Culture

Nature and Culture

There is a movement among sociologists and social critics to include the built environment and physical bodies in social analysis, and to think seriously about the ways that locations and creatures (including people) matter to group life. Part of this comes from anthropological leanings in sociology, and the tradition of thick description that includes discussions

Popular Culture

The word ‘‘popular’’ denotes ‘‘of the people,’’ ‘‘by the people,’’ and ‘‘for the people.’’ In other words, it is made up of them as subjects, whom it textualizes via drama, sport, and information; workers, who undertake that textualization through performances and recording; and audiences, who receive the ensuing texts. Three discourses determine the direction sociologists

Culture and Economy

In traditional academic discourse, culture and economy have long been regarded as separate analytical spheres: on the one hand, the realm of shared cognitions, norms, and symbols, studied by anthropologists; on the other hand, the realm of self interest, where economists reign supreme. Though the two disciplines overlap occasionally (in economic anthropology mainly), radical differences

Culture in Organizations

Culture in organizations refers to the values, norms, and patterns of action that characterize the social relationships within formal organizations. Jaques (1951) first described the changing culture of a factory, defining it as the customary or traditional ways of doing things, which are shared to a greater or lesser extent by all members of the

Culture and the State

Studies of culture and the state focus on a range of relationships between modern political regimes and patterns of symbolic and material life. They reveal the diverse ways that power works through culture, and provide means for a better understanding of how power is accumulated, organized, and deployed in or around state systems. Much work

Culture Industry

Culture industry is a term which performs both a descriptive and conceptual function. It also has a history. Since the term was coined by Horkheimer and Adorno in their 1947 essay ‘‘The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception,’’ both what the term designates and its theoretical implications have undergone a number of shifts. In its

Culture Jamming

Culture jamming refers to an organized, social activist effort that aims to counter the bombardment of consumption oriented messages in the mass media. For Habermas (1985), an ideal speech situation is one in which all participants within a public space are empowered to reach consensus on issues of mutual importance through engagement in symmetrical discourse.

Sociology of Culture

The sociology of culture and, the related, cultural sociology concerns the systematic analysis of culture, usually understood as the ensemble of symbolic codes used by a members of a society, as it is manifested in the society. Culture in the sociological field is analyzed as the ways of thinking and describing, the ways of acting

Celebrity Culture

Celebrity culture is characterized by a pervasive preoccupation with famous persons and an extravagant value attached to the lives of public figures whose actual accomplishments may be limited, but whose visibility is extensive. It became a feature of social life, especially in the developed world, during the late 1980s/ early 1990s and extended into the

Sport Culture and Subcultures

Research and theoretical approaches to sport culture and subcultures in the sociology of sport fall into three overlapping periods: (1) early interest in sport subcultures from an interactionist perspective; (2) a transition period during which more critical theoretical approaches to culture and subcultures and more rigorous methodological approaches emerged; and (3) a wholehearted embrace of

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