of culture (‘Blacks have more rhythm’)
Naturalizing racial matters (‘the way things are’)
Avoiding race-related remarks (‘…’)
98
Four dominant discourses in the hancock text
Marking white identity:
Celebrating african american talents & mocking or denigrating whiteness. this is both biologization of culture
Blaming the victim:
Example of abstract liberalism, wrongly
assuming that: all racial groups have equal opportunities and that race is an individual choice
Talking around race:
avoiding race-related remarks
Having fun:
talking about race would spoil the fun
99
biologization of culture:
No recognition in racial politics of cross-cultural
consumption, rather: essentialize and reinscribe racial
stereotypes
100
Symbolic violence in the lindy hop
Dominant discourses serve as mechanisms of racial domination by decontextualizing and ahistoricizing the lindy hop from its origins
101
National cultural repetoirs
- Culture in action: classification system as cultural tools
- culture as a cognitive structure: Historical and institutional differences between countries make some cultural tools more salient than others
102
Differences in boundaries US and FR in general
United States:
weak cultural boundaries, strong economic and moral boundaries
+ strong racial boundaries
France:
strong moral and cultural boundaries, weaker economic boundaries
+ weak racial boundaries
103
Differences in boundaries US and FR moral
similar across classes.
US: phony, social climber
FR: Intelectual dishonest
104
Differences in boundaries US and FR socioeconomic
similar across classes
US: success and money
FR: power and social background
105
Differences in boundaries US and FR cultural
quite similar across classes
US: 'cultured' as cosmopolitan, expertise, self actualization
FR: refined VS vulgar
106
Differences in boundaries US and FR racial
```
Lower class only
US: success and money
```
FR: anti-racism in line with Republicanism
107
Horizontal VS vertical clasification
Horizontal: commercial, fitting a book within a book-selling categorie
vertical: differences in prestige between 'sacred' literature and 'profane' commercial books
108
Explanation of the differences between the US en FR (bookpublushing) from the field-level
Structure of book publishing:
US: distribution through retail chains makes marketing crucial
France: concentration of tightly knit publishing world can create stronger boundaries
Historical origin and development literary field
F: relation with social elite, state regulation. literary world (bohemians) were new aristocrats, and rebelled against commercial bourgeoisie.
US: decentralized production; broad, heterogeneous public; no state intervention
109
Defining adolescent sexuality US VS NL
US: dramatization: Biologically driven (‘hormones’) with disruptive powers. Adolescent are not capable of restraint and long term relationships.
NL: Adolescent sexuality does not and should be a problem (if properly ‘regulated’). Adolescents are capable of restraint, serious relationships (‘verliefd’), determining whether they are ‘er aan toe’
110
Explaining the differences in attitudes towards sexuality
```
Different cultural logics: ‘structures of interdependent meaning which constrain and enable people’s thinking and action in systematic ways.’
Three dimensions:
-Conflict/compatibility of people
-Degree of self-restraint
-Types of power
```
Structural and historical features of nations:
Similar findings with regard to organization of public schools, public space and immigration policies.
111
National habitus
- Learned practices and standards that have become so much part of ourselves that they feel self-evident and natural.
- Second nature; ‘the way we do things’
- Embodied history which is the ground-tone of our individual history
- Not a conscious lifestyle but unreflexive habit
112
Kuipers article subject
Why are things different and why do people behave differently on the other side of the national border? How can this be explained sociologically?
113
Factors in the rise of national habitus
1.Increasing interdependence
Part of larger social units > more aware of others > identification > adaptation
2.Intensification of interdependencies and proliferation of national institutions (education important here)
3.Vertical diffusion of standards and practices (trickle-down)
4.Growing national identifications (we-feelings)
114
The decline of national habitus
- Diminishing national dependencies as a result of globalization
- Vertical diffusion (‘trickle down’) slows down:
- Growing distance and avoidance between higher (cosmopolitans) and lower social strata (locals); increasing diversity
115
Similarities repertoire and habitus
Focus on cognition and thought communities
Emphasis on habits and practices
Social structures and historical trajectories
116
Differences repertoire and habitus
Different theoretical origin: Swidler vs. Elias/Bourdieu
National habitus leaves less room for agency (‘embodied’)
Second nature; automatic
Repertoires suggest some –limited options –to solve practical problems
