Jeffrey Alexander and Cultural Sociology

This book presents the first comprehensive and critical account of Jeffrey Alexander’s cultural sociology. Alexander has proposed a “strong program” in cultural sociology that analyses the cultural pragmatics of social performance, and his hermeneutical approach connects meaningful political action with deeper symbolic structures of social life. His highly original account of the civil sphere, as an institutionalized domain that is shaped by the discourse of liberty and solidarity and that sustains universalizing cultural aspirations provides an illuminating perspective on how democracy functions, and fails to function, in contemporary societies. 

This book charts the development of Alexander’s thought in all its complexity. Through its critical readings, it also opens up a dialogue with other contemporary approaches in sociology, situating Alexander’s work in relation to others and highlighting alternative views that challenge his ideas. It is an invaluable introduction for anyone who wishes to learn more about the work of one of the most creative sociologists of our time. 

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: The “strong program” of cultural sociology

Alexander’s “post-positivist” approach to sociology

From Parsons to neofunctionalism

From Neofunctionalism to Cultural Sociology

A new analysis of the relative autonomy of culture based on reflexivity


Chapter 2: A rereading of Durkheim: social ritual and cultural significance

The presence of the religious in cultural life

A sociology of religion in social life: politics and technology

Symbolic forms of meaning in contemporary society


Chapter 3: A critique of Marx, Cultural Studies, and Bourdieu

The rejection of Marxian critique

Critique of Cultural Studies

Critique of Bourdieusian determinism

Critical theory and reflexivity: the power of representation


Chapter 4: Culture, Politics and Civil Religion: Weber and beyond

With Weber and beyond: a sociology of religion in modernity

Weberian analysis reassessed by pragmatics and hermeneutics

The civil sphere and political debates: reconstruction of civil religion


Chapter 5: The Civil Sphere and the “Societal Community:” beyond Parsons

From Parsons to Touraine and beyond: analysis of performative social movements

Cultural pragmatics and the challenges of symbolic codification

Social and cultural trauma theory: social claims of identity


Chapter 6: The power of representation and the representation of power

Empirical analysis of political life: the representation of power

Power of representation: performance and dramatic action in the civil sphere

The power of the symbolic and the iconic

A generalized social theatricality: the dramatic aesthetics of social action

Conclusion