Against culture versus structure |
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Authors: | Herbert J Gans |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Sociology , Knox Hall, Columbia University , 606 W 122nd Street, New York , NY , 10027 , USA hjg1@columbia.edu |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | culture structure social structure cultural sociology cultural turn structural sociology |
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