Against Culture versus Structure

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA URBANA E RURALE
Author/s Herbert Gans
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/103
Language Italian Pages 12 P. 25-36 File size 666 KB
DOI 10.3280/SUR2014-103003
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Contemporary sociology is saddled with a culture structure binary but the fault for its existence lies mostly with cultural sociology. This article is devoted to four related assertions: (1) There has never been any agreement on the definition of culture, making cultural sociology a field unable to define its central concept. (2) The binary ignores the fact that the proper explanation of social behaviour requires both structure and culture; culture cannot be its own cause. (3) Cultural sociology is soft and sentimental, avoiding conflict as well as politics. (4) It neglects policy and policy-relevant research even more than the rest of sociology. Structural sociology has some shortcomings as well, however, and the culture structure binary should be abandoned.

Keywords: Culture, Structure, Social Structure, Cultural Sociology, Cultural Turn, Structural Sociology.

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Herbert Gans, Sulla dicotomia cultura vs struttura in "SOCIOLOGIA URBANA E RURALE" 103/2014, pp 25-36, DOI: 10.3280/SUR2014-103003