Cultural Sociology with Amy and Friends

"CuLTuRe iS EaSy To DeFiNE"

[soc-and-friends]

1. Genealogical Imaginations

        In her book, Ancestors and Relatives: Genealogy, Identity, and Community, Eviatar Zerubavel defines the genealogical imagination as being "the way we envision ancestry, descent, and other forms of relatedness" (Zerubavel, 2011). She asserts that labels, such as "grandpa," have allowed for our genealogical imaginations to connect to a near infinite line of ancestors (Zerubavel, 2011). Zerubavel also highlights the influence that one's cultural surroundings can have on one’s genealogical imagination. For instance, cultural preferences can encourage people to use their genealogical imaginations to alter their real biological lineages, genealogies, by highlighting some ancestors and disregarding the existence of others to gain both dignity and social membership. Therefore, genealogies are social constructs (Zerubavel, 2011).

         This term connects to the concept of economic dignity (Pugh, 2009) as they both involve individuals obtaining certain scrib to achieve dignity and gain acceptance within their social worlds. In this case, just as individuals purchase specific scrib to gain economic dignity, individuals gain dignity through altering their genealogies.

         Upon reading about this concept I thought about how, in high school, my peers would often proudly assert their descent from Mexican ancestors to affirm their membership in the Latinx community and prove that they were not mere "gringos," white people. In the future, I plan to apply this concept privately whenever I hear people discuss their ancestors. I will keep in mind the possible impact that the social world’s cultural standards may have had on their genealogical imaginations and thus their expressed genealogies.

[soc-and-friends]

2. Raced Ways of Seeing

         Darnell Hunt, in his book Raced Ways of Seeing, defines raced ways of seeing as being when one’s racial identification impacts their understanding and reaction towards certain contexts (Hunt 1992). Results from Hunt’s experiment, which involved observing the reactions of different racial groups toward the 1992 Los Angeles riots, conveyed that because one’s racial category is considered to be salient to their identity, individuals generally feel compelled to affirm their membership within that group. Individuals, this, formed predictions, normative expectations, around how their respective race would respond to the text (Hunt 1992). To accomplish this, Hunt asserts that individuals generally undergo a dual-process of meaning-making in which the individual reflects on certain past experiences with important others and other texts  (Hunt 1992).

       Raced ways of seeing can be related back to the concept of the genealogical imagination. Similar to how people alter their genealogies to align with cultural expectations and justify social membership (Zerubavel, 2011), individuals' raced ways of seeing allow them to perceive and react towards certain contexts that align with normative expectations, justifying their membership within their racial category (Hunt 1992). These two concepts also convey that culture is meaning-making.

       Upon learning about this concept, I reflected upon my experience in my U.S. Immigration Policy course. I sat in between two very good friends who were Mexican. Each week the professor would host debates regarding current immigration policies. Being the daughter of two Mexican immigrants and sitting where I was, I often felt obligated to reproach any policy idea that was the lightest bit anti-immigrant. I reflected on outside conversations with them and voted based on how I thought my two friends would vote. I did not want to be labeled a traitor to my own race. Learning this concept gave me a name for this process and taught me that this was a form of meaning-making. In the future, I plan to apply this concept within my future government courses. I will reflect on both the internal and external stances I take in class and consider if my desire for belonging within my racial categories had an impact on my responses. Likewise, I will also take note of my classmates’ my external reactions and consider if their reactions to certain cases were products of their desire to belong as well.

[soc-and-friends]

3. Economic Dignity

           In her book, Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children, and Consumer Culture, Alison Pugh defines economic dignity as being the social citizenship that is gained through the purchasing of certain commodities (Pugh, 2009). While observing the interactions of children across different socioeconomic backgrounds, Pugh found that each social world has its own form of economic of dignity that require different scrib, meaningful tokens that allow individuals to gain dignity. Her observations revealed that children shape their economic dignities through conversations on who owns specific scrib. Therefore, to have economic dignity is to be able to participate in these conversations  (Pugh, 2009). The cultural environment of a social world has a significant impact on the way individuals conduct meaning-making within these discussions and shape economic dignities ( Pugh, 2009). Lastly, Pugh found that those who lack lacked dignity within an interaction would conduct facework in an attempt to regain social membership (Pugh, 2009).

          Economic dignity relates to both raced ways of seeing and the genealogical imagination as all three involve individuals taking part in some form of meaning-making to reaffirm, or achieve, social citizenship. These three concepts thus express how culture, the product of meaning-making, is created and practiced due to the individual desire to belong.

         As I read Pugh's book, I was reminded of when I had begged my parents to buy me the first book in the Hunger Games series so that I would no longer feel left out when my classmates would discuss it during recess. When they told me they could not afford it, I turned to Sparknotes and used as much of that knowledge to each conversation regarding the Hunger Games with my peers. Now I realize, I gave into the trend because, besides trying to be cool, I wanted to belong. In the future, I plan to apply this concept of economic dignity when my children begin to attend school and note the differences in scrib with the changing cultural contexts.

