Cultural Sociology Research Articles

Integrating the disciplines: Applying sociology of third space to contemporary, constructivist career development

The field of career development is grounded in diverse sociological perspectives contributing to addressing the complex interplay between individuals and societal contexts. This paper advocates for the use of a third space theory from cultural sociology traditions to working with marginalised clients and developing culturally sensitive career interventions. Within this theory, the relationship between career counsellor and client is conceptualised as a productive boundary zone of an intercultural dialogue, which occurs in a broader environmental-societal system and supports the use of Systems Theory Framework of career development.

Barbarism and modernity in S.N. Eisenstadt’s theory: Towards a cultural sociology of radicalism

The emergence of ‘radical’ social and political actors, ideologies and identities seems to be a hallmark of the crisis of liberal democracy that is spreading throughout global society. Despite its growing uneasiness about these facts, social science has not produced much theoretical innovation about them. This article aims to contribute to this task, by bringing to bear a conceptual framework elaborated by Shmuel N. Eisenstadt through his reflections on modern barbarism. I argue that the author’s understanding of barbarism has a significant interpretive potential for the sociological analysis of contemporary radical identities, and suggest some ways to reconsider ‘populism’, thereby redefining the very concept of radicalism. The article starts by introducing the pivotal notions which constitute the conceptual framework of our author. The following section outlines the main argument of Eisenstadt’s theory of barbarism, unpacking the way in which those concepts interweave to conjure a cultural theory of exclusionary, violent identities and institutional regimes. The final section highlights the significance of such approach for a cultural sociology of radicalism, by exploring the relations between the author’s views and some selected trends in contemporary social theory.

Loss and autonomy: Making sense of rural life at the inner periphery

AbstractWe have studied how people make sense of their lives in peripheral rural regions. While there are disadvantages in terms of infrastructure, transportation and so forth, we have focused on the ways that people understand their specific position and how they feel about it. Using the tools of the Strong Programme in cultural sociology, we have identified two key discourses: the discourse of loss and the discourse of autonomy. Through the former, residents describe the decline of traditions, of rural community and, in particular, the vanishing ideal of rural childhood. Through the latter, they re‐frame these societal developments as problems of individuals. The dichotomy between individual autonomy and individual dependence is employed as a key cultural framework for explaining and understanding life in a peripheral rural region. The research is based on interviews with residents of small rural municipalities located at the inner periphery of the Czech Republic.

“It’s All Closer and More Personal to Me”: The Meaning of Closeness for Migration-Related Civic Engagement of Czech Adolescents

The lack of trust in politics and poor civic engagement challenge both new and established democracies. To tackle this challenge, it is necessary to understand what motivates new generations of citizens to become civically engaged. We contribute to discussions about this issue by offering a qualitative, in-depth exploration of adolescents’ motivations for civic engagement, focusing specifically on the issue of migration. Drawing on data from four critical focus groups conducted with adolescents (17–19 years old) in Czechia, we ask how their perspectives on migration translate into motivation for migration-related civic engagement. Utilizing the theoretical perspective and interpretative approach of cultural sociology, we look for the meanings that sustain their personal motivation to become engaged. We find that feelings of closeness to the issue of migration act as an essential driver of adolescents’ personal motivation for engagement, making migration an issue of concern to them. We further distinguish between cultural closeness and closeness of contact and identify distinct mechanisms through which these forms of closeness translate into adolescents’ concerns about the issue of migration. Based on our findings, we call for greater consideration of the role of culture and local context in the research on adolescents’ motivations for civic engagement.

Forms of culture in the implementation of school reform efforts: A conceptual framework

Despite concerted efforts to improve educational practices through reform, classroom implementation remains a persistent challenge. This theoretical article draws on recent work in cultural sociology to offer a fresh perspective on this problem. It introduces a framework that differentiates between declarative, procedural, and public forms of culture, highlighting their unique mechanisms of internalization and enactment. This multidimensional understanding of culture reveals the cognitive challenges inherent in translating reform principles into classroom practices. More specifically, the article contends that the common assumptions of convertibility and transferability between these forms of culture underlie the limited success of many reform initiatives. By attending to the cognitive dimensions of cultural dynamics, the proposed framework opens new avenues for understanding and addressing the difficulties of educational change. This article concluded with an agenda for future research to test and refine the framework.

