Cultural Sociology Notes Lara PDF

🌐 Cultural Sociology C.Delahaye Framework Conversational Sociology Bourdieu’s Capital Theory Post-Structuralists Identity and Representation Resistance & Social change 🫠 questions + concep...

🌐 Cultural Sociology C.Delahaye Framework Conversational Sociology Bourdieu’s Capital Theory Post-Structuralists Identity and Representation Resistance & Social change 🫠 questions + concept notebook Framework 💡 SOCIOLOGY: the study of how humans interact, and how these interactions result in the organisations and structures and how they impact human behaviour Sociology is an empirical discipline, which observes social realities. Thus, it is based in observations, gathered with a range of methodologies. Cultural sociology is a subsection of sociology largely developed in the 1980s (Big boss Bourdieu). Whereas cultural artifacts were previously marginal in the sociological field, they are put centre stage in cultural sociology, as culture is seen as a process of meaning making. Cultural Sociology 1  Based around repertoires of meaning shared by a social view through the help of which they make sense of everyday social interactions articulations of meanings in symbolic artefacts produced within a particular domain and how they are disseminated in regards to dynamics of society Each individual sociological current is composed and built around the pillars of Ontology and Epistemology. ONTOLOGY: answering the question of the nature of society, the key aspect which the perspective is built around. EPISTEMOLOGY: how to study and observe this ontology. Different methodologies used to empirically observe it. history of sociology Sociology is born in the 19th Century in Europe, at a time of great economic and social reform. Political systems were shifting (France had recently undergone an influential revolution), and the Industrial revolution was transforming everyday life, labour conditions and social structures. All the while, colonialism and colonial exploitation is booming, with the British Empire as the ‘empire on which the Sun never sets’. Consequently, early sociological thought emerges from this time of change, comparing modern (read industrial largely) and pre-modern societies. The racist and elitist implications of this go unsaid. Conversational Sociology Sociology was often rooted in imperial thought and Eurocentrism, so recent scholars have tried to decentralise sociology and have a more global approach. Through the creation of the Southern standpoint, more voices are heard who all Cultural Sociology 2  echo the idea of standpoint theory. Some seminal texts here included Saïd’s ‘Orientalism’, and other decolonial theorists such as Mignolo and Quijano. STANDPOINT THEORY: countering positivism, standpoint theory argues that all knowledge is rooted in the bias, experience and locality of the author which creates it. The strive for a ‘universal sociology’ should therefore be reliquinshed in favour of a mosaic-like approach. POSITIVISM: a sociological current which strives for objectiveness and centred around the separation of the object and the subject, the absence of emotions, the removal of ethics and values and the robustness of the claim in the face of critique as its ultimate test of validity. The European Canon DURKHEIM ontology: sees society as a cluster of social facts as features of collective actions (these entities drive our individual actions, as must comply to the societal framework of language and rules and such) epistemology: looks at these social acts through observable and verifiable facts, focusing on causal relations between facts. Durkheim’s approach is modelled on the logic based deduction system of the natural sciences, explaining the fascination with numbers and complete disregard for agency and individual reasoning or intent. His seminal text is ‘The Elementary Forms of Religious Life’ (1912), where he draws the links between Calvinism and the capitalist model, showing that the lack of confession and divine pardon (As opposed to Catholicism), leads to a focus on work and work ethics. In line with the general positivist rhetoric, he focuses on statistics mainly, namely in the case of observing suicide rates in capitalist societies. He does use this to make some ill-researched and baseless claims about the backwards-ness of Oriental civilisations, namely India and China. Cultural Sociology 3  WEBER ontology: sees individuals as active meaning makers, and society as the sum of all these actions epistemology: aims to uncover the motives behind individual’s actions. This epistemology he calls VERSTEHEN, or interpretive understanding. disenchantment: (and the iron cage): with the advance of modernity (modernisation and industrialisation), the capitalist focus on efficiency becomes the societal focus, leading individuals to lose a sense of purpose and be faced with “an iron cage of meaning- less bureaucracy and rationalism” Weber, similarly to his contemporary Durkheim, also focused on religion and wrote ‘Protestant ethic and the spirit of Capitalism’ (1905), focused on calvinism and predestination. Both of these classic sociologists share the ideal that the knowledge produced must be unbiased and universally applicable. MARX ontology: society is divided into the ‘base’ and ‘superstructure’, and this system allows the bourgeoisie to dictate and form dominant ideologies which re- invalidate them and keep them in power epistemology: Marx is an interesting theorist to include as though he is part of the Western canon, his influence and sociopolitical writings affected largely the Global South. Though we reject universality, there is, as exemplified through Marx, some transferability in sociological theory The New Wave/ Southern Standpoint Cultural Sociology 4  HILL COLLINS ontology: standpoint theory, here applied to black women seen as agents of knowledge epistemology: shaping theories of knowledge, underlining the importance of conversational sociology Patricia Hill Collins coined black feminist theory, which anchors the idea that black women in academic fields have this double consciousness of both refuting and needing to adhere to the canon and context in which they write. Their knowledge is often subjugated (overlooked and therefore produced through alternative channels), and therefore Hill Collins reinforces the need to present black female scholars as agents of knowledge. She argues for a conversational sociology as different minorities will have lived through different kinds of oppression and erasure - which cannot and should not be compared, but instead seen as mosaics within the larger picture of the world (essentially standpoint theory). MEGHJI ontology: aims to provincialise Eurocentric standpoints, and underline the Orientialist elements of the European episteme. epistemology: Orientalism as a Western view of the Orient as singular, static and stagnant. A general view of otherness towards the east, which is in turn grouped together as one without regarding the difference between continents and nations bifurcation as a view of ‘the west and the rest’, the West having its own set of rules and existing independently from the ‘rest’, without regarding the colonial and trade links which are key in understanding both western and Oriental histories → link to modernity/coloniality concept, which encapsulates the idea that you cannot separate modernity and economic or industrial development with colonial past, both for the coloniser and the colonised. Cultural Sociology 5  Meghji argues that Orientalism is often a lack of research on the part of academics (as is the case with Durkheim’s research on Hinduism, where he argued that India was economically stagnant as it did not have the Calvinist religion as a catalyst for capitalistic values, disregarding the role of India in trade routes and the ancient weaving and textile factories which came much earlier than in the West). DUBOIS double consciousness: the idea that Black Americans have to have this parallel reality, anchored in internalised racism which causes Black American identity to be both situated from a personal perspective and from the ‘dominant’ racist perspective. He used his theories largely to support his research around black offenders, debunking racist pseudo-scientific ideas of race as a cause of criminality and instead highlighting the role of class, income and societal factors. Q1 week 2 Bourdieu’s Capital Theory BOURDIEU: french lad who wrote in the 1960s. ontology: inequality within society stems from economic, social and cultural capitals and cycles of stability and reaffirmation of these by the people in power. epistemology: conducted interviews and empirical research in french society to understand cultural taste (see later class conditioned taste). Forms of capital: cultural (cultural competence including education and demeanour) economic (money and assets) Cultural Sociology 6  social (connections and networks) capital. → social stratification as a three dimensional hierarchy based on the three types of capital. Capital types are interchangeable → seen as they are interchangeble, there are also entangled and even more class divided. Case in point: the economic-educational-cultural link, which perpetuates a circular and insular system of cultural transmission. Class conditioned taste is the idea that because of this class stratification, views of aesthetics and taste develop in an insular way, reaffirming the divisions. The key idea here is that the upperclass presents their taste as the only ‘legitimate’ one (with a focus on form over function, in a culture game). This idea of taste and how we act is what Bourdieu calls HABITUS (= set of acquired dispositions that function as perception, appreciation and action schemes). Thus these daily micro actions and decisions of taste would influence macrostructures and perpetuate inequality, in a form of structural and symbolic violence. Fields theory: Bourdieu divides the art world around two poles: → the heteronomous, which is focused on commercialisation and interpenetrated (open) to other fields → as opposed to the autonomous field, which is closed within the art world and only shares for ‘art people’. The idea of a pure gaze on art or ‘art for arts’ sake’, with a deep rooted disdain for the commercial (heteronomous pole). Within these fields, there are further class divisions (where his theory overlaps with his social stratification theory), and so you get bourgeois heteronomous art or industrial art. Though still used and respected, his view often disregards the role of globalisation within the dissemination of art, and how heteronomy to global forces can grant autonomy with the national field of power. Cultural Sociology 7  Seeing Bourdieu's field theory in the context in which he writes in also illuminating: he writes under rising neo-liberalism, which focuses on the myth of trickle down economy, in a similar form of symbolic violence. [CS NAKAJIMA & BOURDESIAN ANALYSIS OF CHINESE CINEMA] Q2 week 3 Post-Structuralists POSTSTRUCTURALISM is a sociological perspective which emerges and follows structuralism chronologically. Post-structuralists focus on plurality of approaches (paving the way for standpoint theory). The key notion is that of semiotic systems or organisations of individual thought. Key ideas: the self as conflicting tensions (not a singular thing) Meaning as created by the reader not the world, discursiveness The decentralisation of the subject and the author, accepting multifaceted interpretations The current makes use of linguistic and textual models of culture (cultural sociology!), and rejects Marxism in its superstructure and base division, whilst also not being solely focused on the individual. This differs greatly from structuralism. Firstly because post-structuralism is a later term used to group together a great number of theorists, not a label they adhered to. Also becomes structuralists’ main belief is that everything can be broken down into universal blocks, which can be applied