SO253: FINAL

cultural omnivore thesis

"Elites" no longer use highbrow taste to demonstrate cultural distinction, but are eclectic in their tastes - characterized as cultural "omnivores" - omnivores consume both high and low culture

4 basic dimensions to McDonaldization

1. Efficiency 2. Calculability 3. Predictability 4. Control

how does Storey define popular?

1. Folk culture 2. Mass culture 3. "Other" than high culture 4. An arena of hegemony 5. Basis for personal and collective identity formation

how does Williams define popular?

1. Liked by many people 2. Deemed unworthy or inferior 3. Work deliberately seeking to win favor with people 4. Forms of culture made by people for themselves

gentrification

1. Neighborhood change: increasing home values, rents, and "newcomers" with higher incomes and educational backgrounds 2. Increased wealth, "upscaling" amenities, but closure of affordable shops and housing 3. Displacement of lower-income tenants and minority residents 4. Cultural tensions between "old timers" and "newcomers"

how does Grazian define popular?

1. Well-liked (often commercially successful) 2. Globally ubiquitous and easily recognized (if perhaps disliked or mocked) 3. Commercial media thought to be trivial, tacky; mass culture; intended for general consumption (unfavorably compared to fine arts) 4. Belonging to the people; associated with authenticity and populism 5. Media events experienced simultaneously in real time by national or global mass audiences

internet as public sphere

A sphere of public opinion and debate

who coined the term collective effervescence?

Emile Durkeim

approaches to studies of consumption: economic explanations

Emphasize buying for personal and benefits; utility maximization

approaches to studies of consumption: social psychology explanations

Emphasize buying for personal gratification (asocial behavior)

approaches to studies of consumption: cultural explanations

Emphasize the symbolic meaning of goods; goods have shared meanings that let us tap into a symbolic order; they are a way of expressing identity and making meaning

fandoms

Jenkins demonstrates that fans are pro-active constructors of an alternative culture using elements "poached" and reworked from the popular media

functionalism

MACRO: each of society's institutions contributes important functions for society

critical/conflict theories

MACRO: views society as composed of different groups and interests competing for power and resources

symbolic interactionism

MICRO: people in society understand their social worlds through communication - the exchange of meaning through language and symbols

cultural convergence

Suggests that when cultures are subject to many of the same global flows, they tend to become more alike (e.g. McDonaldization)

collective effervescence

a shared feeling of identity expressed by waves of emotion, unity, and togetherness

subcultures

a social world that stands apart from the larger society in some distinctively patterned way

fields

a theoretical space in which agents compete for reputation and capital in struggle over position-takings

code-switching

ability to negotiate among multiple and varied cultural worlds simultaneously

stigma

any personal attribute that is deeply discrediting to its possessors, including abominations of the body and blemishes of individual character

social closure

any way groups try to maintain exclusive control over resources, limiting access to them

the principle of hypo-descendent

anyone who is known to have had a Negro ancestor is a Negro

post-structuralism

argues that, to understand an object, it is necessary to study both the object itself and the systems of knowledge that produce the object

art worlds

art works are produced through the cooperation of many individuals

hypo-descendent

association with the subordinate rather than the superordinate group in order to avoid the ambiguity of intermediate identity

how does habitus change?

by one habitus bumping up against another one; when your existing habitus enters a new situation

how do critical/conflict theories attempt to explain popular culture?

by the enormous cultural power of the mass media industry

social capital

capital derived primarily from a person's position and social status; WHO you know

cultural capital

capital gained through familiarity with the "legitimate" culture of society, as achieved through education and passed on through families; WHAT you know

economic capital

capital in the form of assets, such as financial wealth or income' what you own

what does the market do to social relations?

civilizing, corrupting, and alternate view (markets are rational)

what are the 3 ritual paradigms taking place during mardi gras?

command paradigm, market paradigm, and veneration paradigm

structuralism

concerned with the unobservable structures that have an observable effect on human behavior, society, and culture - understanding the skeleton by digging deep and seeing that there are bones there

symbolic interactionist view of how something becomes popular

conformity and social networks

what are the 3 theories of globalization?

cultural differentialism, cultural hybridity, cultural convergence

proximity

desire to enter into the game, identifying with the characters' joys and sufferings, worrying about their fate, espousing their hopes and ideals, living their lives (Bourdieu); associated with pop aesthetic

globalization

development of social and economic relationships that span the globe

market paradigm

disrobement occurs in exchange for beads; there is an economic exchange - the beads are seen as currency

what are theories of popular culture under critical/conflict theories?

dominance in society by small group of big corporations, big corporations manufacture desires and mold minds, reproduction of social inequalities, reproduction of stereotypes, form of social control

third approach to texts

double viewing - text viewed simultaneously as "real" and "constructed" (Jenkins)

what determines the position of agents within a field?

economic capital and cultural capital

market economy

economic system defined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses

forms of capital

economic, cultural, and social

approaches to studies of consumption: structural explanations

emphasize status; goods are markers of class, status, and display

medical frame

excess weight/fat is a medical problem

market society

expansion of private property and money as means of exchange; increasing commodification

immortality frame

fat is evidence of sloth and gluttony, a moral problem

conspicuous consumption

flagrant consumption of expensive and luxurious goods and services, designed to exhibit status and distinction in public

critical distance

for the distanced observer, the text remains something out there, untouched and often untouchable (Jenkins); associated with the bourgeois aesthetic

racialization

formation of a racial identity by drawing ideological boundaries of difference around a group of people

interpretive communities

groups of people who attribute meaning and significance to media

mass media (place on field)

high economic capital, low cultural capital

what does the sociological imagination enable us to grasp?