Theory of society and cultural sociology. Niklas Luhmann and after

Theory of society and cultural sociology. Niklas Luhmann and after

Collective sports success through effective social performances: The case of Olympic wrestling in Iran

This study argues that the athletic success of Iranian wrestlers is fused with success in social performances. Using Alexander's cultural sociology, we propose that individuals’ behavioral, emotional, and mental dispositions toward sports are shaped by tacit and invisible social forces encompassing them at a given time and place. Furthermore, we make use of Alexander's notion that the power of culture is manifested when it is actively enacted. To ground our theoretical frameworks with empirical evidence, we conducted a case study of successful Iranian male wrestlers. The study reveals that the success of Iranian wrestling is constructed upon cultural foundations, social organizations, cooperative networks, and a set of social relations that performatively contribute to producing world-class wrestlers. It is within a given social, cultural, and organizational context that culture is performed through a series of collective actions and agencies. Such successful cultural performances reinforce the meaning of certain practices by connecting the past to the present and ensuring their continuity, thereby establishing a strong tradition of collective sporting achievements.

Are we allowed to win this time: new warrior culture in action and government betrayal in the American Rifleman 1975–2023

The emergence of New Warrior culture in the post-Vietnam era has largely been unexplored by sociology of culture. While recent research on the NRA has explored significant aspects of gun culture such as advertising, narratives, as well as ratings of gun empowerment etc., less work has investigated how the NRA facilitated changes not only in gun culture but in the “systems of social relations” between gun owners and the government but also in “systems of meaning” in how gun owners understand their guns. This paper argues that the NRA’s use of Native American warrior narratives, combined with other New Warrior narratives, maps onto Swidler’s unsettled time. Merging classic warrior narratives based in service to the nation alongside extensive use of Native American warriors, the NRA leveraged warrior narratives as a way of facilitating the transformation of warrior identity from one who defends the nation to one that is prepared to fight their government. In this way, the NRA was able to communicate antigovernment narratives without openly embracing the conspiratorial antigovernment ideals espoused by some factions of the militia movement by changing warrior cultural narratives from defending the nation to fighting against its government.

Sociology, the common good, and the community of strong program cultural sociology

Sociology, the common good, and the community of strong program cultural sociology

Unisex Fashion as a Social Practice: A Comparative Study Between Young Heterosexual Consumers in the United States and China

Using Alan Warde’s tripartite model of practice theory (understanding, procedure, and engagement) as our theoretical framework, we compare how young heterosexual consumers in the United States and China understand, follow the perceived rules of, and engage with unisex fashion, and how different socio-cultural values and political ideologies in these two countries shape consumers’ gendered perceptions and practice of unisex style. We interviewed 15 participants in each country. Our findings suggest that unisex fashion is a more routinized practice for US participants, who appreciate gender fluidity due to a long history of fighting for gender equality and the current political emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Chinese participants, however, demonstrate a more deliberate and reflexive attitude. While they claim to embrace unisex fashion to express their gender identity, they are still restricted by a heteropatriarchal definition of gender, particularly with the recent revival of traditional gender ideologies advocated by the Chinese leadership. This comparative study of a gender-related fashion practice contributes to a reappraisal of cultural meaning within practice theories. We hope this study will stimulate further intellectual interest in the intersections of fashion studies, consumption research, and cultural sociology.

