The Predicament and Possibilities of the ‘Sociology of Culture’

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  • 文化の社会学の窮状/可能性
  • ブンカ ノ シャカイガク ノ キュウジョウ カノウセイ

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Abstract

This paper critically analyzes how the contemporary ‘sociology of culture’ (youth culture theory, media culture theory and consumerism theory, etc.), which have been developed in the postmodern era (1980s), have fallen into a self-alienated situation. The ‘sociology of culture’, whether it is ‘postmodern sociology’ in the 1980s or ‘cultural studies’ in the 1990s that criticized postmodern sociology, both postulated that culture is often alienated from the everyday life of people. In contrast, this author insists that in principle culture should be recognized as a self-alienated activity. Not only do human beings follow their everyday lives as they are but they also desire to enjoy more pleasurable things. Therefore human beings voluntarily destroy and reconstruct their everyday lives. Recognition that culture is a self-alienated activity opens up new possibilities for cutting through cultural estrangement.

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