ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the theoretical foundation of the sociology of art and literature. The sociology of art, that is, necessarily includes aesthetics. The constant dilemma of sociologists of art, in the face of the multiplicity of possible levels of analysis and types of data, will only be resolved by the development of a more general theory of art and society. This book, while maintaining its original intention to show the direction of an adequate sociology of art and literature, in fact remains a study in the sociology of knowledge. It asserts that hermeneutic philosophy avoids many of the difficulties of the traditional approaches to the sociology of knowledge. In relation to phenomenological sociology, the most important aspect of hermeneutics is its structural and historical perspective.
