Sociological classics and cultures

Sociological classics and cultures

Beata BellandiováZuzana Barboríková

Goal:•Present several sociologists and their

theories about cultures , mass media, metropolis and people.

Sociology•Sociology is the scientific study of society.

It is a social science which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity.

Culture• Can mean the cultivation associated with

“civilized” habits of mind.• Creative products associated with the arts, or

the entire way of life associated with a group. • Among sociologists, “culture” refers to the

beliefs that people hold about reality, the norms that guide their behavior, the values that orient their moral commitments, or the symbols through which these beliefs, norms, and values are communicated.

Georg Simmel•One of the first generation of German

sociologists.• The Metropolis and Mental Life (1903)• Blasé attitude

The Metropolis and Mental Life

•,,The deepest problems of modern life flow from the attempt of the individual to maintain the independence and individuality of his existence against the sovereign powers of society, against the weight of the historical heritage and the external culture and technique of life“.

Blasé attitude•Lack of emotions•Life is more intellectual•People are enslaved to time•Quantity over quality•„Blasé" – boring, superficiality, grayness,

indifference and alienation

•On the other hand, Simmel describes the metropolis as a place of liberation from the binding mentality of the small community, thus granting the individual more space and freedom to independently define himself.

Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno•Key members of Frankfurt school•The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as

Mass Deception•Influenced by Karl Marx

•The Culture Industry is characterized by three specific ideas: Monopoly, Mass Production, and Technology.

•This industry is unique in that it does not reflect economic processes and essentially becomes homogenous thus, variation is meaningless.

•Films, radio and magazines make up a system which is uniform as a whole and in every part

Edward Shills•Center and Periphery•Central zone in the structure of society•Every society has an ,,official“ religion

3 central aspects•central value system•institutions that are the realm of action

and exercise authority•elites that are equated with authority

Raymond Williams

•Base and Superstructure•Meaning and values are determined by

some more objective material reality.

Clifford Geertz•Thick Description: Toward and

Interpretive Theory of Culture•Influenced by Gilbert Ryle •Winks upon winks upon winks

Object of ethnography

•Difference between ,,thin description“ and ,,thick description“

Pierre Bourdieu•Extended the idea of capital to 3

categories •Social space

Thank you for your attention! Have a nice day