Class 3 - Introduction to sociology and basic notions.pdf

CLASS 3 / Part I: introduction to sociology and basic notions Ø SUMMARY: Ø The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø The cultural turn in sociology Ø Institutional and cultural explanations of social phenomena Ø Thinking sociologically about culture CLASS 3: The social and cultural construct...

CLASS 3 / Part I: introduction to sociology and basic notions Ø SUMMARY: Ø The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø The cultural turn in sociology Ø Institutional and cultural explanations of social phenomena Ø Thinking sociologically about culture CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø The cultural turn in sociology: Ø Culture (definitions; reminder): Ø the symbolic and learned aspects of human society transmitted and shared via social interaction Ø (broad): the entire way of living of a people or a group; Ø (narrow): the specific systems of meaning with which we weigh and consider our social world CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø The cultural turn in sociology: Ø culture – history of the concept: Ø 1. cultivating the land, crops and animals (15th century) Ø 2. the cultivation of the mind; the arts; civilization (16th / 17th century) Ø High culture vs. popular / mass culture Ø Descriptive vs. evaluative meanings CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø The cultural turn in sociology: Ø culture – history of the concept: Ø 3. the general, unilinear (secular) process of social development; culture as a universal process (18th century Enlightenment) Ø 4. the meanings, values, ways of life shared by particular groups, nations, classes, periods (19th century, Herder, anthropological definition) Ø focus on what culture is as a ‘thing’ (the arts) or a ‘state of being’ (civilization) CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø The cultural turn in sociology: culture – history of the concept: Ø 5. same as four, but emphasis on symbols (20th century, Levy-Strauss, definition from social anthropology ) Ø Every social practice has a symbolic dimension; culture is this dimension of symbolization and meaning Ø culture: the social practices which produce meaning by using signs and symbols; signifying practices; focus on what culture does CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø The cultural turn in sociology Ø Sociologists are sceptical that cultural factors and meanings are simply individual choices Ø Examples of cultural factors: our notions of beauty standards and fashion are not simply personal issues, but cultural factors: Ø they exist within narrow social, historical and cultural parameters; Ø they are conditioned by cultural frames CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø The cultural turn in sociology Ø Post-modernity and globalization: Ø relations with each other and with nature, increasingly filtered through symbolic mechanisms produced by service industries Ø Much of our knowledge is obtained not so much through direct, personal experiences, as through the media and their pundits Ø Globalization increases interconnections: international movement of people, products, and global mass communications bringing the world into our living room CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø The cultural turn in sociology Ø Post-modernity and globalization: Ø This intense postmodern mediation leads to less clear cut distinctions between fiction and fact: Ø Example: tv shows like Desperate Housewives, Friends, The OC – fictional but clearly taken as genuine reflections of American superficiality, individualism and materialism Ø Recent proliferation of reality television further confuses fact and fiction. Ø Fusion of fact and fiction is nowhere more prominent than on the Internet (i.e. fake news) CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Institutional explanations of culture/ cultural factors: Ø Focus on how external organized spheres of social life and power (i.e. government, the law, big business) influence social behaviour / exert direct control over individual behaviour Ø In this model, normative conformity is exerted from the outside Ø Institutional explanations focus on the sources of social power Ø examples: beauty industry; the master-slave structure of property CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Cultural explanations of social phenomena: Ø focus on how internal systems of meaning influence and dictate social behaviour; on how individuals attach subjective meanings to events Ø emphasis falls not on the power and material resources of institutions (institutional approaches), but on the symbols that shape and limit our individual actions, thoughts, and feelings. CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Cultural explanations of social phenomena: Ø Culture tells us what to do and how to do it. Ø For the most part, culture exerts an “invisible” and “implicit” power over us: Ø more often than not we cannot see or notice how culture happens – hence, we often live under the impression that specific ideas, feelings, tastes are simply “personal” Ø We are born into vast, overlapping cultural systems and abide by them without knowing they are there CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Cultural explanations of social phenomena: Ø A central function of culture is to distinguish between “insiders” and “outsiders”: Ø Humans are social by nature and distinguish their groups from others by using cultural elements