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Hoorcollege samenvatting ST4Inhoud
Week 1 - The Durkheimian legacy: culture as classification....................................................................1
Week 2 - Structuralism & semiotics........................................................................................................4
Week 3 - Culture in action......................................................................................................................8
Week 4 - Culture & cognition................................................................................................................13
Week 5 - Field theory............................................................................................................................17
Week 1 - The Durkheimian legacy: culture as classification
The sociology of Emile Durkheim has left a legacy of two types of structuralism. The French tradition
has developed into the study of “cultural structures”, such as cultural classification systems, which
,has been one of the core concepts in recent cultural sociology. The British tradition focused on the
study of “social structures” which eventually led to the development of social network analysis, and
which we will return to at the end of this course. In this week we trace the development of the
French legacy of Durkheim and discuss the concept of classification systems. We read the work of
Michele Lamont on “symbolic boundaries” as an example of the influence of Durkheim on
contemporary cultural sociology.
The sociology of Durkheim > the French legacy of Durkheim
Durkheim’s influence of (contemporary) cultural sociology = symbolic boundaries (Lamont)
Structuralism
1. Cultural structures/cultural sociology = the French tradition
Cultural classification system
2. Social structures = the British tradition
Social network analysis
Lamont > symbolic boundaries
Lamont held interviews with upper-middle class white men in the US and France and compared
their answers.
French men draw strong vertical cultural boundaries: taste, high culture, language,
intellectualism. What they value in friends and people they respect is familiarity and competence
in intellectual matters > going to the theatre, speaking the language in a right way
US men draw weak horizontal cultural boundaries: the American men don’t care/don’t feel that
it is important that their friends are intellectual or in high culture. But they do care about moral
and socioeconomic boundaries > what they respect and who look up to are people who are
successful in the socioeconomic sphere: someone who has done well & they respect having a
strong work ethic and morality.
Lamonts work shows us symbolic boundaries. ‘symbolic boundaries are conceptual distinctions
made by social actors to categorize objects, people, practices, and even time and space’ > in this
instance, how to define people into different categories (respected or not respected). Symbolic
boundaries are cultural dimensions, and help to categorize things
‘social boundaries are objectified forms of social differences manifested in unequal access to and
unequal distribution of resources (material and nonmaterial) and social opportunities. They are
also revealed in stable behavioural patterns of association’ > it can have important consequences
for they way social life is organized: you hire people on the way they appear to you and the things
you respect of them (e.g. if they have morality) > symbolic boundaries have effect in real life.
Legacy of Durkheim > culture as classification systems
Totemism: belief and practice whereby groups identify themselves with a certain sacred object
(mostly an animal). It’s a central identification marker of these tribes. The totem is special, sacred and
respected, and has a moral force over them > external force that can inspire, give power or punish.
Totem: plays a double function: emblem of group and symbol of the sacred > Sacred = external
force = society. The sacred object is a representation of the collective (i.e. a collective
representation) > they project/symbolize society as an animal. Examples of totems: wristbands
from festivals like LowLands and photoalbums.
Animals are good to think with. Levi-Strauss: totemism is an example of how people use animal
distinctions to expres and to give meaning to social structures and to social and oppositions. It’s a
way of meaning making, a way to think
Categorization
2
, Where do our fundamental categories of understanding (causality, time, space, categorization and
concepts, etc.) come from? They seem so intrinsic and normal, but where do they come from?
1. Empiricists (Hume): we learn them through experiences (causality: we see one thing repetitively
follow from another). BUT are they then necessary (if they are only being learned)?
2. Rationalist or apriorists (Descartes and Kant): these ideas are innate and apriori and therefore
necessary (we can not thing outside of these categories). BUT if they are innate, how can they
vary?
3. Durkheim: they are learned and necessary because these are social concepts, collective
representations. They are imprinted on us through our social being which we cannot escape > the
group is what makes us think along these lines, we cannot escape thinking along these categories
(group thinking)
Grouping/categorizing things comes naturally to us. The ways in which groups are organized in
society may reflect the mental maps/structure of society > two examples =
Tribes: The social structure of the tribe almost directly influences the way they think about
classification of things like nature (tribe > 2 moiety > several clans). The way the clans (and their
animal names) are hierarchical divided in a social structure, this structure is also applied to how
the animals are divided in hierarchy in natural classification systems (taxonomy) > godlike
creatures
France: why do they have strong hierarchical boundaries between intellectual/non-intellectual?
Hierarchical and standardized educational system with early ‘tracking’ (segregating children
based on their level of education) > the cultural idea of ‘natural intellectual talent’ to differentiate
people. If this is done in the education system, intellectual capabilities are used for hierarchical
thinking in normal life.
Structuralism: a theoretical approach that sees elements of human culture and society as part of a
larger, overarching system or structure. It posits that these structures shape and influence individual
behaviours, beliefs, and social practices. It can be divided into 2 main traditions:
1. The French tradition = cultural structures/cultural sociology
Influenced by Strauss. The idea that cultural phenomena (myths, language, rituals, etc.) can be
understood by uncovering the underlying structures that govern them.
Cultural classification:
Cultures classify and organize the world. It looks at how different societies use binary
oppositions (e.g., sacred/profane, nature/culture) to make sense of their world.
e.g. how Straus analyses myths to show that beneath the surface differences of cultures,
there are universal structures of human thought that shape how we categorize and interpret
the world.
To understand how cultural systems classify and make sense of the world.
2. The British tradition = social structures
Focuses on the relationships and interactions between individuals within a society
Social network analysis
maps and analyzes the patterns of relationships and social ties among individuals or groups
to understand the structure of society and social ties.
To understand how social structures influence behavior and social dynamics.
British vs French Structuralism
British structuralism (Radcliff Brown)
- Social structure as observable, actual existing relations
3
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