Читать книгу Sociology of the Arts - Victoria D. Alexander - Страница 18

This book looks at sociological approaches to understanding the fine, popular, and folk arts, but what makes a sociological approach? Sociology embodies many ways of thinking about society. Sometimes these different thought styles are at odds with each other to such an extent that it may seem that they do not belong in the same discipline. Nevertheless, at least two ideas link the disparate approaches in sociology. First, sociology endeavors to generate theory. A theory is an attempt to say something about society, and most sociologists try to surpass “mere” description of the social world and attempt to theorize it, that is, to explain how it works.

Second, sociology also looks at systems, structures, and culture; that is, at the connections among individuals, the stabilized patterns emerging from social interaction, and meaning that is shared across individuals. Sociology sees people as part of systems, structures, and cultures and sociologists concentrate on these rather than on the psychological makeup of particular persons or on the effects of “great men” and women who have single‐handedly made a difference.

Sociologists do not agree, however, on whether researchers should discuss human action only at the level of individuals or whether researchers can look at aggregates of people and study how groups, organizations, or networks “act” (the issue of “macro–micro translation”). Sociologists also disagree on whether it is possible to separate elements of culture or social structures from the particular individuals who constitute them (the issue of “generalization”). Sociologists’ beliefs about these two issues are background assumptions (also called metatheories); researchers come to hold them independently of their research, as these beliefs cannot be confirmed or refuted through empirical study.