Ø Learning how to interact with outsiders / with people outside of our social group is a crucial feature of socialization in the contemporary world. CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Cultural explanations of social phenomena: Ø critiques of institutional approaches: Ø meaning is not simply a reflection of external, material conditions and resources Ø rather; external factors interact with internal structures of meaning CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Thinking sociologically about culture: human social life is to a large degree symbolic Ø Symbols: Ø Clifford Geertz: “any object, act, event, quality or relation which serves as a vehicle for a conception – the conception is the symbol’s ‘meaning’ “ (Religion as a Cultural System). Ø Symbol is something that stands for something else Ø Examples: language itself is a symbolic system; flags, a dollar sign, a cross, a half-moon etc. Ø Symbolic system: pattern of symbols CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Thinking sociologically about culture: Ø Symbols: Ø Symbolic codes are closely linked to the understanding of our identities Ø Symbols are for the most part arbitrary: the meaning of things rarely comes from the properties inherent in the things themselves Ø Symbols are ‘social’ – dependent on the society in which they emerge and on the relationship to other symbols Ø In other words, the meaning of symbols is relative and relational, not objective (in the sense of a natural object). CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Thinking sociologically about culture: Ø Symbols and Classifications: Ø Every social activity is subject to classification: everyday life is made up of a whole range of classificatory schemes used to deal with routine and unfamiliar situations Ø Classifications are groupings of events and objects that are familiar, similar, or different. Ø Classifying unfamiliar objects or events with familiar objects or events, we are able to give meaning to the unfamiliar ones. Ø Examples: classifications as to what is good food, appropriate dress, appropriate sexual behaviour etc. CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Thinking sociologically about culture: Ø Sociologists classify symbols into three basic categories: sacred, profane and routine symbols. Ø Symbols of the sacred: Ø Emotionally charged symbols of the good that are set off from the everyday world: God in Christianity, Allah in Islam, symbols and ideas of freedom in democracy etc. CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Thinking sociologically about culture: Ø Symbols of the profane: Ø Emotionally charged symbols of bad and evil. Ø Examples: Satan in Christianity, fascist, national- socialist, or communist symbols in liberal democracy etc. Ø Societies need a strict separation between sacred and profane symbols: Ø Overlap between the sacred and the profane indicates the gestation of a severe social crisis. CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Thinking sociologically about culture: Ø Routine symbols: Ø Symbols / objects that are not emotionally charged and refer to everyday practices and routines Ø Their meaning can change if the classificatory scheme attributed to routine symbols changes too; examples: Ø Beard wearing for Wahhabi Muslims is an unconscious, harmless act of everyday life; same beard worn in Western Europe – potential terrorist? Ø Beard wearing for Orthodox monks sign of holiness and devotion to God, spirituality and a secluded life. For a secular progressive person, sign of backwardness? CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Thinking sociologically about culture: Ø Norms and social codes: Ø Culture shares not only symbolic systems of meaning, but also norms and social codes; Ø Unlike symbolic codes, which are by definition abstract, norms and social codes are tied to concrete situations Ø The function of norms and social codes is to regulate and control behaviour in precise ways CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Thinking sociologically about culture: Ø Norms and social codes: Ø Are sometimes followed only in order to avoid formal or informal sanctions Ø Following norms allows us to go about our day without having to rethink our every move Ø Values: Ø More generalized than norms; provide the frameworks for ideals and anti-ideals within which norms make sense Ø They inform norms and social codes CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Thinking sociologically about culture: Ø Laws: Ø Written norms that prescribe or proscribe specific sets of behaviours under threat of punishment Ø Behaviour: Ø everything we do; our behaviours may be consistent or inconsistent with our attitudes Ø Attitude: Ø the statements people make about their values and beliefs CLASS 3: The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Thinking sociologically about culture: Ø Classical works on cultural change in the U.S. Ø Robin Williams (1951): American Society Ø Robert Bellah (1985): Habits of the Heart CLASS 3 – The social and cultural construction of meaning Ø Bibliography: Ø “Chapter 1” + “Chapter 3” Ø A Contemporary Introduction to Sociology. Culture and Society in Transition.; 3rd Edition; Routledge (2018), by Jeffrey C. Alexander, Kenneth Thompson, Laura Desfor Edles, Moshoula Capous-Desyllas (eds.) Ø “Chapter 5” Ø Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies; Wiley- Blackwell (1996),by Stuart Hall, David Held, Don Hubert, Kenneth Thompson (eds.);