Sociology of culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sociology of culture, or cultural sociology, is one of the most popular fields of sociology, particularly in the United States. Cultural sociology is a methodology that incorporates cultural analysis into interpretations of social life. Cultural sociologists are influenced by many social and cultural theories. More than other fields of sociology, cultural sociologists tend to explore interdisciplinary social and cultural theories including, but not limited to, postmodern and poststructural theory. Scientific investigation and the production of empirically verifiable analysis (especially in terms of testable theories) is considered taboo among many, but not all self proclaimed cultural sociologists.
While some fields of sociology are defined by their object of inquiry or dependent variable (for example, sociologists of law study of the variation in law), cultural sociology is a cluster of paradigms. The American Sociological Association section for the sociology of culture states that the sociology of culture is a "perspective" that "considers material products, ideas, and symbolic means and their relation to social behavior." As a perspective on social life, those that practice cultural sociology study all aspects of social life, including diverse topics such as racism, fascism, love, and trade associations, education, gender, science, and family life.
Sociologists of culture expend much energy refining and debating their conceptulizations of culture and at the present time it appears that this debate will continue despite the desire of some sociologists to codify the limits of this sub-discipline. An example of a contemporary contribution to cultural sociology is Paul Lichterman's book Elusive Togetherness.
Key figures in today's cultural sociology include Julia Adams, Jeffrey Alexander, Mabel Berezin, Ron Eyerman, Andreas Glaeser, Wendy Griswold, Michele Lamont, Stjepan Mestrovic, Margaret Somers, Yasemin Soysal, Lynette Spillman, Ann Swidler, and Diane Vaughn, Annette Lareau, Diana Crane, Karin Knorr Cetina.
Classification of culture
