Comparative Studies of Culture and Power

Book details for Comparative Studies of Culture and Power

Series: Comparative Social Research v. 21

Contributor(s): Fredrik Engelstad (editor),

Format: Hardback, 234 x 156 x 15mm , 256 pp, 1, black & white illustrations

Publication date: 24 Oct 2003

Imprint: JAI Press Inc.

ISBN: 9780762308859

Price: £68.95

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Synopsis

The "cultural turn" in sociology created a new interest in power questions. This has led to a renewed interest in conceptual discussions of power in the field of culture studies, whereas empirical work is still less developed. "Comparative Studies of Culture and Power" sets the focus on the uses of cultural and symbolic means in struggles for hegemony: in politics, music markets, literature and the arts. Gender specific uses of rhetorical techniques is one salient theme, struggles for recognition of rhythm and blues music another. Several articles treat the role of the arts in nation building, as well as the role of public monuments in the acknowledgement of war and terrorism. The analyses relate to cultures all over the Western world.

Contents

Doing politics, doing gender, doing power, A. Krogstad, K. Gomard; ostentation in comparative perspective - culture and elite legitimation, J-P. Daloz; Collective memories at "work" - the public remembering of contested pasts, A.L. Tota; modernism in action - comparing the relationship between visual arts, social class and politics in Israeli nation-building, G. Trajtenberg; national literature, collective identity and political power, F. Engelstad; structural power and the construction of markets - the case of rhythm and blues, T.J. Dowd; paradoxes of welfare states and equal opportunities - gender and managerial power in Norway and the USA, G.E. Birkelund, T. Sandnes.