Cultural Sociology

Learning from the worst behaved: Iceland's financial crisis and the Nordic comparison

by Mar Wolfgang Mixa

Co-authored with Throstur Olaf Sigurjonsson

This article explores how the financial crisis in 2008 could have been partially avoided by Iceland through observing... more This article explores how the financial crisis in 2008 could have been partially avoided by Iceland through observing the warning signs. Iceland experienced the harshest consequences from the financial crisis in the Western world, such as the total collapse of its banking sector. This article compares the prelude of Iceland's financial crisis to the Scandinavian one, less than 20 years ago, providing an understanding of the sources of the crisis and its impact. Results show that signs of over-expansion in Iceland were clear and numerous. Iceland's structural weaknesses resemble many other badly hit countries, simply more extreme.

Once in Khaki Suits: Socio-economic Features of the Icelandic Collapse - Comparisons to the Roaring 20s in the USA

by Mar Wolfgang Mixa

Published in Thodarspegillinn 2010

While the general discussion focuses on quantitative factors regarding the financial mania in Iceland 2003-2008, this... more While the general discussion focuses on quantitative factors regarding the financial mania in Iceland 2003-2008, this essay focuses on qualitative precipitating factors of what might develop sociologically into a speculative financial bubble.  A comparison to studies by Robert Shiller is used. This essay is thus in essence a study of socio-economics by use of an approach often referred to in the filed of economics as behavioral finance or literary economics.  The aim is creating a different and more holistic viewpoint of past events. Some of those applicable factors are compared to the Roaring Twenties, showing a remarkable similarity between the two periods despite being 70 years apart.  The discussion should show that danger signs could not only be detected by glancing at macro numbers or balance sheets of banks but also by detecting the development of society in Iceland as a whole.

Leftist Constructs

by Diana Pho

Upcoming article for Overland Magazine

"Diana M Pho on steampunk and progressive politics" "Diana M Pho on steampunk and progressive politics"

Epigenetic mechanism mediating the impact of child adversity on life-long adverse behavior

by Andrés Ginestet

Although epidemiological data provide evidence that early life experience plays a critical role in human development,... more Although epidemiological data provide evidence that early life experience plays a critical role in human development, the mechanism of how this works remains in question. Recent data from human and animal literature suggest that epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation, are involved not only in cellular differentiation, but also in the modulation of genome function in response to early life experience affecting gene
function and the phenotype. Such modulations may serve as a mechanism for life-long genome adaptation.
These changes seem to be widely distributed across the genome and to involve central and peripheral systems. Examining the environmental circumstances associated with the onset and reversal of DNA methylation will be critical for understanding risk and resiliency.

Visualising Communities. Possibilities of Network Analysis and Relational Sociology for the Survey and Analysis of Medieval Communities (in German)

by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Working Paper for a presentation for the SGB "Visions of Community" (http://www.univie.ac.at/viscom/index_viscom.php?seite=events) and the FSP "Gemeinschaftskonzepte, Identitäten und politische Integration", University of Vienna; slides online: http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller/Talks

