The Cultural Turn Flashcards
Agency-Structure Debate
Margaret Archer--THE most essential debate in sociological history Structural Functionalism vs Symbolic Interactionism--how is structure upheld--cogs in machine vs construct our own lives Structural Functionalism (Parsons, Weber)--conceives of culture in terms of determining ends of social action through values--social reproduction and stability, but "cultural dopes"? Symbolic Interactionism--conceives of culture as systems of symbols that individual actors use to generate and sustain the social self and social meanings in face-to-face interactions--complexities of human life, but why semi-predictable?
Ann Swidler
Culture in Action (1986)
Culture cannot be primarily about ends of social action–“interests are engine of action, but ideas define destinations and means”
Culture is instead a “set of skills and habits” – a “toolkit” to be used rather than an already defined “set of preferences or wants”–WAY action is organized more enduring than ENDS–ex Weber & Protestant Ethic
Practice Theory
Cultural theorists (Swidler, Bourdieu, Giddens) re-conceptualized culture as embedded in ritualistic, pre-cognitive, practices
- Swidler’s “strategies of action” or Bourdieu’s “habitus”
- practices bridges agency-structure divide–practices “internalize” social structure– sets of practices come packaged together as “culture”
- everyday “habits” both reflect and reproduce social structure
Practice Theory: Smith’s Critique (Moralistic Therapeutic Deism)
2003 critique of existing accounts
What motivates social action if not values? Are we allowing rational choice in through the back door?
Every model of social action must include a model of human personhood
Practice Theory: Steve Vaisey’s Response
2009
Student of Smith
Bourdieu argues culture is precognitive, Smith says no room for values
- dual process theory of cognition
1) Practical: older & deeper–automatic cognition or intuitive–make lots of mistakes but often accurate
2) Discursive: rational and discursive–values matter
Centrality of the Social Reproduction of Inequality (Pierre Bourdieu): Cultural Capital
Cultural Capital
- Scarce and distributed unequally in the population
- Can be exchanged and transmitted
- Cultural competency (in the form of capital) “fits” well with the “logic” of certain institutional fields
- The connections between economic and cultural capital–can sometimes buy collateral capital, or cultural knowledge can benefit financially
Centrality of the Social Reproduction of Inequality (Pierre Bourdieu): Importance of Taste
Wrapped up in culture & class
Embodied–part of habitus–sensory experiences (pop/high culture consumption)
Upper vs Lower class taste
- stylistic vs functional form–ex opera vs country
- more demarcated in France than US
How do Cultures Change? Hunter (7 Quality Summary)
Pre-reflective system of moral norms and obligations. Deeply embedded into social life – not a highly developed worldview.
Product of history
Exists in a dialectic between ideas and institutions as well as between individuals and institutions
Culture is a resource and therefore a form of power
- who gets to define reality?
Culture is stratified into center and periphery
- those institutions, individuals, and networks most involved in the production of culture are in the center
Culture is generated within networks
Culture is neither autonomous or fully coherent
Can we Change Culture?
Perhaps, but not easily
Not about changing “hearts and minds”
Cultures typically change from the “top down”, not the “bottom up”
- though normally not directly from the center of power
Networks of elites in overlapping fields and institutions can sometimes radically change culture if they work toward the same ends–ex sexual ethics & consent
Cultural change is almost always contested–ex “woke” or political correctness
SO–ideas can sometimes change culture, but not easily, and only under right conditions
