SOC 300 Sociology of Culture

Over the past century and a half, we have used the terms 'culture' and 'cultural' with a wide range of meanings: objects, genres, conventions, actions, mental representations, and even complex institutional structures are all part of culture in one way or another. That is, although there is a distinct domain of explicitly cultural production, most of culture happens, perhaps paradoxically, outside that domain. In this course, what unifies our study of culture is not its object as much as its approach: culture is about shared meaning, and it infuses all of social life - most of our common place experiences and activities are culturally shaped. We will explore sociological debates in relation to culture and taste, and see that sociology can contribute to reflections about aesthetic value and to approaches that draw attention to value-formation and various ways of valuing. At the end of the course, students will have been introduced to some of the major sociological theorists of culture, and will have a basic intellectual toolkit for understanding society 'culturally.'