anywhere, therefore their goal is to uncover the structures beneath actions (not really look at identity and meaning). Cultural Sociology 8  structuralism is based on three key principles: the binary oppositions the signifier/signified division the structure v system dichotomy → orthodox structuralists include LEVI-STRAUSS (not the jeans), who has a positivist / detached observer perspective. Note that positivism and structuralism are interwoven as ideas. FOUCAULT Foucault (1926-1984) is one of the main post-structuralist theorists. His work focuses on discourse and power. Some other themes are deviance (whether that be in sexual orientation or psychological character). His methodology and epistemology he called ‘archeology’, in the idea that he was digging away at the skeleton of societies and ‘genealogy’, here how did our present vision of the world come into being? From his genealogy he draws the concept of history of the present → how our present world and thought systems came about, as a critical reconstruction of now (not a history lesson!) Adjoined to this is the ontology of the present → who are we, here and now? Not what is humanity! Discourse 💡 DISCOURSE is the Foucauldian categorisation of all uterances and statements, sometimes used to create groups, existing because of the power structures which keep them in place → Foucault is a sceptic of absolute truth, as it counters his idea of discourse as everywhere. Not that he rejects non-discursive realms, but rather he argues Cultural Sociology 9  that there is always a layer of interpretation (dictated by discourse) which plays into our analysis → He was a big Nietzche fan 🙂 Thus, discourse can be used as a means of oppression (to perpetuate the ideas of the upper class) and of resistance (when it is used against these status quo of power). → Note that science has a massive role in shaping today’s discourse, namely Foucault focused on criminology and medicine COUNTER-DISCOURSE is taken to mean discourse which disrupts the ‘main rhetoric’ [CS OF FA(T)SHION] Discourse has INTERNAL and EXTERNAL exclusions of its production: ways in which it is streamlined, manoeuvred and shaped INTERNAL: EXTERNAL commentary mad and sane Author taboo Disciplines true and false Rarefactions Power Power, in Foucault’s view, is divided amongst various types: SOVEREIGN POWER: top down, vertical power, in a feudal sense. As a result it is often repressive and faces resistance from the outside. DISCIPLINARY POWER: horizontally developed and productive - it faces resistance from the inside. Sovereign power requires you to abide to a ruler whereas disciplinary power requires you to conform to the norm - the resistance is internal to the individual. (eg. respecting your teacher v going to the gym). Cultural Sociology 10  Foucault also looked at the NORMALISATION OF THE BODY AND MIND (of the insane and gay people) to fight the idea of abnormality. This fits into his ideas about discourse and the ensuing exclusion (of people who do not fit into this discourse). Bio-politics: the use of sciences and statistics to control the people, as a key feature of neo-liberalism. Bio-power: PANOPTICON: the image of perceived control. Originally an actual architectural feature of prisons, it is later used as a metaphor for the normalisation of the deviant by self-repression (disciplinary power) through perceived observation (sovereign power structure). Q3 week 4 Identity and Representation Misogynoir - a term coined by Moya Bailey, a Black Feminist Theorist following Patricia Hill Collins, to describe misogyny as it is applied and experienced by black women, rooted in intersectionality. STUART HALL Stuart Hall is a British sociologist who wrote through the 80s and 90s, largely around the theme of black British representation in film and media. He outlines two moments in this strive for representation. ontology: as a post structuralist, he focus on the individual and an individual’s agency. Dependently, Hall says that identification is formed through representation. This very representation shapes and is digested by discourse and personal interpretation. epistemology: looked largely at British media (and films especially!) to form his ontology. Cultural Sociology 11  First moment: the first moment is concerned with the struggle for representation at any cost - it is about uniting all those who are ‘other’ to the narrow view of Britishness and uniting and representing them. Also known as IDENTITY POLITICS (identity as fixed and rooted in physical traits), it relies on absolute commitment to a community and unbending solidarity. In the UK, this first moment starts in the 60s and 70s with the beginning of representation. Relies on the idea of an ‘essential black subject’ (age of innocence), which is focused on reversing the binary negative attributes. Second moment: the second moment follows the first and no longer needs to fight for simple representation, and can start exploring representation for artistic depiction. It is based on three ideas: Difference (many voices one chant) Self-reflexivity (standpoint theory) Contingency (fluidity) Instead of identity politics, it embraces POLITICS OF ARTICULATION (accept that meaning is never closed, and based on the alliances of viewpoints), which sees identity as conjunction, not defined by exclusion. It moves from the struggle of representation to the politics of representation. This second moment therefore is able to encompass a wider range of identities, including the disapora and more complex identities. → Note here DARRIDA’s concept of différence, meant to mean to differ and defer → Note also that Hall writes under Thatcher’s government, which has a very narrow view of Britishness, in effect he offers a counter-discourse to this nationalism. ‘New Ethnicities’ - 1988 Stuart Hall writes in this text the idea that ethnicities are not grounded in nature, but rather in a sense of identity and belonging. Most of his epistemology for this paper is based on representation within