ABSTRACT
The sociology of art and literature is an ill-defined and amorphous discipline, comprising numerous empirical studies and various attempts at rather more general theory, all of which have in common merely the fact that they are somehow concerned with the relationship of art and society. Sociologists of art have studied primitive art, art at different historical periods, the social background of artists, the relationship of class and artistic taste, and more general problems of art in society. The sociologist of literature may investigate the social basis of authorship, the sociology of production and distribution of works of literature, literature in primitive society, the relationship of values expressed in literature and values of society, and historical data relating to literature and society. Berger and Luckmann show how society exists as subjective reality in the individual consciousness, and how it subsequently, through a process of objectification and reification, appears as objective reality.
