The cultural turn is a movement beginning in the early 1970s among scholars in the humanities and social sciences to make culture the focus of contemporary debates; it also describes a shift in emphasis toward meaning and away from a positivistepistemology. The cultural turn is described in 2005 by Lynette Spillman and Mark D. Jacobs as "one of the most influential trends in the humanities and social sciences in the last generation."[1] A prominent historiographer argues that the cultural turn involved a "wide array of new theoretical impulses coming from fields formerly peripheral to the social sciences,"[2] especially post-structuralism, cultural studies, literary criticism, and various forms of linguistic analysis, which emphasized "the causal and socially constitutive role of cultural processes and systems of signification."[2]
The cultural turn in the late 20th century is interpreted as referring to either a substantive shift in society or an analytical shift in academia. The former argues that culture plays a more significant role in advanced societies, which fits with the notion of post-modernity as a historical era in which people "emphasizes the importance of art and culture for education, moral growth, and social criticism and change".[3] The latter is movement within academia to place the concept of culture, and the related notions of meaning, cognition, affect, and symbols at the center of methodological and theoretical focus. Some argue that the analytical shift is endogenous to the substantive shift.[3]
Culture can be defined as "the social process whereby people communicate meanings, make sense of their world, construct their identities, and define their beliefs and values".[3] Or, for Georg Simmel, culture refers to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history". Thus culture can be interpreted on a spectrum from purely individualistic solipsism to objective forms of social organization and interaction.
HistoryEdit
Analytical shiftEdit
One of the earliest works in which the term "cultural turn" showed up was Jeffrey C. Alexander's chapter "The New Theoretical Movement" in Neil Smelser's Handbook of Sociology (1988).[4] According to Alexander, the origins of the cultural turn should be traced to the nineteenth-century debate between idealism and materialism, i.e. Hegel and Marx, respectively.[5] Prior to the labeling of the movement, in the 1970s, "foundational works underlying and facilitating the turn to cultural forms of analysis" emerged: Hayden White's Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe (1973), Clifford Geertz's The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (1973), Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish (1977), and Pierre Bourdieu's Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977).[6]
While the earlier twentieth century experienced a linguistic turn, mostly brought about by the thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Ferdinand de Saussure, the cultural turn of the late twentieth century absorbed those criticisms and built on them.
The cultural turn has helped cultural studies to gain more respect as an academic discipline. With the shift away from high arts the discipline has increased its perceived importance and influence on other disciplines.
British historian Heather Jones argues that the historiography of the First World War has been reinvigorated by the cultural turn in recent years. Scholars have raised entirely new questions regarding military occupation, radicalisation of politics, race, and the male body.[7]
Substantive shiftEdit
The cultural turn as an historical era that breaks substantively with the past is only tangentially related to cultural turn as analytical shift. Proponents of the former argue that:
“The very sphere of culture itself has expanded, becoming coterminous with market society in such a way that the cultural is no longer limited to its earlier, traditional or experimental forms, but it is consumed throughout daily life itself, in shopping, in professional activities, in the various often televisual forms of leisure, in production for the market and in the consumption of those market products, indeed in the most secret folds and corners of the quotidian. Social space is now completely saturated with the image of culture.”
Advertising, amateur photography, yellow journalism and an assortment of other forms of media arose after the politically charged 1960s. Moreover, this media was multicultural, and attempted to target all races, ethnicities and age groups, as opposed to more exclusive media prior to the 1960s. This "new media" of a postmodern America brought about an expansion and differentiation of culture, which has only been rapidly expanded by the Internet and social media.
In rural studiesEdit
In recent years, there has been something of a resurgence in rural studies, which has become somewhat more mainstream than previously in the academic space of social science.[9] Increasing numbers of people have taken on important dualistic questions of society/space, nature/culture structure/agency and self/other from the perspective of rural studies. However, it is the 'cultural turn' in wider social science which has lent both respectability and excitement to the nexus with rurality, particularly with new foci on landscape, otherness and the spatiality of nature. With a conceptual fascination with difference, and a methodological fascination with ethnography, cultural studies have provided a significant palimpsestuous overlay onto existing landscapes of knowledge.[10]
^Jacobs, Mark; Spillman, Lynette (2005). "Cultural sociology at the crossroads of the discipline". Poetics. 33 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2005.01.001.
^ abSteinmetz, G (1999). State/Culture: State-Formation after the Cultural Turn. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pp. 1–2.
^ abcSteven, Best (2007). Ritzer, George (ed.). "Culture Turn". Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. doi:10.1111/b.9781405124331.2007.x. hdl:10138/224218. ISBN9781405124331. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
^Alexander, Jeffrey (1988). "The New Theoretical Movement". In Smelser, N. J. (ed.). Handbook of Sociology. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications. pp. 77–101.
^Eyerman, Ron (2004). "Jeffrey Alexander and the Cultural Turn in Social Theory". Thesis Eleven|No. 79. pp. 25–30.
^Bonnell, V. E.; Hunt, L. (1999). Beyond the Cultural Turn. Berkeley: University of California Press.
^Heather Jones, "As the centenary approaches: the regeneration of First World War historiography." Historical Journal (2013) 56#3 pp: 857-878
^Jameson, Fredric (1998). The Cultural Turn: Selected Writings on the Postmodern, 1983-1998. Brooklyn: Verso.
^Cloke, P (October 1998). "Country backwater to virtual village? Rural studies and 'the cultural turn'". Journal of Rural Studies. 13 (4): 367–375. doi:10.1016/s0743-0167(97)00053-3.
Finlay Macknay, The way of the lad. 2011
October 23, 2023
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The cultural turn is a movement beginning in the early 1970s among scholars in the humanities and social sciences to make culture the focus of contemporary debates it also describes a shift in emphasis toward meaning and away from a positivist epistemology The cultural turn is described in 2005 by Lynette Spillman and Mark D Jacobs as one of the most influential trends in the humanities and social sciences in the last generation 1 A prominent historiographer argues that the cultural turn involved a wide array of new theoretical impulses coming from fields formerly peripheral to the social sciences 2 especially post structuralism cultural studies literary criticism and various forms of linguistic analysis which emphasized the causal and socially constitutive role of cultural processes and systems of signification 2 Contents 1 Background 2 History 2 1 Analytical shift 2 2 Substantive shift 3 In rural studies 4 See also 5 ReferencesBackground EditThe cultural turn in the late 20th century is interpreted as referring to either a substantive shift in society or an analytical shift in academia The former argues that culture plays a more significant role in advanced societies which fits with the notion of post modernity as a historical era in which people emphasizes the importance of art and culture for education moral growth and social criticism and change 3 The latter is movement within academia to place the concept of culture and the related notions of meaning cognition affect and symbols at the center of methodological and theoretical focus Some argue that the analytical shift is endogenous to the substantive shift 3 Culture can be defined as the social process whereby people communicate meanings make sense of their world construct their identities and define their beliefs and values 3 Or for Georg Simmel culture refers to the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history Thus culture can be interpreted on a spectrum from purely individualistic solipsism to objective forms of social organization and interaction History EditAnalytical shift Edit One of the earliest works in which the term cultural turn showed up was Jeffrey C Alexander s chapter The New Theoretical Movement in Neil Smelser s Handbook of Sociology 1988 4 According to Alexander the origins of the cultural turn should be traced to the nineteenth century debate between idealism and materialism i e Hegel and Marx respectively 5 Prior to the labeling of the movement in the 1970s foundational works underlying and facilitating the turn to cultural forms of analysis emerged Hayden White s Metahistory The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth Century Europe 1973 Clifford Geertz s The Interpretation of Cultures Selected Essays 1973 Michel Foucault s Discipline and Punish 1977 and Pierre Bourdieu s Outline of a Theory of Practice 1977 6 While the earlier twentieth century experienced a linguistic turn mostly brought about by the thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Ferdinand de Saussure the cultural turn of the late twentieth century absorbed those criticisms and built on them The cultural turn has helped cultural studies to gain more respect as an academic discipline With the shift away from high arts the discipline has increased its perceived importance and influence on other disciplines British historian Heather Jones argues that the historiography of the First World War has been reinvigorated by the cultural turn in recent years Scholars have raised entirely new questions regarding military occupation radicalisation of politics race and the male body 7 Substantive shift Edit The cultural turn as an historical era that breaks substantively with the past is only tangentially related to cultural turn as analytical shift Proponents of the former argue that The very sphere of culture itself has expanded becoming coterminous with market society in such a way that the cultural is no longer limited to its earlier traditional or experimental forms but it is consumed throughout daily life itself in shopping in professional activities in the various often televisual forms of leisure in production for the market and in the consumption of those market products indeed in the most secret folds and corners of the quotidian Social space is now completely saturated with the image of culture Fredric Jameson 1998 p 111 8 Advertising amateur photography yellow journalism and an assortment of other forms of media arose after the politically charged 1960s Moreover this media was multicultural and attempted to target all races ethnicities and age groups as opposed to more exclusive media prior to the 1960s This new media of a postmodern America brought about an expansion and differentiation of culture which has only been rapidly expanded by the Internet and social media In rural studies EditIn recent years there has been something of a resurgence in rural studies which has become somewhat more mainstream than previously in the academic space of social science 9 Increasing numbers of people have taken on important dualistic questions of society space nature culture structure agency and self other from the perspective of rural studies However it is the cultural turn in wider social science which has lent both respectability and excitement to the nexus with rurality particularly with new foci on landscape otherness and the spatiality of nature With a conceptual fascination with difference and a methodological fascination with ethnography cultural studies have provided a significant palimpsestuous overlay onto existing landscapes of knowledge 10 See also EditAretaic turn Historical turn Linguistic turn Quantitative revolutionReferences Edit Jacobs Mark Spillman Lynette 2005 Cultural sociology at the crossroads of the discipline Poetics 33 1 1 14 doi 10 1016 j poetic 2005 01 001 a b Steinmetz G 1999 State Culture State Formation after the Cultural Turn Ithaca NY Cornell University Press pp 1 2 a b c Steven Best 2007 Ritzer George ed Culture Turn Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology doi 10 1111 b 9781405124331 2007 x hdl 10138 224218 ISBN 9781405124331 Retrieved 30 July 2014 Alexander Jeffrey 1988 The New Theoretical Movement In Smelser N J ed Handbook of Sociology Beverly Hills CA Sage Publications pp 77 101 Eyerman Ron 2004 Jeffrey Alexander and the Cultural Turn in Social Theory Thesis Eleven No 79 pp 25 30 Bonnell V E Hunt L 1999 Beyond the Cultural Turn Berkeley University of California Press Heather Jones As the centenary approaches the regeneration of First World War historiography Historical Journal 2013 56 3 pp 857 878 Jameson Fredric 1998 The Cultural Turn Selected Writings on the Postmodern 1983 1998 Brooklyn Verso Woods M 2005 Rural geography p 24 Cloke P October 1998 Country backwater to virtual village Rural studies and the cultural turn Journal of Rural Studies 13 4 367 375 doi 10 1016 s0743 0167 97 00053 3 Finlay Macknay The way of the lad 2011 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Cultural turn amp oldid 1163922607, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
