Newsletter

Research Highlights

Licheng Qian (University of Macau) The study of “difficult past” in Western/democratic societies has contributed insightful theories to our understanding of memory, politics, and culture. Yet is “difficult past” remembered and used differently in an authoritarian context? How can one consume a difficult past unacknowledged by the authoritarian state? By analyzing the consumption of Chairman Mao symbols in contemporary China, this article explores the memory … Continue reading Research Highlights

Culture Section Editors
Newsletter

New Book Summary

Claude Rosental. 2021. The Demonstration Society. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press YouTube demos of makeup products by famous influencers, demonstrations of strength during street protests, demonstrations of military might in North Korea: public demonstrations are omnipresent in social life. Yet they are often perceived as isolated events, unworthy of systematic examination. In The Demonstration Society, Claude Rosental explores the underlying dynamics of what he calls a … Continue reading New Book Summary

Culture Section Editors
Newsletter, Review, Uncategorized

Book Review

Scripting the Moves Golann, J. W. 2021. Scripting the Moves: Culture and Control in a” No-Excuses” Charter School. Princeton University Press Reviewed by Peter Francis Harvey (University of Pennsylvania) During Monty Python’s classic comedy movie, The Life of Brian, the titular character wakes one morning to find an enormous, adoring crowd camped outside his window. Believing him to be the messiah, they call in unison for … Continue reading Book Review

Culture Section Editors
Newsletter, Uncategorized

ASA Culture Section 2021

Summary of ASA Panels A. Report on Panel New Perspectives in Sociology of Art and Music: BIPOC Artists and Creative Agency Organized by Fiona Greenland (University of Virginia)and Patricia Banks (Mount Holyoke College) Race has historically been a neglected topic in sociology of art. Studies of how art is produced, evaluated, collected, and displayed have typically had little to say on the contributions of racialized … Continue reading ASA Culture Section 2021

Culture Section Editors
Letter from Chair, Newsletter, Uncategorized

Letter from the Chair, Fall 2021

Greetings to all Culture Section members as we near the end of yet another challenging semester. We may be back in the classrooms (for the most part), but the pandemic is not over yet, and we are far from being “back to normal.” While it feels wonderful to be “in the room” with real human beings after an isolating year, other challenges seem to have … Continue reading Letter from the Chair, Fall 2021

Culture Section Editors