history and biography; and the relations between the two within society

intersectionality

idea that social categorizations such as race, class, and gender are interconnected as they apply to a given individual or group, creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage

mass culture

identical under monopoly capitalism, distinct from autonomous art, robs people of imagination and critical thought, and invents new desires for consumer goods

Saguy's six problem frames

immortality, medical, public health, health at any size, beauty, and fat rights frame

according to structuralism, how is human behavior understood?

in the CONTEXT of the social system (or structure) in which they exist

public health crisis frame

increasing population weights is a public health crisis

social networks

individuals connected to one another through a variety of relationships - we agree with our social networks

why is public nudity acceptable in the market paradigm?

it's seen as a ritual exchange, so the participation in the ritual makes it more acceptable

art for art's sake (place on field)

low economic capital, high cultural capital

commercial society

market economy turning into market society

social production of meaning

meaning making is not a solitary and private process, but rather a social and public one (Jenkins)

media framing

media has the power to shape public discourse by shaping the mental frameworks through which people see the world

conscious consumption

minimalism

response to the structural explanations approach to studies of consumption

omnivore thesis from Friedman

symbolic interactionists: whose word matters?

opinion leaders, early adopters, and market mavens

agency

our capacity to act independently and make free choices

habitus

our set of intuitive dispositions that inform the way to behave in different contexts

conformity

people agree with the consensus of the group, even if they don't truly believe in what is being agreed with

technical affordances

physical layout and networking capabilities, platform, and interface; what a platform offers in terms of accessibility and network building

commercialism

practices or attitudes rooted in market systems

private troubles

private matters; occur within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others

functions of popular culture

promote cohesion and social solidarity

what are the two approaches to text?

proximity and critical distance

public issues

public matters; have to do with matters that transcend local environments of the individual and the range of his inner life

cultural affordances

quality and character of discourse that a platform enables

reception

reactions to popular culture media

what is Jenkin's model of reception

reception leads to production, the cycle continues

social change

refers to political, economic, and cultural change

command paradignm

reinforcement of class hierarchies that is occurring between the people on the balconies and the people on the street

cultural hegemony

ruling class dominated society by manipulating the culture of that society

ethnicity

social definition based on some real or presumed cultural characteristics, such as language, religion, traditions, and cultural practices

race

social definition based on some real or presumed physical, biological characteristic, such as skin color, as well as shared lineage

how is the learning of habitus?

social, not individual

social drama

stories of conflict, narrated in communication, including antagonists, protagonists, and a supporting cast of characters involved in an unfolding storyline

approaches to studies of consumption

structural, economic, social psychology, and cultural explanations

countercultures

subcultures in which values and belief systems of the community strongly and directly oppose the values and belief systems of the dominant culture

cultural hybridity

suggests that the mixing of the cultures and the integration of the global and the local lead to unique combinations (e.g. "glocalization)

social movements

sustained and intentional collective effort, usually operating outside of established institutional channels, either to bring about or resist to social change

what are structuralists interested in?

symbols and signs

how does Bourdieu believe tastes are learned?

tastes are not natural or inherent to an individual; they are developed based on how you were raised and your exposure to family and class situations

beauty frame

tendency to equate thinness with beauty is an aesthetic problem

signified

the CONCEPT to which an object refers

sociological imagination

the ability to see the link between society and self

rationalization

the action of making a company, process, or industry more efficient, especially by dispensing with superfluous personnel or equipment

scenes

the actual places where the participants of subcultures experience their shared identity through social interaction

health at any size frame

the focus on weight loss and dieting are health problems

sociological imagination: biography

the individuals' actions that lead to larger events

structure

the menu of choices available to us

signifier

the physical, material form of an object

what does symbolic interactionism emphasize?

the power of informal processes, such as word of mouth and peer influence, in the cultural marketplace

McDonaldization

the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world

conventions

the taken-for-granted rules and agreed-upon assumptions that make social activity possible

sociological imagination: history

the things we can't control - societal norms, expectations

collective conscious

the totality of the beliefs and sentiments common to average citizens of the same society

cultural differentialism

theory of cultural globalization; suggests there are lasting differences between cultures - cultures are still affected by globalization, but at their core, they remain fundamentally distinct

dominant reading

to decode the text exactly as the producer intended it to be read

oppositional reading

to understand the intended meaning and messages of the producer, but rejected the producer's meanings

negotiated reading

to understands the intended meanings and messages of the producer, but adapt them to fit with your own beliefs

enablers of globalization

transportation, communication, legalistic and organizational frameworks

commodification

treating something as a mere commodity

fat rights frame

weight-based discrimination is a social justice problem

relational mismatches

when boundaries, media, and meanings of relationships do not appropriately align

veneration paradigm

women disrobe from balconies to the acclaim of street viewers

entrepreneurial labor

workers invest their own economic and bodily capital in their careers for the improbable opportunity to gain potentially lucrative rewards