Durkheimian Sociology: Cultural StudiesThe classic works of Emile Durkheim are characterized by a structural approach to the understanding of collective behaviour, and it is this element of his writings that has been most taken up by modern social science. This volume, however, rejects the dominant structural approach, and draws instead on Durkheim's later work, in which he shifted to a symbolic theory of modern industrial societies that emphasized the importance of ritual and placed the tension between the sacred and the profane at the center of society. In so doing, the contributors offer both a radically different approach to Durkheimian sociology and a new way of linking the interpretation of culture and the interpretation of society. In his introduction to the volume, Jeffrey Alexander elaborates the new interpretation of Durkheim that informs the contributions. His arguments form a background for the lively and provacative chapters that follow, which provide broadly cultural interpretations of such topics as popular upheavals and social movements, ranging from the French Revolution to the massive rebellions in Poland and Nicaragua in the 1980s; political crisis, from Watergate to the crisis of legitimation in contemporary capitalism; and the creative and contingent element in symbolic behaviour, including the symbolics of intimate friendship, and the ritual and rhetoric of media events. In addition to re-examining Durkheimian sociology, the essays also demolish the myth that attention to cultural values implies conservatism or the inability to analyze social change, and challenge the common antithesis between normative theory and microsociology. Its exploration of the links between Durkheimian sociology and the most important developments in contemporary sociology, history, anthropology and semiotics will ensure it a broad appeal across the social sciences. |
What people are saying - Write a review
Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified
User Review - Flag as inappropriate
Nice
User Review - Flag as inappropriate
What are the effects of this social change in once leaving in the society?
Contents
The sacred and the French Revolution | 25 |
From Durkheim to Managua revolutions as religious revivals | 44 |
The Liminal fight mass strikes as ritual and interpretation | 66 |
Micro and macro in symbolic context | 91 |
Religious elements in friendship Durkheimian theory in an empirical context | 93 |
The Durkheimian tradition in conflict sociology | 107 |
Common terms and phrases
action activities actually American analysis argued authority become believe Bellah Books called celebrations central ceremonial Church civil religion collective concept concern consensus constitute contemporary continue course crisis critical cultural described developed differentiated discussion Durkheim Durkheimian economic elements emerged event example experience fact force Free French friendship function give hearings ideas important individual institutional integration interest interpretation involved issues labor later legitimation liminal live mass meaning media events moral movement nature organization Paris performance period person political present President problems profane provides reference regime relationship religious Revolution revolutionary ritual role rules sacred secular Senate sense significant situation social order social structure society sociology solidarity specific strike studies suggest symbolic television theoretical theory tradition turn understanding United University Press values Watergate workers York
References to this book
Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture Professor Roland Robertson No preview available - 1992 |
Bibliographic information
| Title | Durkheimian Sociology: Cultural Studies |
| Editor | Jeffrey C. Alexander |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, 1990 |
| ISBN | 0521396476, 9780521396479 |
| Length | 227 pages |
| Subjects | › › Social Science / Sociology / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |