Cultural Sociology in Practice

Cultural Sociology in Practice is a concise introduction to the burgeoning new field of cultural sociology. Using straightforward language and popular examples, the book sorts out various cultural concepts and types of cultural analysis. Part I outlines the origins and theoretical premises of cultural sociology, and it demonstrates culturalist approaches to religion, the media/popular culture, and race/ethnicity. Part II explains exciting new culturalist methods, focusing on ethnography, discourse analysis, audience/reception research, and cultural history. The text also includes lists of key terms and study questions, providing a useful overview for students grappling with cultural concepts for the first time.

ISBN 0631210903   Pages 280 ISBN13 9780631210900 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd   Weight (grammes) 424 Imprint Blackwell Publishers   Published in Oxford Format Paperback   Series title 21st Century Sociology Publication date 02 Jan 2002   Height (mm) 228 Library of Congress 2001025206   Width (mm) 153 DEWEY 306   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Undergraduate, Professional / Scholarly, Postgraduate

		List of Figures and Tables
		Acknowledgments
1		Introduction: What Is Culture, and How Does Culture Work?		1
Pt. 1		Culture and Society		21
2		Religion and Ideology: Systems of Meaning in the Modern (and Postmodern) World		23
3		The Media and Popular Culture		56
4		Race and Representation		96
Pt. 2		Cultural Methodology: Getting a Handle on Culture		137
5		Naturalistic Inquiry: Ethnography, Ethnomethodology, and Dramaturgical Research		141
6		Discourse Analysis and Audience/Reception Research: Constructing and Deconstructing Texts, Talk, and Meaning		179
7		Structure, Agency, and "Comprehensive" Cultural Sociology		220
		References		237
		Index		262

"Cultural Sociology in Practice is a shockingly good book. Edles achieves the almost impossible task, a highly accessible book for students that provides a powerful and sophisticated disciplinary statement for their teachers. This is a wide-ranging survey of the vast and surging new field of cultural sociology. It is also a deep and penetrating theoretical and methodological argument in its own right. Moreover, Edles does not just write about the work of others; she provides numerous and compact cultural-sociological studies of her own. Filled with wisdom, fairness, and creativity, this is one of the very best statements of cultural sociology ever written." Jeffrey Alexander, University of California at Los Angeles "Cultural Sociology in Practice brightly illuminates the practices of studying culture in all of its forms for readers seeking a map of the field. Laura Desfor Edles writes intelligent, critical, and lucid prose as she explores the specifically sociological chartings of such cultural phenomena as religion, race, and the mass media. An eminently useful survey." Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Swarthmore College

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