Der Begriff des Netzwerkes erlebt spätestens seit der rasanten Verbreitung von „social
networks“ wie Facebook... more Der Begriff des Netzwerkes erlebt spätestens seit der rasanten Verbreitung von „social
networks“ wie Facebook einen fast inflationären Gebrauch in der öffentlichen Diskussion,
aber auch in verschiedenen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen, darunter der Geschichtsforschung.
Dabei ist es oft schwer zu entscheiden, wo dem Netzwerk-Begriff auch eine analytische
Aussagekraft zugrunde liegt und wo es sich nur um eine „Metapher“ oder ein „Schlagwort“
handelt, das Vergleichbarkeit mit Phänomenen der Gegenwart suggeriert, ohne
Wesentliches für den historischen Erkenntnisgewinn zu leisten.
Ein Ziel der sozialen Netzwerkanalyse ist es, Geflechte von Akteuren und Beziehungen in
strukturell und quantitativ fassbarer Form darzustellen. Darüber hinaus betrachtet aber die
„relationale Soziologie“ Akteure nicht nur als in soziale Netzwerke eingebettet; vielmehr
werden ihre Verhaltensweisen und Identitäten durch Interaktionen und Kommunikationsakte
im Netzwerk geprägt, ja überhaupt definiert. Die strukturell-quantitative Perspektive wird
damit wesentlich um qualitative Aspekte ergänzt; sowohl die Verknüpfungen zwischen
Akteuren als auch deren Rollen und Identitäten werden als Ergebnisse dynamischer
Prozesse verstanden.
In den letzten Jahren wurden diese Ansätze auch mit Konzepten der Systemtheorie (Niklas
Luhmann) und der Komplexitätsforschung verknüpft, um die Emergenz und Dynamik von
Gemeinschafts- und Identitätsbildungen von der individuellen Ebene über Gruppen bis hin zu
großen sozialen Formationen besser erfassen zu können. Diese Konzepte werden im
Vortrag präsentiert, diskutiert und durch auf der Grundlage mittelalterlicher Quellen erstellte
Fallbeispiele illustriert. Einige Ansätze und Beispiele wurden bereits in diversen Beiträgen
und Working Papers näher ausgeführt, die unter
http://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller auch im Internet frei zugänglich sind.

Iconspicuous Revolutions of 1989. Culture and Contingency in the Making of Political Icons

by Dominik Bartmanski

A Chapter in the Book "Iconic Power"

Published in 2012 by Palgrave Macmillan

Sociological interpretation of news images inevitably take us beyond the surface of pictures to the surfaces and... more Sociological interpretation of news images inevitably take us beyond the surface of pictures to the surfaces and depths of events, to singular bodies and powerful crowds, sights and sites, built structures, and symbolically constructed narratives. It is precisely the new prism of iconicity through which the effects of shocking and euphoric events that seem well known can be explained in full. If icons are indeed stars of the social universe, then sociological analysis provides lenses through which we can better see them. With the theory of iconic power, we can make use of the light of “social stars” to learn new things about the social universe as such.

In his chapter “Iconspicuous Revolution: Culture and Contingency in the Making of Political Icons,” Dominik Bartmański revisits the European icons of the euphoric year of 1989 and asks what constitutes a powerful iconic fact. Specifically, he explains why the fall of the Berlin Wall emerged as the icon of 1989 and has retained this symbolic status ever since. The answer is not obvious. 1989 was full of epochal events and important figures busy making history. Especially the earlier, politically unprecedented changes in Hungary and Poland had opened up a revolutionary space in which such events like the fall of the wall became possible. And yet they have not attained the same lasting influence on the international audiences. To reconstruct this phenomenon is to tell a story about how the iconic can trump the political. By demonstrating what counts in public perception as “revolutionary,” “political signal,” and “beginning” and “end” of a social process, Bartmański shows the role that iconicity plays in constituting these key categories and thus in structuring our ability to notice, understand, and remember events. He argues that it is precisely the iconic power of events that turns them into “objective,” temporal markers of history.

Materiality and Meaning in Social Life: Toward an Iconic Turn in Cultural Sociology

by Dominik Bartmanski

Introduction to the book "Iconic Power" co-authored with Jeffrey C. Alexander

With this volume, we push the study of culture into the material realm, not to make cultural sociology materialistic... more With this volume, we push the study of culture into the material realm, not to make cultural sociology materialistic but to make the study of material life more cultural. We introduce the concept of iconicity, and alongside it the idea of iconic power. Objects become icons when they have not only material force but also symbolic power. Actors have iconic consciousness when they experience material objects, not only understanding them cognitively or evaluating them morally but also feeling their sensual, aesthetic force.

Paradoxes of Sociology: Some Notes on the Meaning and Reception of Jeffrey Alexander's Work

by Dominik Bartmanski

This is an article in Polish.

It serves as the introduction to the book:

Jeffrey C. Alexander – Znaczenia Społeczne: Studia z Socjologii Kulturowej (Social Meanings: Studies in Cultural Sociology. Krakow: Nomos

Z obwoluty książki Jeffreya Alexandra The Meanings of Social Life zachęcają nas do jej lektury słowa Zygmunta... more
Z obwoluty książki Jeffreya Alexandra The Meanings of Social Life zachęcają nas do jej lektury słowa Zygmunta Baumana. W swym krótkim omówieniu tego klasycznego już manifestu kulturalistycznego, Bauman zwraca szczególną uwagę
na jego inspirującą paradoksalność, która spełnia się w przekonującym łączeniu przez Alexandra wątków pozornie przeciwstawnych, w systematycznym dążeniu do zintegrowania tego, co w tradycji socjologicznej pozostawało zwykle rozdzielo-ne lub wzięte za antytezy. Działanie i znaczenie, opis i wyjaśnienie, powszedniość i transcendencja, religijność i racjonalność, wartości i fakty, w końcu poezja kul-tury i proza przyziemności – to według Baumana klasyczne dychotomie ukazane przez socjologię Alexandra w fascynującym i rewidującym dyscyplinę świetle. Celność tej uwagi czyni ją adekwatnym kluczem nie tylko do zrozumienia zawartych w tym tomie tekstów, ale także wyborów intelektualnych, które legły u ich podstaw.

The Word/Image Dualism Revisited: Towards an Iconic Conception of Visual Culture

by Dominik Bartmanski

published in Journal of Sociology, 2012

Is there any difference between the widely discussed ‘pictorial turn’ and the emerging ‘iconic turn’? If so, does it... more Is there any difference between the widely discussed ‘pictorial turn’ and the emerging ‘iconic turn’? If so, does it matter? The answers to these questions are positive if we look at the problem from a cultural sociological point of view. It has been observed that the concept of the ‘iconic turn’, coined by a German philosopher Gottfried Boehm, may capture more effectively the sense of life attributed to visual objects than W.J.T. Mitchell’s famous ‘pictorial turn’. This article endorses this conjecture and provides a theoretical context for its justification. It thus contributes to the emerging debate about the paradigm shift in studies of visual culture.

Anatomy of the Italian Web TV ecosystem. Current issues and future challenges.

by Valentina Bazzarin

Co-authored with Emiliano Trerè

The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the emergent Italian Web TV ecosystem. We begin by sketching a... more The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the emergent Italian Web TV ecosystem. We begin by sketching a summary of the Italian media scenario, focusing on three related aspects: the Rai-Mediaset duopoly, the Berlusconi anomaly and digital revolution of the TV system. We then switch to the Italian digital resistance scenario and describe some of the most interesting experiences developed in the Italian context. In the third part, we dissect and analyze the phenomenon of Italian Web TVs, exploring its roots, legal status, producers and audiences. We conclude by providing a reflection on Italian Web TVs as an ecosystem, both by pointing out some future challenges it will face within the Italian media scenario and by focusing on the role of active citizens and unprofessional producers in changing the scenario and in advocating pluralism and creativeness.

Una mirada del habitante en el espacio de la vivienda de interés social

by Adolfo Gomez Amador

Producto del proyecto de investigación de doctorado de Ana Rosa Velasco

Breaking expectations: Imagined affinities in mediated youth cultures

by Mary Fogarty

Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies

Volume 26, Issue 3, 2012
Special Issue: Mediated Youth Cultures
Editors: Andy Bennett & Brady Robards

This article examines the mediated encounters experienced by participants in hip hop and funk dance styles especially... more This article examines the mediated encounters experienced by participants in hip hop and funk dance styles especially breaking or b-boying/b-girling. It introduces the concept of imagined affinities to describe the spectrum of these encounters, which are enacted through mediated texts, or by travels through new places. Using interviews with dancers as a guide, I argue that artefacts made, distributed and circulated by dancers help to produce perceptions of commonalities between them. The nature of the process of rapid mediatisation, which has taken place during the past few decades, and its subsequent impact on breaking or b-boying/b-girling, are considered here through a concerted effort to historicize shifts in practice and experience. I examine the historical moment when homemade videotapes began to proliferate in the cultural practices of breaking, providing a source for the values and codes of hip hop culture. At that time, dancers on tour, who created the videos, celebrated the local contexts of other dancers from around the world while simultaneously showing a determination to appreciate breaking through its own practices and formats, even as these practices were becoming rapidly transformed and expanded through international networks.

