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
