Sociology of Art
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Sociology of art is concerned with the social worlds of art and aesthetics.
Recent developments in social science writing about the arts and argues for seeing
this work in terms of the label the `new sociology of art'. It 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 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 constructionsim. - The `New Sociology of
Art': Putting Art Back into Social Science Approaches to the Arts - Eduardo de la Fuente -
Monash University.
Mobilization of the Arts Joseph W. Ruane - Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and
Science
Sociologists have studied the world of art in identifying role differentiation (Parsons,
1951: 408-14), 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 artistıs work is
treated as commodity, protected by property laws and copyright laws. While state laws
providing for the production, marketing, selling and distribution of art usually is not
directly concerned with art, but with any manufactured product, art and artists benefit
from such laws. The state, however, can become intricately involved with art and artists
when the art challenges views of the society. The recent Mapplethorpe disputes over the
portrayal of the American flag in conjunction with nudity moved the government to restrict
grant funds from schools or museums that would teach, encourage or exhibit such art.
Censorship of art varies as Becker points out (1982:166) in the example in which one state
may censor art depicting the mixture of races while another state may demand it. Such
state involvement also affects the careers of the artists whose works are praised or
criticized.
States may use art to mobilize the country politically through images and music, or the
state (Becker. 1982:181) may see the arts as integral to national interests, as in the
opera to Italy, and for that interest subsidize it. The use of the national anthem of each
country would be an example of the use of music to create national solidarity. Bourdieu
and Haacke (1995:11) note that artists need to exhibit in museums to place their works on
the market or to receive public funding. Museums need to be recognized by public
authorities in order to have sponsors. All of this creates intersecting pressures and
dependencies. The artistıs painting must be judged in a gallery or museum before the
artist receives any recognition. It is the basic code of the art world.
Discussion
As art plays a function for the state and the museums, so it plays a role for the city or
metropolitan areas in which the art is displayed. This paper highlights another use of the
art world. Art is a commodity which can be packaged to draw an audience which is
economically important to the city in which the art is displayed. The current decline in
federal financing of urban centers and the loss of revenues from a declining tax base
spawned by the loss of manufacturing jobs brings to light the evolving efforts of
municipal governments to attract tourists to their cities. In a service economy tourists
become big business, and tourism becomes a major facet of the economy.
For a sociology of art and artists Danila Bertasio and Giorgio Marchetti
uniurb.it/imes/essad/essad2.html
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. We think that such a level is met when we assume a position that approaches the
study of art from both a sociological and artistic point of view, or, what we have termed
a sociological-artistic approach to art. Consequently, our objective and effort has been,
and is, to try to implement this approach an to apply it to our research.
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