Читать книгу What is Cultural Sociology? - Lyn Spillman - Страница 6

Sociology teaches us about human groups and human interactions, how they work, and how they influence our lives. Cultural sociology investigates the meanings people attach to their groups and interactions. What do their groups mean to people, where do those various meanings come from, and how do those meanings influence what they do?

For all of us as human creatures, meaning is as essential to our existence as infant care or water. Our lives are full of meaning and meaning-making. Sometimes our ideas and values are totally taken for granted. We are supported and sustained by perceptions of the world which seem natural and inevitable, passed on to us implicitly by those who raise us. Our meaning-making is like breathing, and we don’t notice the air that surrounds us.

At other times – and more and more often – we encounter different ideas about what is really meaningful. Encountering differences can be fascinating and helps us learn more about ourselves. Sometimes, though, cultural differences may give us “culture shock,” and disagreements challenging the ideas we take for granted may seem like “culture wars.” Modern life makes escalating cultural difference unavoidable, even as it also offers exponentially increasing opportunities for sharing meaning through mass and social media.

Cultural sociology offers concepts and methods to help explore meaning-making – familiar meanings we share, strange and unfamiliar meanings, and those we dispute with others. To start noticing the meaning-making all around us, we can orient ourselves by thinking about different rituals, symbols, values, norms, and categories.