The Cultural Sociology of Elites

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Sponsored by the journal Cultural Sociology as part of its strategy of engagement with a more global scholarship, this panel showcases recent work on the culture of elites in Latin America. Utilizing a cultural sociological approach, the papers offer a much needed counterpoint to the existing research on elites in Mexico and Chile, which pays little attention to meaning, subjectivities and affect. The revival of the sociology of elites in the northern hemisphere has brought with it the recognition of the significance of culture in elite scholarship. From Bourdieu’s analyses of the uses of cultural capital in the reproduction of social positions to Lamont’s work on boundary building to the research of institutions’ role in the reproduction of privilege, to name just a few, this work has demonstrated that culture is not only the result of elite positions “but also an explanation for it.” (Kahn 2012:368) Kahn’s call to diversify the study of elites and look globally, beyond the groups of white, Protestant males that populate northern scholarship is timely. The papers contribute fresh theorisation and empirical material about the cultural standing of elites in public space and their efforts at both defining and transforming society. Atria examines the repertoires of evaluation around tax contributions among high income individuals in Chile. Stack shows how local elites in Michoacan define themselves as the epitome of the civil. Undurraga studies the debates over democracy and capitalism amongst Chilean intellectuals in the national press and their shaping of a national common sense.

Sub Track

• Culture, Power, and Political Subjectivities

Session Organizer

• María Angélica Thumala Olave, Universidad Católica de Chile and University of Edinburgh

Chair

• María Angélica Thumala Olave, Universidad Católica de Chile and University of Edinburgh

Discussant

• María Angélica Thumala Olave, Universidad Católica de Chile and University of Edinburgh

Individual Presentations

• To pay taxes to the state and/or to contribute to society? Redistribution and reciprocity in the tax payment of the economic elite - Jorge Atria, Universidad Mayor

• Civil Establishment in Local Security in Mexico - Trevor R Stack, University of Aberdeen

• The Cultural Battle of Chile: Intellectual elites and the making of the zeitgeist in times of politicization (2008 - 2017) - Tomás Undurraga, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile