The Sociology of Art

What light can sociology shed on art and culture in contemporary society? What is distinctive about the sociological understanding of art? In what ways is the sociology of art today developing new insights into the nature of artistic life?This volume contains essays by a wide range of authors, each of whom is concerned with showing the multiple ways in which artistic processes are profoundly shaped by their social settings.Encompassing a wide range of artistic fields, including painting, film, ballet and architecture, the book demonstrates how sociological appreciations of art and artists provide rich and stimulating alternative perspectives to conventional art criticism.

David Inglis lecturers in the Department of Sociology, University of Aberdeen.

John Hughson is Principal Research Fellow in the Division of Media, Sociology and Cultural Studies at University of Wolverhampton.

List of Figures

x

Acknowledgements

xi

Notes on Contributors

xii

Introduction: `Art' and Sociology

1

(1)

David Inglis

John Hughson

Key questions

2

(1)

Structure and purposes

2

(1)

Ways of seeing

3

(8)

Part I Theory Past, Present and Future

Thinking `Art' Sociologically

11

(19)

David Inglis

Introduction

11

(1)

Taking issue with `art'

11

(4)

Taking issue with the `artist'

15

(4)

`Art' and `society'

19

(5)

The `art world'

24

(5)

Conclusion

29

(1)

When Does Art Become Art? Assessing Pierre Bourdieu's Theory of Artistic Fields

30

(13)

Jeremy F. Lane

Introduction

30

(3)

The social conditions of artistic reception

33

(3)

The social conditions of artistic production

36

(3)

The historical genesis of an autonomous field of production

39

(2)

Conclusion

41

(2)

The Female Body in Women's Artistic Practice: Developing a Feminist Sociological Approach

43

(14)

Alexandra Howson

Introduction

43

(1)

Making women's art

44

(2)

The politics of the female body in women's art

46

(2)

Psychoanalysis, postmodernism and visual culture

48

(2)

Poststructuralism, philosophy and psychoanalysis (again)

50

(2)

Feminism and art today

52

(3)

Conclusion

55

(2)

A `New' Paradigm for a Sociology of Aesthetics

57

(16)

Robert W. Witkin

Introduction

57

(2)

Abstraction

59

(1)

Semiotic systems

60

(1)

Social systems

60

(3)

Perceptual systems

63

(2)

Haptic systems

65

(2)

Optic systems

67

(2)

Somatic systems

69

(3)

Conclusion

72

(1)

Acknowledgments

72

(1)

Invisible Aesthetics and the Social Work of Commodity Culture

73

(14)

Paul Willis

Introduction

73

(2)

Everyday meanings

75

(2)

Commodity culture and informal meaning-making

77

(2)

Cultural commodities

79

(2)

Making the invisible visible

81

(1)

Representing the invisible

82

(1)

Private and public `art worlds'

83

(2)

Conclusion

85

(1)

Acknowledgement

85

(2)

Cultural Studies and the Sociology of Culture

87

(11)

Janet Wolff

Introduction

87

(2)

Between `social life' and `texts'

89

(2)

Sociology and `culture'

91

(4)

Conclusion: Towards rapprochement

95

(3)

The Sociology of Art: Between Cynicism and Reflexivity

98

(15)

David Inglis

Introduction

98

(1)

Tacit assumptions

99

(2)

The ubiquity of power

101

(2)

Sociological imperialism

103

(2)

Bourdieu against himself

105

(2)

Conclusion

107

(6)

Part II From Theory to Practice: Case Studies in the Sociology of Art

Framing Old Age: Sociological Perspectives on Ageing in Victorian Painting

113

(12)

Mike Hepworth

Introduction

113

(1)

Old age and Victorian art history

114

(2)

Frederick Walker and The Harbour of Refuge

116

(1)

Hubert von Herkomer and The Last Muster

117

(2)

Hubert von Herkomer and Eventide: A Scene in the Westminster Union

119

(2)

Complexities of response

121

(1)

Conclusion

122

(3)

The Rise and Fall of the Art (House) Movie

125

(14)

Andrew Tudor

Introduction

125

(2)

Formation (1918--39)

127

(5)

Consolidation (1950--70)

132

(3)

Fragmentation (1970--2000)

135

(3)

Conclusion

138

(1)

Opera, Modernity and Cultural Fields

139

(17)

Alan Swingewood

Introduction

139

(2)

Modernity, operatic discourse and power

141

(2)

Theorising modernity

143

(2)

Aesthetics and cultural fields

145

(1)

Modernity and Venetian opera

146

(2)

Court opera and bourgeois opera

148

(4)

Operatic canon and modern opera

152

(2)

Conclusion

154

(2)

`World Music' and the Globalization of Sound

156

(15)

David Inglis

Roland Robertson

Introduction

156

(1)

The nature of `world music'

157

(3)

Categories of world music

160

(2)

The social organisation of world music

162

(2)

World music and globalization

164

(2)

The ambivalences of world music

166

(3)

Conclusion

169

(2)

`High Arts' and the Market: An Uneasy Partnership in the Transnational World of Ballet

171

(12)

Helena Wulff

Introduction

171

(1)

The emergence of the transnational ballet world -- politics, mentors, patrons

172

(1)

Market, ballet and distrust

173

(4)

The greatest dancer: Nureyev and his market

177

(1)

The exchange: Ballet and business

178

(2)

Conclusion: Ballet in the global marketplace

180

(3)

Reconstructing the Centre: Sociological Approaches to the Rebuilding of Berlin

183

(13)

Janet Stewart

Introduction

183

(2)

Formalism vs Functionalism

185

(1)

Architectural discourse and sociological discourse

186

(1)

Towards dialectics

187

(4)

Architecture and the postmodern crisis

191

(2)

A model for architecture in the twenty-first century?

193

(1)

Conclusion

194

(2)

References

196

(17)

Index

213

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Summary

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The Sociology of Art

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