[soc-and-friends]

4. Taste Makers  

         Christine Lane, in her study “Taste makers in the "fine-dining" restaurant industry: The attribution of aesthetic and economic value by gastronomic guides,” defines taste makers as highly influential individuals or social groups who, by establishing standards of symbolic value, define legitimate taste and evoke aesthetic trends (Lane, 2013). Taste makers may thus influence both the actions of consumers and producers around cultural products. For example, when researching the impacts of gastronomic guides in both the French and American culinary worlds, Lane found that consumers and chiefs tended to shape their perspectives regarding certain cuisine based on the review it received from ‘elite’ gastronomic guides (Lane, 2013). Lane further expressed the level of reach taste makers have, as what was considered prestigious within the culinary world, by these gastronomic guides, was also regarded as such in low-income communities (Lane, 2013). Lastly, Lane conveys that take makers rely on current standards of taste in their process of maintaining or defining new standards of it.

          Like the previous concepts, Taste makers also conduct meaning-making, except their defined meanings impact the way that the others conduct their meaning-making. Taste makers influence economies of dignity by defining scrib and cultural standards of taste which then impact an individual's genealogical imagination and raced ways of seeing. Tastemakers define the scrib necessary to belong.

         When I first heard about the concept I thought about the fields trips my school would host to different art museums. I thought about how even if my classmates and I recognized how classist fine art museums may be, we still considered each piece as fine art because the museum had considered is worthy enough to present. The museum had functioned as a taste maker. In the future, I plan on applying this concept whenever I hear high-end fashion lines like Gucci and Calvin Klein and consider what taste makers defined them as worthy enough to be considered scrib.

[soc-and-friends]

5.  Art worlds

         Howard Becker, in his book Art Worlds, defines an art world as networks of cooperation that produce what they consider to be art. Art worlds tend to be created in relation to their cultural environment. Aesthetic conflicts often occur within these art worlds between both the artists and their supporters in the process of creating art. However, the artist’s dependence on these cooperative links and established conventions of what art often constrain the artists in these disputes. Overall, the mutual appreciation of the conventions and the aesthetic standards within these art worlds make artists feel that what they are doing is valuable.

        This connects to the concept of taste makers as art worlds essentially create artwork that aligns with the standards that taste makers set. Therefore, the standards established by the taste maker not only impact whether or not individuals purchase the commodity to gain dignity but also define the networks of cooperation necessary for its creation. The connection between these two concepts symbolizes a bridge into the realm of cultural production.

       When I first read about the concept, I thought about the show “How It’s Made.” I envisioned different machines and factory workers in an assembly line. Each doing their part to construct the cultural product. During the class discussion, however, I realized that art worlds go beyond the actual construction of the cultural product, as it involves the construction of the resources necessary to create it as well. In the future, I plan on applying the concept whenever I purchase goods. I will take a moment to consider the different networks of cooperation that were involved in its creation.

[soc-and-friends]

6. Genre

         According to Wagner-Pacifici and Schwartz, in their publication The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Commemorating a Difficult Past, a genre is a kind of scheme that organizes perception. They "express the changing character of their creators, audiences, and contexts" (Wagner-Pacifici and Schwartz, 1991). To exemplify this, the authors reflect on the issues that came about during the construction of the Vietnam War monument. Before a commemorative cultural object, such as a monument, can be created, there has to be an agreement in what it represents among the creators and the audience. However, because the Vietnam War had developed a negative reputation, the purpose of the monument shifted from it being created to remember a dishonorable war to it being constructed to honor those who lost their lives in it. A shift in the monument's genre thus enabled it to be constructed (Wagner-Pacifici and Schwartz, 1991). This event also conveys how genres shift with the changing beliefs of both its inventors and wider society.

         This concept relates to art worlds and taste makers as all three have a hand in the production of cultural goods. Taste makers define what genres may be applied to gain dignity. A majority comes together to agree on a genre, then art worlds carry out the design and construction of the cultural product. Genre also relates back to the theme of meaning-making. In this case, the normative expectations of what a monument represents were not applicable, therefore, the meaning of the memorial had to be changed.

         While learning about this concept, I thought it was interesting how the theme behind a cultural product needed to be agreed upon before its construction. Although this may sound like such an obvious fact, its impact on the existence of a product and the collective process of genre defining and redefining was something that I had never considered. I was always so focused on the product’s construction within a factory, not so much on the meaning-making that takes place in regard to what the object represents.  In the future, I plan to apply this concept whenever I take part in group work and am negotiating theme of the project with my peers. I will recognize that as a form of meaning-making and our defining a genre is used daily in constructing culture.

[soc-and-friends]

Citations:

1. Hunt, D. (1997).  Corporate Culture. L. Spillman (Ed.), Cultural Sociology (pp. 108-120). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc.

2. Pugh, A. J. (2009). Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children, and Consumer Culture. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

3. Wagner-Pacifici, R., & Schwartz, B. (1991.). The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Commemorating a Difficult Past. L. Spillman (Ed.), Cultural Sociology (pp. 199-210). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc.

4. Zerubavel, E. (2011). Ancestors and relatives: Understanding the genealogical imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.

5. Becker, H. (2008). Art Worlds. L. Spillman (Ed.), Cultural Sociology  (164-178). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc.

6. Lane, C. (2013, July 04). Taste makers in the "fine-dining" restaurant industry: The attribution of aesthetic and economic value by gastronomic guides. Retrieved April 25, 2019, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304422X13000387.