Taste and art in Elias’ Theory of the Civilizing Process

• In Event: 3551 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 3. Cultural Taste and Omnivorousness

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to systematize the main ideas on “taste” and “art” in the writings of German sociologist Norbert Elias. Even though Elias’s work is mainly known for his theory on “The civilizing process,” he developed substantial ideas on problems that were later associated mainly with Bourdieusian sociology: distinction, taste, art, status. Following Elias’s insights, the paper argues that “taste” should be understood as the expression of sensibilities that arise from networks of interdependence (or, as he called them, “figurations”) that are situated in particular historical contexts. These sensibilities, thus, are historically contingent and sociologists should study them observing their variations over long periods of time. The paper analyses the key texts were Elias developed these ideas, above all his books “The Court Society” and “Mozart: Portrait of a Genius”, and his essays on kitsch, German lyric poetry, and African art. The paper makes contributions to both the understanding of Norbert Elias’s work and the theoretical vocabulary of the sociology of culture.

Author

• claudia tania rivera