ABSTRACT

A collection of original essays advancing the study of culture from a sociological perspective. Exploring and extending recent studies of culture with both qualitative and quantitative analysis, this book focuses on the ways in which contemporary cultural products function as vocabularies of public life. The contributors cover a wide range of topics; these include the symbolic structure of religion, science and the arts. The book is unified with a common concern - the concrete manifestations of culture and the importance of understanding its internal structure. This book should be of interest to students and lecturers in the sociology of culture, religion and the arts.

part |2 pages

Part I Vocabularies of Conviction: The Symbolic Construction of Religious and Scientific Discourse

part |2 pages

Part II Vocabularies of Expression: Decoding the Symbolic Structure of Music, Art, and Dance

chapter 8|11 pages

A theory of pictorial discourse

ByAlbert Bergesen

chapter 9|14 pages

Decoding the syntax of modern dance

ByAlbert Bergesen, Allison Jones

part |2 pages

Part III Vocabularies of Persuasion: Rationality, Rhetoric, and Social Reality in Policy, Legal, and Public Discourse