Victoria D. Alexander

Explains the key concepts, theories, and studies in the sociology of the arts—the fully updated new edition of the classic textbook Sociology of the Arts is a comprehensive yet accessible review of sociological approaches to studying the fine, popular, and folk arts. Integrating scholarly literature, theoretical models, and empirical studies, this authoritative textbook provides balanced coverage of a broad range of essential topics—enabling a deeper understanding of the field as a whole. Throughout the text, numerous real-world case studies reinforce key concepts, stimulate classroom discussion, and encourage students to contemplate abstract theoretical issues central to the relationship between art and society. Now in its second edition, this bestselling volume features fully revised content that reflects the most recent literature and research in the field. New discussion on the production and the consumption of culture are complemented by fresh perspectives on changes in the social world such as the rise of the internet and digital media. Updated chapters offer insights into social boundaries and embodiment in the arts, emplacement, materiality, the social construction of art and aesthetics, and more. Exploring how art is created, distributed, received, and consumed, this textbook: Explores both classic work and new approaches in the sociology of the arts Features case studies and discussion questions on art forms including popular music, film, romance novels, visual arts, and classical music Discusses the meaning of artistic objects and why interpretations of art vary Examines the ways art intersects with race, gender, sexuality, and class Includes photographs, tables and figures, and a comprehensive reference list Written by a leading scholar in the field, Sociology of the Arts: Exploring Fine and Popular Forms, Second Edition is an ideal textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on sociology of art and culture, media studies, anthropology of art, arts management, and the social history of art, and is a useful reference for established scholars studying any aspect of sociology of the arts.

Exploring Fine and Popular Forms

Sociology of the Arts

Erkki Sevänen

Simo Häyrynen

Samuli Hägg

Art and the Challenge of Markets Volumes 1 & 2 examine the politics of art and culture in light of the profound changes that have taken place in the world order since the 1980s and 1990s. The contributors explore how in these two decades, the neoliberal or market-based model of capitalism started to spread from the economic realm to other areas of society. As a result, many aspects of contemporary Western societies increasingly function in the same way as the private enterprise sector under traditional market capitalism. The first volume of this two-volume collection considers a broad range of national cultural policies from European and North American countries, and examines the strengthening of international and transnational art worlds in music, visual arts, film, and television. The chapters cover cultural policy and political culture in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, the Nordic countries, the Balkans, and Slovenia, and address the extent to which Western nations have shifted from welfare-state to market-based ideologies. Tensions between centres and peripheries in global art worlds are considered, as well as complex interactions between nations and international and transnational art worlds, and regional variations in the audiovisual market. Both volumes provide students and scholars across a range of disciplines with an incisive, comparative overview of the politics of art and culture and national, international and transnational art worlds in contemporary capitalism.

National Cultural Politics and the Challenges of Marketization and Globalization

Art and the Challenge of Markets Volume 1

Victoria Goodman Alexander

The result of a ten-year search to find and interview loved ones of suicide victims describes their loss and discusses how they have found ways of reconnecting with themselves and others

Stories of Life in the Wake of Suicide

Words I Never Thought to Speak

Art and the Challenge of Markets Volumes 1 & 2 examine the politics of art and culture in light of the profound changes that have taken place in the world order since the 1980s and 1990s. The contributors explore how in these two decades, the neoliberal or market-based model of capitalism started to spread from the economic realm to other areas of society. As a result, many aspects of contemporary Western societies increasingly function in the same way as the private enterprise sector under traditional market capitalism. This second volume analyses the relationships of art with contemporary capitalist economies and instrumentalist cultural policies, and examines several varieties of capitalist-critical and alternative art forms that exist in today’s art worlds. It also addresses the vexed issues of art controversies and censorship. The chapters cover issues such as the culturalization of the economy, aesthetics and anti-aesthetics, the societal benefits of works of art, art's responsibility to society, "artivism", activist arts as protest and capitalism-critical works, and controversies over nudity in art, as well as considering the marketisation of emerging visual arts worlds in East Asia. The book ends with the a concluding chapter suggesting that even in today's marketized and commercialized environments, art will find a way. Both volumes provide students and scholars across a range of disciplines with an incisive, comparative overview of the politics of art and culture and national, international and transnational art worlds in contemporary capitalism.

Victoria D. Alexander

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