Culture and Society: Contemporary Debates

by Jeffrey C. Alexander (Editor), Steven Seidman (Editor)

This volume brings together the major statements by the leading contemporary scholars of cultural analysis on the relation between culture and society. Part One surveys the range of current analytical debate over culture, focusing on the relationship of culture to social structure and power. While individual contributions differ in defining the nature of culture and its relation to society, they are in agreement in assessing the relative autonomy of culture and the centrality of symbolic analysis. Part Two turns to substantive debates, including those over the role of religion, secular ideology, and mass culture and brings to light disputes about the meaning of modernity. The book testifies to the remarkable development in the past two decades of a cultural paradigm for social and political analysis.

Genres: Sociology, Social Science

384 pages, Hardcover

First published August 31, 1990

About the author

Jeffrey Charles Alexander is an American sociologist, and one of the world's leading social theorists. He is the founding figure in the school of cultural sociology he refers to as the "strong program"

Reviews

[Kia]

Carrying me Thru my undergrad thesis luv u Jeff xo

[Mungo Sheaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of short and accessible essays (plus a helpful introduction) that outline the different camps in culture/critical theory. The essays are divided by which streams of thought they fall under--Semiotics, Structuralism and Postructuralism, Dramaturgy, Marxism, Functionalism, and more--with each section receiving 2 to 3 essays. A great collection to be used as both a sourcebook and something to read cover to cover.