ABSTRACT
The Routledge Handbook of the Sociology of Arts and Culture offers a comprehensive overview of sociology of art and culture, focusing especially – though not exclusively – on the visual arts, literature, music, and digital culture. Extending, and critiquing, Bourdieu’s influential analysis of cultural capital, the distinguished international contributors explore the extent to which cultural omnivorousness has eclipsed highbrow culture, the role of age, gender and class on cultural practices, the character of aesthetic preferences, the contemporary significance of screen culture, and the restructuring of popular culture. The Handbook critiques modes of sociological determinism in which cultural engagement is seen as the simple product of the educated middle classes. The contributions explore the critique of Eurocentrism and the global and cosmopolitan dimensions of cultural life. The book focuses particularly on bringing cutting edge ‘relational’ research methodologies, both qualitative and quantitative, to bear on these debates. This handbook not only describes the field, but also proposes an agenda for its development which will command major international interest.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |18 pages
Contemporary challenges for the sociology of art and culture
part |172 pages
Bourdieu's legacy and new perspectives for the sociology of art and culture
chapter |12 pages
A critique of the omnivore
part |113 pages
The fabric of aesthetics
chapter |8 pages
From sociology of culture to sociology of artistic producers
chapter |13 pages
Learning how to think, and feel, about contemporary art
chapter |15 pages
The world market of translation in the globalization era
part |166 pages
The complexity of cultural classifications