Taking culture (and race) beyond dichotomies: a reply to Gans

Abstract

Gans' (2012; Against culture versus structure. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 19 (2), 125–134) indictment of cultural sociology (CS) and his anointment of structural sociology would have us believe the two are incommensurate paradigms. I do not agree. I deconstruct this binary with theory and empiricism from the intersection of CS and the sociology of race and ethnicity (SRE). First, I redefine the project of CS, contra Gans' interpretation. Second, I refute Gans' assumption that ‘CS is not much interested in cultural processes' by demonstrating how CS is concerned with the process and action of the material and symbolic aspects of social life. Third, I examine why well-placed trepidation over ‘culture of poverty’-style explanations may influence a negative view of CS/SRE. Fourth, I map advances birthed from the CS/SRE connection that contest Gans' assertion that ‘CS has not paid much attention to policy’. And fifth, I show how CS avoids tautological arguments in which culture would be ‘its own cause’.