Forty Years of Culture at the ASA (Co-sponsored by Sociology of Culture Section)

Session Submission Type: Invited Session (90 minute)

Description

The approaching 40th anniversary of the culture section (in 2027) prompts us to reflect on how the section and the field have developed over the past four decades. According to section founder Richard A. Peterson, it was not clear in the 1980s that there should even be a culture section in the ASA. Culture was a standard topic in introductory sociology textbooks, but cultural sociology did not yet exist as a recognizable field in the United States. Forty years on, after the ‘cultural turn’ of the 1990s and the important work of many sociologists, the Sociology of Culture section is now one of the largest sections in the association. American cultural sociology has thrived and matured as a field and has developed several distinctive theoretical and methodological traditions.

This panel features senior scholars who are former chairs of the section to share their thoughts about the past forty years of American cultural sociology. They are invited to reflect on triumphs, turning points, and achievements as well as missed opportunities, dropped threads, and forgotten figures. This conversation will provide an initial stock taking of the field that will continue at the 2027 annual meeting with discussions about the future of cultural sociology.

Sub Unit

• History of Sociology and Social Thought Section / Forty Years of Culture at the ASA (Co-sponsored by Sociology of Culture Section)

Cosponsor

• Sociology of Culture Section

Presider

• Lisa McCormick, University of Edinburgh

Panelists

• Karen A. Cerulo, Rutgers University-New Brunswick

• Gary Alan Fine, Northwestern University

• Ronald N. Jacobs, University at Albany, SUNY

• Michèle Lamont, Harvard University

• Ann Swidler

Session Organizers

• Lisa McCormick, University of Edinburgh

• Michaela DeSoucey, North Carolina State University