The image in sociology : histories and issues

Abstract

While photography had established a minor presence in early American sociology, it was not until the 1970s that a practice of « visual sociology » became recognized as a subfield of the parent discipline. In anthropology, photography was used to gather data to support theories of social evolution popular in the early 20th century, but photography as a data gathering device fell into disuse as the theoretical focus of anthropology changed. In the 1940s, the pioneering work of Bateson and Mead reinvigorated the use of still photography in the analysis of culture. To this day, however, still photography remains underutilized in relation to film and video in visual anthropology.I suggest that for visual sociology to fully develop, it must continue to embrace a theoretical dimension. Furthermore, visual sociology must address postmodernism criticisms of documentary photography (from which much visual sociology takes its form) and scientific field reporting. Finally, I suggest that visual sociology offers a new means of gathering and presenting social science data. These experimental forms include photo elicitation, visual narrative, and the non‑linear organization of visual information in hyperlogic texts.