British films. He also outlines the struggle and tension within representation as both artistic depiction and delegation (deference, burden). [ CS MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE 1985] Cultural Sociology 12  In this article, Hall outlines his views on the term ‘POST COLONIAL’ which he uses in a way to erode the binary coloniser v colonised as it applies to both. He sees the term as global but not universal - it can be applied everywhere but there takes different meanings. He also explores the idea of a hegemonic idea of blackness, meaning a generally and vaguely applied otherness (Orientalism?), and the constant of being the object not the subject. Hall’s inspirations and predecessors Hall draws on various preexisting sociologies to formulate his own ideas about representation of black British citizens. POST STRUCTURALISM: [seen above], from post-structuralists, Hall takes the focus on interpretation and discursiveness, agency and localising standpoints. Hall also draws on GRAMSCI’s theories of hegemonic discourse and the Marxist dominance of the superstructure. HEGEMONY: the situation of power exercised by the capitalists by disseminating their ideas and having them accepted as common sense and normal → thus the hegemonic class is able to attain consent and tacit agreement from social groups, and must go to great lengths to refresh this discourse and maintain the consent Hall also draws on De Saussure and Derrida for both of their theories around language, and the separation of language and meaning (As layered on by discourse not innate to language). ‘Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse’ - 1973 This is perhaps Hall’s main developed theory, which assesses the creation of meaning within the television discourse. There, he finds culture as a site of meaning making, and meaning itself as something that is chiseled and actively made, not innate. Thus, representation also becomes a site of meaning making. Cultural Sociology 13  communication theory: the idea that the sender and his intentions will be naturally understood by the receiver. Hall debunks or counters this in this paper, and offers an alternative systems of transmission and dissemination. In this, the audience is not a passive recipient, and it needs to exercise active interpretation. This he calls the Encoding/Decoding Hall Model which focuses on the plurality of interpretations and meanings within each message (POLYSEMIC messages), based around three possible positions: the hegemonic, negotiated and oppositional. 💡 IDENTITY: is a complex concept, central to Hall’s theories of representation. It is taken to mean one’s sense of self. → the ESSENTIALISING concept of identity is a innate, stable fixed entity (= identity politics) → a contrasting POST-STRUCTURAL VIEW would see identity as a product of discourse, thus not a stable thing, but rather of identification as a process not a noun. A mosaic of lots of different identities based on the interplay of discourse and representation (thus representation as a place of identity formation!) Through the notion of identity, Hall links together his main theories of the communication model with themes of black British representation: racial identity (as a socially constructed entity through discourse) relies on representation defined by the first and second moments as seminal moments of identification. → linked to this is the notion of regimes of representation where a singular perspective is perpetuated and accumulated to the point where alternative imaginations become impossible. Q4 Week 5 Resistance & Social change Cultural Sociology 14  GOULD Gould writes reflexively about the ACTUP AIDS movement which she was part of. Through the case study of the AIDS epidemic, she explores the notion of affect in the context of social change and resistance. Exploring the boundaries of the political, and the application of an emotive reading to academic writing (epistemology), and look for emotive markers to understand affect as the tide or wave behind wider movements of change (or inaction). Affect and emotions basics AFFECT is defined as non-conscious and unnamed responses, as free and still undigested and undirected feeling (after MASSUMI’s previous definiton of the notion). Though affect is hard to quantify and academically measure, it acts as a catalyst for political action or inaction, allowing individuals to attach themselves to the leaders and ideologies of a certain cause. Therefore Gould urges for a more affect driven approach to reading emotionally saturated discourse, for instance by looking for affective markers. Gould proceeds to define emotion as actualised and directed affect, structured and streamlined by habitus. Social movements thus become sites of ‘meaning making’ for affective states as they direct this affect into emotions (which Gould defines as articulated and directed affect). MORAL SHOCK: If affect is the feeling, the barrel of gasoline, then MORAL SHOCK is the match. The moment which creates such dissonance and anger, that it pushes people into action. The catalyser. [ACTUP HARDWICK CS] When affect and affective fields are applied to physical objects, these can become imbued with meaning and emotional materiality, acting as symbols of a much wider ideology and mythology. A Historical View of Protests Protests, as emotionally charged discourse, used to be seen as the counter to reason until the later 20th Century. Cultural Sociology 15  Then, around the 1970s came the ‘Emotional Turn’, where protests were finally presented as rational actors, almost as a complete reversal of the previous thought current. It is only in a third time that protests are finally understood to be a result of emotional charged discourse, and of emotion and rationality as being intertwined in political action. This last ontology understands that grievance persist because they are always rooted in emotion, thus emotion or affect cannot be separated from political mobilisation. Q5 Week 6 Cultural Sociology 16