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What is Cultural Sociology?
LYN SPILLMAN
polity
Copyright page
Copyright © Lyn Spillman 2020
The right of Lyn Spillman to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2020 by Polity Press
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All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-2280-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-2281-1 (pb)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Spillman, Lyn, author.
Title: What is cultural sociology? / Lyn Spillman.
Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity, 2020. | Series: What is sociology? series | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Offering a concise answer to the question “What is Cultural Sociology?,” this book provides an overview of what you need to know to do cultural sociology. Spillman demonstrates many of the conceptual tools cultural sociologists use to help understand how people make meaning, with vivid examples from this rich and ubiquitous feature of our lives”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019024009 (print) | LCCN 2019024010 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509522804 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509522811 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509522842 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Culture.
Classification: LCC HM621 .S653 2020 (print) | LCC HM621 (ebook) | DDC 301--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024009
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024010
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Acknowledgments
I am grateful for all my many encounters and conversations over the years with cultural sociologists who have developed the field from its inception to its diversity and strength today. They have made cultural sociology an intellectual home I could not have imagined when I first wondered long ago why sociologists did not seem to talk about culture. Among all these colleagues over the years, I have been particularly fortunate in the support, encouragement, and friendship of Jeffrey Alexander, Nina Eliasoph, Paul Lichterman, and Ann Swidler, even though each of them might well critique the picture of the field presented in this book.
I also thank Jonathan Skerrett, who motivated the project, Karina Jákupsdóttir, for her patience in seeing it through, and Justin Dyer, for his impressive copy-editing. The manuscript benefited from the comments of three anonymous reviewers. Michael Strand also offered helpful comments. Colleagues and students in Sociology at the University of Notre Dame create a stimulating environment for doing cultural sociology, and certainly enriched the picture presented here in many ways. Rebecca Overmyer provided enormous help by preserving time for this work among other responsibilities. Rachel Keynton, Robert Mowry, and Lilly Watermoon contributed essential background research at different stages of the project. I benefited from extended critical conversation on many of the topics included here with participants in my cultural sociology seminars. Especially fond thanks go to the seventy students who have worked with me over the years in preparation for advanced field examinations: I always finish our meetings feeling privileged by the opportunity. Russell Faeges helps in all these ways and many more and I thank him, too, for his sustained support.
1 Introduction
Sociology teaches us about human groups and human interactions, how they work, and how they influence our lives. Cultural sociology investigates the meanings people attach to their groups and interactions. What do their groups mean to people, where do those various meanings come from, and how do those meanings influence what they do?
For all of us as human creatures, meaning is as essential to our existence as infant care or water. Our lives are full of meaning and meaning-making. Sometimes our ideas and values are totally taken for granted. We are supported and sustained by perceptions of the world which seem natural and inevitable, passed on to us implicitly by those who raise us. Our meaning-making is like breathing, and we don’t notice the air that surrounds us.
At other times – and more and more often – we encounter different ideas about what is really meaningful. Encountering differences can be fascinating and helps us learn more about ourselves. Sometimes, though, cultural differences may give us “culture shock,” and disagreements challenging the ideas we take for granted may seem like “culture wars.” Modern life makes escalating cultural difference unavoidable, even as it also offers exponentially increasing opportunities for sharing meaning through mass and social media.
Cultural sociology offers concepts and methods to help explore meaning-making – familiar meanings we share, strange and unfamiliar meanings, and those we dispute with others. To start noticing the meaning-making all around us, we can orient ourselves by thinking about different rituals, symbols, values, norms, and categories.
Rituals, symbols, values, norms, and categories
As