ABSTRACT

First published in 1982, The Sociology of Art considers all forms of the arts, whether visual arts, literature, film, theatre or music from Bach to the Beatles. The last book to be completed by Arnold Hauser before his death in 1978, it is a total analysis of the spiritual forces of social expression, based upon comprehensive historical experience and documentation. Hauser explores art through the earliest times to the modern era, with fascinating analyses of the mass media and current manifestations of human creativity. An extension and completion of his earlier work, The Social History of Art, this volume represents a summing up of his thought and forms a fitting climax to his life’s work. Translated by Kenneth J. Northcote.

part |86 pages

Fundamentals

part |242 pages

The Interaction between Art and Society

part |98 pages

Dialectic: Light and Will-o'-the-Wisp

part |117 pages

En Route from Author to Public

chapter |11 pages

Address and Discussion

chapter |7 pages

On the Experience of Art

chapter |14 pages

The Consumers of Art

chapter |10 pages

The Mediators

chapter |18 pages

Art Criticism

chapter |17 pages

Institutions of Mediation

chapter |12 pages

The Art Trade

chapter |5 pages

Success and Failure

part |109 pages

The Differentiation of Art According to Cultural Strata

chapter |9 pages

Class and Culture

chapter |18 pages

Folk-Art

chapter |17 pages

Popular Art

chapter |14 pages

Mass Art

chapter |24 pages

The Mass Media

chapter |12 pages

Pop Art

part |107 pages

The End of Art?