10659 Sociology of Culture

Credits: 6 intermediate credits in Sociology & Anthropology or in Communication or in Social Sciences - General

Prerequisites: none

Recommended: Introduction to Sociology, Introduction to Anthropology

Author: Motti Regev

The course focuses on the social role of culture and art, in light of the processes of cultural change that took place in the last half century. It delineates the major research approaches and theories that examine and explain various aspects of this issue, including the flourishing of popular culture and the erosion of the difference between popular and high culture; the role of the arts as tools of critique and subversion; the role of taste, aesthetic judgment and cultural consumption in the preservation and change of social structure; art and culture in national contexts and in the processes of globalization; the organizational frameworks in which cultural activity takes place.

Chapters: Sociology and culture: Approaches and research areas; The social ‘work’ of culture; The institutional and organizational context of culture; Art, popular culture: Between modernity and postmodernity; Ideology, hegemony, critique and subversion; Cultural capital and the field of cultural production; Taste, consumption and social position; National and local cultures; Global culture and world society; Conclusion.