Synopses & Reviews
This exciting new volume brings together seminal work by leading figures in what is emerging as a new and important intellectual tradition, relating them to other work in sociology and different disciplines. The book is divided into sections on Culture as Text and Code, The Production and Reception of Culture, and Culture in Action, each containing edited theoretical and empirical contributions that address the key debates in cultural sociology: the autonomy of culture, power and culture, structure and agency, and the concept of meaning.
Synopsis
Collection of key works in important new and distinctively American sociological tradition.
Table of Contents
The new American cultural sociology: an introduction Philip Smith; Part I. Culture as Text and Code: 1. Textuality and the postmodern turn in sociological theory Richard Harvey Brown; 2. The computer as sacred and profane Jeffrey C. Alexander; 3. AIDS and the discursive construction of homosexuality Steven Seidman; 4. Fundamentalism and liberalism in public religious discourse Robert Wuthnow; 5. Analytic and concrete forms of the autonomy of culture Anne Kane; Part II. The Production and Reception of Culture: 6. The reception of Derrida's work in France and America Michèle Lamont; 7. Censorship audiences and the Victorian nude Nicola Beisel; 8. The devil, social change and Jacobean theatre Wendy Griswold; 9. Victorian women writers and the prestige of the novel Gaye Tuchman and Nina Fortin; 10. The ambiguous and contested meanings of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Robin Wagner-Pacifici and Barry Schwartz; Part III. Culture in Action: 11. Culture and social action Ann Swidler; 12. Culture structure agency and transformation William H. Sewell Jr; 13. Discourse nuclear power and collective action William Gamson; 14. Moral boundaries leisure activities and justifying fun Gary Alan Fine; 15. Honour and conflict management in corporate life Calvin Morrill; 16. The role of cultural capital in school success Paul DiMaggio.