Jeffrey Alexander, a statesman in social theory and cultural sociology: An interview with Frédéric Vandenberghe

Jeffrey Alexander, a statesman in social theory and cultural sociology: An interview with Frédéric Vandenberghe

“You can't really turn it off”: The police “sixth sense” as cultural schema

AbstractA variety of concepts in the policing literature denote a so‐called “sixth sense” that police officers claim to possess. “Intuition,” “suspicion,” or “common sense” all specify a tacit knowledge said to heighten an officer's sensitivity to danger and potential suspects. This paper argues this type of knowledge exemplifies the application of “cultural schema” (DiMaggio, 1997): a shared knowledge structure that allows people to respond to environmental stimuli in ways that render their lives more predictable. We combine two case studies—one in Canada, the other in the Netherlands—which include ethnographic field notes and 199 interviews with police officers, to reconsider the police sixth sense in light of theoretical and empirical advances in cultural sociology and cognition research. This paper further discusses the benefit of studying this sixth sense itself as a form of cultural knowledge—that is, as “police culture”—to improve our understanding of cultural resources most or least compatible with emerging police reforms.

Exploring cultural futures: Dimensions of projectivity as a methodological lens for narrative analysis

This paper discusses the applicability of the cultural sociologist Ann Mische’s (2009) nine “dimensions of projectivity”, or modes of orientation to the future, as methodological tools for narrative analysis to identify cultural formations of future orientation. Future orientation is understood here on the level of cultural regularities, rather than individual cognition. The paper discusses the exploratory process of operationalising Mische’s dimensions on texts produced by the volunteer panel of the Mass Observation Project (MOP) on the topic of ‘Futures of Consumption’. We explore how the difficulties encountered were addressed to utilise the dimensions for analysis. This exploratory process led to the classification of these dimensions into three categories, which specify their methodological utility. Firstly, literary components, suitable to analyse projectivity in professionally produced future narrations, such as corporate or NGO reports. Secondly, cognitive competences, suitable to study texts for the capacity for future thinking they demonstrate. And thirdly, formative orientations: the implicit, cultural repertoires from which actors construct their orientations to the future. The latter proved operationalizable in the analysis of the MOP data to identify cultural formations of future orientation. The paper provides a nuanced understanding of the application and utility of methodological tools for the study of future orientation.

Reading and Reader as Objects of Study

The article provides a brief overview of the current state and prospects for studying the history of reader and reading in Russia, as well as existing Russian and foreign works on this topic. The purpose of the article is to justify the need to study reading and reader within the framework of the book culture study. Reading is considered as an integral part of book culture, largely determining its character and content. The author analyzed the reasons for the current crisis in the practice of reading traditional paper texts, a modern feature of the young generation. The author affirms the need for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of reading problems that is involving the use of the achievements of media studies, book studies, psychology and sociology of culture and historical psychology.

Revisiting cultural approaches to Chinese tourists

Scholarship on Chinese tourists has stressed the influence of collectivism, Confucianism, and other traditional values. While significant, these approaches assume a singular, holistic view of culture that is at odds with recent approaches in the sociology of culture that stress the domain-specific, situational, and flexible nature of cultural scripts. Using fresh empirical evidence of Chinese tourists to non-mainstream destinations, this article demonstrates that tourism frequently disembeds tourists from traditional sources of cultural authority. I suggest viewing culture in tourism as a contextual set of repertoires used to (1) draw symbolic boundaries, (2) perform situational, diverse scripts, and (3) self-reflect on personal and collective identities. These results counter the idea that Chinese tourists have internalised one master set of cultural responses.

The meaning of autonomy: How artists justify career paths

While autonomy is a crucial concept in the sociology of culture, most scholars treat it as an objective feature of the cultural field or creative work. This article argues that autonomy is a subjective construct with ambiguous meanings that enable creative workers to flexibly justify their career paths. I draw on a case of Chinese visual artists in the postsocialist era (since 1979), where the institutional context of dual career path highlights the ambiguity of autonomy. Using interview data with two groups of Chinese artists in different institutional positions—state-affiliated artists employed by the official system and independent artists without official affiliation—I show that the two groups offer conflicting narratives of autonomy. State-affiliated artists claim freedom from market and art criticism, whereas independent artists assert autonomy from state and organizational duties. Both groups emphasize the kind of autonomy they have and downplay the kind they lack to justify their career over the alternative position. Based on these findings, I suggest a more interpretive analysis of autonomy in cultural fields, one that illuminates how workers use ambiguous meanings to justify career choices.

