Cultural Sociology
Name one example of how cultural meanings shape human behavior and social institutions.
Shaping individual behavior (values)
Influencing Social institutions (policies)
Maintaining social cohesion (socialization process)
Driving Change and adaptation (resistance, etc.)
Provide an example of a national holiday that demonstrates Durkheim's idea of the sacred/profane.
Fourth of July, etc.
Define Bourdieu's concept of habitus.
Habitus refers to deeply ingrained habits, skills, and dispositions that individuals develop through socialization.
It shapes perceptions, tastes, and behaviors, often in unconscious ways.
It is structured by past experiences but also structuring of future actions.
Example: Taste in music, art or fashion often reflects one’s social class, influenced by habitus
How does Butler define gender? What is Butler's core concept?
Core Concept: Gender as a performative act rather than a fixed identity.
Define Convergence Culture
Convergence culture refers to the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences.
What is one core contribution from Strong's Program in Cultural Sociology?
Focus on symbols and narratives
Critique of Reductionism
Integration of micro and macro
True
True or False, Sewell's theory of structure states that structure is only constraining.
Structure is both constraining and enabling (duality of structure).
Structures exist in schemas (rules, norms) and resources (material or symbolic).
Agency operates within structures but can also transform them
True or False - Goffman (1959) is known for authoring The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
True
Provide two examples of Collective Intelligence within this context of convergence and digital media.
Decentralized Knowledge – No single person has all the information, but by working together, people can solve problems.
Crowdsourced Contributions – People contribute expertise voluntarily.
Collaborative Problem-Solving – Groups work together to refine, correct, and improve knowledge.
Open Participation – Many platforms allow anyone to contribute, edit, or refine information.
Define Swidler's Culture in Action theory.
Culture provides a tool kit of symbols, stories and rituals that people draw upon. How individuals use cultural tools depends on the situational contexts and goals.
What is Weber's key idea bout the role of religion?
Religious values shape economic behavior, asceticism, prosperity gospel, etc.
How would Bourdieu and Sewell DIFFER in their approach to how change happens in society?
Bourdieu - slow, through social mobility
Sewell - dynamic, interaction dependent
What are some key arguments (name 2) about Goffman's theory about social life as a performance where individuals manage impressions?
Key Arguments:
Front-stage vs. back-stage behavior.
Social roles as performances influenced by context and audience.
Individuals use "props" and "costumes" to construct identity.
What is the main shift (in terms of interplay) between modern to postmodern media?
The shift from modern to postmodern media reflects a move from authoritative, linear storytelling to decentralized, multiple-perspective narratives that challenge objectivity and embrace complexity. This interplay is evident in various media forms.
Name three people who have had an influence in cultural sociology during the classics period, mostly for the Western hemisphere.
Durkheim, Weber, Parsons, Marxists
Name on shared value that Talcott Parsons considered as a cultural mechanism that stabilized US society.
Define the difference between Bourdieu's terms field vs habitus.
Field - arenas of production, circulation, appropriation and exchange of goods, services, knowledge or status and the competitive positions held by the actors in their struggle to monopolize power resources (capital)
Habitus - socially ingrained habits, skills and dispositions
According to Crenshaw, why is it important to understand the concept of intersectionality?
Core Concept: Intersectionality as a framework to understand overlapping social identities and structures of oppression.
Key Arguments:
Legal and feminist discourse often overlook the unique experiences of women of color.
Identity politics should account for multiple axes of identity (race, gender, class, etc.).
Structural, political, and representational intersectionality.
Define the difference between signified and signifier according to Saussure in the theory of semiotics.
Signifier vs. Signified (Saussure): The relationship between the form (image, word, sound) and the meaning it conveys.
Emile Durkheim is most known for his work with....
culture as collective conscious, totemism and social integration based on sacred/profane
How is the Western Marxist approach to culture's role in society different from Durkheim, Weber and Parsons?
Critiqued culture's role in reproducing power but also its potential as a site for resistance and transformation.
Using Bourdieu's terms of field, habitus and cultural capital, how might they be applied to the example of an educational system?
Field: Schools and universities operate as a field where students and teachers compete for academic success.
Habitus: A student from an upper-class family may have academic confidence, familiarity with "high culture" (classical music, literature), and strong linguistic skills.
Cultural Capital: Having access to books, tutors, and private schooling increases their chances of success compared to a working-class student with less exposure to these resources.
Taylor's (2003) core concept of "The Archive and the Repertoire" - Define.
Core Concept: Distinction between written history (archive) and embodied memory (repertoire).
Key Arguments:
Cultural memory is preserved through performance, ritual, and oral traditions.
Embodied practice is a vital means of transmitting history and resistance.
Performance as a form of political and cultural intervention.
True or False - Hall defined encoding and decoding as how media is interpreted.
False - Encoding/Decoding (Hall’s Influence): How audiences interpret media differently based on social and cultural positioning.