Sociology of arts is concerned with the social worlds of arts and aesthetics. Recent developments argue for seeing this work in terms of the label 'New Sociology of Art'. Sociological consideration of the arts has a long history. questions about what to include or exclude from the category of art arise so frequently, that they obtrude in any sociological analysis of art.
Sociology and art make an odd couple. - Howard S. Becker, Art Worlds (1982): 368. Sociology of arts extends back to the works of such classical writers as Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Georg Simmel and weaves its way to contemporary work by such scholars as Paul DiMaggio, Wendy Griswold, and Tia DeNora.
Sociology of arts considers four major lines of re-assessment being carried out by sociologists studying the arts:
firstly, a reconsideration of the relationship between sociological and other disciplinary approaches to art;
secondly, the possibility of an art-sociology as against a sociology of art;
thirdly, the application of insights from the sociology of art to non-art `stuff '; and,
fourthly, the sociology of the artwork conceived as a contingent social fact.
The argument is made in sociology of arts that these developments represent an advance on the tendency to limit sociological investigations of the arts to contextual or external factors. The New Sociology of Art is praised for framing questions about the aesthetic properties of art and artworks in a way that is compatible with social constructionism. - The `New Sociology of Art': Putting Art Back into Social Science Approaches to the Arts - Eduardo de la Fuente - Monash University.
Reflections on
Art History and Sociology of Art
Hanna Deinhard. Abstract: In 1960,
the last lines of an editorial in the (London) Times Literary Supplement of May
26 read: “There ought to be a sociology of art. At present there is not.” Seven
years later Vytautas Kavolis noted that “despite its still minisculus number of
adherents, sociology of art is currently one of the most rapidly expanding
sociological specializations.” Yet in 1970 Gerhard Grohs pointed out that
particularly sociology of the visual arts—in contradistinction to that of
literature, music, and the mass media—receives at best a “stepmotherly
treatment” in current sociological encyclopedias and text-books.
For a sociology of art and artists -
Danila Bertasio and Giorgio Marchetti.
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to illustrate the theoretical premises and
the methodological approach on which the work of our group is based; second, to describe
the research we have carried out until now. We strongly believe that art can constitute a
subject of the sociological research as long as the latter sets as its objective not only
that of describing, explaining and predicting how the former reflects cultural events, but
also how it generates new and different ones. The main problem is then to devise a level
of analysis capable of avoiding the dangerous forms of reductionism represented by
considering art as a variable either completely dependent on or completely independent of
society.
Mobilization of the Arts - Joseph W. Ruane - Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. Sociologists have studied the world of art in identifying role differentiation, the deviance within jazz subcultures (Becker, 1963), the structures within which the artist survives (Crane, 1987), or the art world itself as the unit of analysis (Becker, 1982). Our interest will be an extension of the commercial elements surrounding art. In writing about Art and the State, Becker (1982: 165) relates that states and the governmental apparatus which they operate, participate in the production and distribution of art within their borders. He goes on to say that many states regard art more or less as a good thing, at the very least as a sign of cultural development. To support art the state makes laws and regulations which favor the arts and artists. An artist's work is treated as commodity, protected by property laws and copyright laws.
SOCIOLOGY OF THE ARTS - Emory University. In this advanced seminar, we seek a purchase on this literature by attending to a number of themes and exemplar works within these themes. As a result, we will examine theoretical traditions associated with, among others, Pierre Bourdieu and Theodor Adorno, and we will explore such topics as artistic careers, cultural capital, and the globalization of the arts.
Sociology of the
Arts: Exploring Fine and Popular Forms
by Victoria D.
Alexander. A comprehensive overview of
the sociology of art and an authoritative work of scholarship by a leading
expert in the field. The international selection of perspectives, empirical
research, and case studies makes this book essential for teaching and studying
the sociology of art.
What is art? What is the sociology of art?
Vera L. Zolberg. Asking what art is may seem at first
sight disingenuous, since its meaning is usually taken for granted. But modern
Western societies have been witnessing such radical changes in the forms and
content of art.