Reflections on Jewish nationalism, militarism and ageing masculinity in Yoram Kaniuk’s novel Scums

ABSTRACT This article offers a nuanced understanding of novelist Yoram Kaniuk’s national ideology as a representative of a generation, as well as unveils personal, untreated trauma as reflected in his writing. By way of doing so, it employs two research approaches: a literary speculative fiction interpretation examined through a lens of alternative history, and a cultural sociology perspective based on the concepts of ‘Imagined Communities’ and ‘Liquid Modernity’. On a broader level, his novel Scums portrays the deep disillusionment and disappointment experienced by veterans of Israel’s founding generation, who felt abandoned by their successors and betrayed by their values. On a personal level, Kaniuk’s writing reflects military flashbacks that significantly impacted his post-traumatic state of mind, which in turn influenced the way he perceived, described, and interpreted the historical fragments of his generation. Considering Kaniuk’s discomfort in discussing issues that deeply concerned him, he found solace and liberation through the medium of writing, which enabled him to express his thoughts and emotions, shouting them onto the page, unburdening himself, and making sense of his experiences. Thus, by writing in an unapologetic and candid manner, Kaniuk navigated the complexities of his inner world and external challenges, embracing his own truth and carving out a place for himself to be heard.

Extending a research program in the sociology of culture

Extending a research program in the sociology of culture

The Contestation of Islamic Boarding School Womens's View of Wifes' Rights in Poligamy

This study examines the contention around Islamic boarding school women's view of wives' rights in polygamous marriages. It aims to answer academic questions, specifically how and why there is contention among Islamic boarding school women over the rights of wives in polygamy. Furthermore, it also aims to answer what consequences this contestation has for the practice of polygamy, which is common in Islamic boarding schools. This paper is an empirical research that takes a sociological perspective. The analysis is based on Pierre Bourdieu's Cultural Sociology theory. Data were gathered through an interview study with research subjects from five traditional Islamic boarding schools in Lampung Province. The findings of this study show that the contestation of wives' rights in polygamy is influenced by the level of understanding of religious texts and norms, social and economic realities, and the strength of the patriarchal traditions and systems that surround it. Most women are denied the opportunity to fight for their bodily and spiritual rights, both before and after polygamous marriage occurs. Women in Islamic boarding schools recognize that men's supremacy influences the neglect of women's rights in polygamy because their understanding of religious texts is conservative. Women have no bargaining power when their husbands seek to practice polygamy. Conservatives believe that polygamy is a fate and consequence that women who want to marry a caregiver or an Islamic boarding school leader (Kyai) must accept. A moderate perspective necessitates that polygamy be practiced with proportional rights between husband and wife. The repercussions of this contestation have resulted in a better appreciation of the importance of men's and women's rights being proportionate, as well as mutual protection.

Reading culture as shared ethos: A study of Finnish self-identified readers

This article advances understanding about book reading as a sociocultural phenomenon in the 2020s. We make a contribution to the cultural sociology of reading by investigating Finnish self-identified book readers by analysing the significance of sociodemographic variables (gender, education, age, and place of residence) in terms of reading activity and access to books. Our study is placed in the context of Finnish reading culture that is characterised by a particular appreciation of reading and measures promoting equal access to culture. Based on an online survey of 955 respondents conducted in 2021, our statistical analyses show that the social stratification of book reading activity that is prominent in population level does not recur within the specific group of people who identify themselves as readers. Among Finnish self-identified book readers, education, gender, and place of residence do not induce significant differences in reading activity. Our analysis that foregrounds inclination instead of quantity as a criterion for readers sheds light on reader equality from a different direction than previous research into nationwide reading habits or descriptive studies on avid readers.