No Tolerance to Intolerance! We are different but we are all equal!

by Tornike Metreveli

Yesterday in Tbilisi  a peaceful protest for LGBT rights to mark the International Day Against Homophobia ended... more Yesterday in Tbilisi  a peaceful protest for LGBT rights to mark the International Day Against Homophobia ended in a physical scuffle when religious groups violently disrupted the gathering. In this letter, I try to search for reasons for intolerance and explain the calamity of certain actors by structural factors.

THE MYTH OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY

by stanley wilkin

Part of a larger projected piece.

This work is part of a larger projected piece examining the nature of present society through the past and in the... more This work is part of a larger projected piece examining the nature of present society through the past and in the process critiqueing Classical Greek importance to the present day.

La conversion de Pirandello au cinéma

by Fabio Andreazza

published in 'Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales', 161/162 (mars 2006)

In 1915, Pirandello publishes Si gira (Shoot!), a novel whose main protagonist/ narrator is a movie operator. This... more In 1915, Pirandello publishes Si gira (Shoot!), a novel whose main protagonist/ narrator is a movie operator. This work bears witness both to his interest in the new art, and to the low esteem in which he held it. Pirandello’s distrust seems to be related to his specific social dispositions as a provincial and to the structural antagonism that opposed him, a yet little known writer defending a very demanding conception of art, to D’Annunzio and the Futurists, who were already famous and were then the only Italian writers defending cinema. Pirandello’s position changes considerably in the early 1920s. The success of Six Characters in Search of An Author launches his international career and makes him aware that the cinematographic field is much wider and more differentiated than what he had initially thought in the 1910s. The work of some directors seemed to confirm that transposing his own poetics into film was possible. He then conceived the project of a movie adapted from his most famous theater play and even entertained the notion of triggering a cinematographic revolution as important as the one he had accomplished for theater.

En 1915 Pirandello publie On tourne, un roman dont le protagoniste / narrateur est un opérateur de cinéma. Ce texte témoigne de son intérêt pour le nouvel art, mais aussi du peu de considération qu’il lui accorde. La méfiance de Pirandello semble liée à ses dispositions de provincial et à l’antagonisme structural qui l’oppose, comme écrivain attaché à une conception exigeante de l’art et encore peu connu, à D’Annunzio et aux futuristes qui, déjà célèbres, sont les rares écrivains italiens de l’époque à défendre le cinéma. La position de Pirandello change considérablement au début des années 1920. La carrière internationale que lui ouvre le succès de Six personnages en quête d’auteur, lui donne l’occasion de mesurer que l’espace cinématographique est plus vaste et plus différencié qu’il ne le pensait dans l’Italie des années 1910. Certains metteurs en scène lui paraissent témoigner de la possibilité de produire des films conformes à sa poétique. Il conçoit alors le projet d’un film tiré de sa pièce la plus célèbre et affiche même l’ambition de réaliser dans le cinéma une révolution analogue à celle qu’il avait opérée dans le théâtre.

La conversion de Pirandello au cinéma

by Fabio Andreazza

published in 'Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales', 161/162 (mars 2006)

In 1915, Pirandello publishes Si gira (Shoot!), a novel whose main protagonist/ narrator is a movie operator. This... more In 1915, Pirandello publishes Si gira (Shoot!), a novel whose main protagonist/ narrator is a movie operator. This work bears witness both to his interest in the new art, and to the low esteem in which he held it. Pirandello’s distrust seems to be related to his specific social dispositions as a provincial and to the structural antagonism that opposed him, a yet little known writer defending a very demanding conception of art, to D’Annunzio and the Futurists, who were already famous and were then the only Italian writers defending cinema. Pirandello’s position changes considerably in the early 1920s. The success of Six Characters in Search of An Author launches his international career and makes him aware that the cinematographic field is much wider and more differentiated than what he had initially thought in the 1910s. The work of some directors seemed to confirm that transposing his own poetics into film was possible. He then conceived the project of a movie adapted from his most famous theater play and even entertained the notion of triggering a cinematographic revolution as important as the one he had accomplished for theater.

En 1915 Pirandello publie On tourne, un roman dont le protagoniste / narrateur est un opérateur de cinéma. Ce texte témoigne de son intérêt pour le nouvel art, mais aussi du peu de considération qu’il lui accorde. La méfiance de Pirandello semble liée à ses dispositions de provincial et à l’antagonisme structural qui l’oppose, comme écrivain attaché à une conception exigeante de l’art et encore peu connu, à D’Annunzio et aux futuristes qui, déjà célèbres, sont les rares écrivains italiens de l’époque à défendre le cinéma. La position de Pirandello change considérablement au début des années 1920. La carrière internationale que lui ouvre le succès de Six personnages en quête d’auteur, lui donne l’occasion de mesurer que l’espace cinématographique est plus vaste et plus différencié qu’il ne le pensait dans l’Italie des années 1910. Certains metteurs en scène lui paraissent témoigner de la possibilité de produire des films conformes à sa poétique. Il conçoit alors le projet d’un film tiré de sa pièce la plus célèbre et affiche même l’ambition de réaliser dans le cinéma une révolution analogue à celle qu’il avait opérée dans le théâtre.

Animal Cultures, Subjectivity and Knowledge: Symmetrical Reflections Beyond the Great Divide

by Richie Nimmo

Society and Animals: Journal of Human-Animal Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2: 173-192.

This article reflects upon the implications for sociology of the steady accumulation of evidence in the sciences of... more This article reflects upon the implications for sociology of the steady accumulation of evidence in the sciences of animal behavior pointing to the existence of culture among nonhuman animals. With a particular focus on primatology, it explores how these developments challenge the notions of “culture” that continue to inform the study of human social life. The article argues that this growing challenge to the assumption of human uniqueness that has historically provided the core rationale for sociology cannot be ignored. The paper thus contributes to the overdue work of articulating a constructive response by tracing the issues involved in the encounter between these knowledges. Theoretical currents from science studies and actor-network theory are drawn upon in order to propose a reflexive and symmetrical realignment of this encounter, with significant implications for our understandings of human and animal being and subjectivity.

How do we understand taste in music?

by Ganna Grebennikova

An student essay written in Cambridge for 'Media and Culture' class at the Mphil in Modern Society and Global Transformations. Supervised by Peter Webb. An exercise in sociology of culture: Adorno, Bourdieu, Alexander, Archer at al. used to position music in sociological theory and culture studies.

Westernisation, Rationalisation, Amalgamation: Party Politics in Intercivilisational Encounters

by Vit Simral

2009, « Habitus, Freedom and Reflexivity », in Theory and Psychology Volume 19, no. 6, pp. 728-755.

by Mathieu Hilgers

The question of freedom is recurrent in the theory of habitus. In this paper I propose that the notion of freedom is... more The question of freedom is recurrent in the theory of habitus. In this paper I propose that the notion of freedom is an essential and necessary component for the coherence of the analyses which mobilize habitus both in terms of their theoretical articulation and in terms of their grounding in empirical reality. This argument can seem surprising considering that the theory of habitus has often been accused of being deterministic. Yet I show that, from an epistemological point of view, habitus theory is not deterministic. Bourdieu’s treatment of this concept implies at least three principles that exclude determinism: (1) the production of an infinite number of behaviors from a limited number of principles, (2) permanent mutation, and (3) the intensive and extensive limits of sociological understanding. After identifying and describing these principles, I show the reason for their incompatibility with a deterministic perspective and consider their implications for the corresponding model of action. I illustrate this analysis by a discussion of Loïc Wacquant’s carnal sociology of the pugilistic universe which reveals why it is essential to understand and explain the relation between habitus and freedom.