Culture, Class, and Critical Theory: Between Bourdieu and the Frankfurt School

189 Pages·2012·1.1 MB·English

by  David Gartman

Culture, Class, and Critical Theory
Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought
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of George Orwell Assimilation in Modern Social
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on Political Philosophy and Groups, Crowds and Mass
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Mark Olssen Edited by Ruth Parkin-Gounelas
67 Oppositional Discourses and 76 Environmental Solidarity
Democracies How Religions Can Sustain
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69 Hemingway on Politics and and the Genealogy of the Modern
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78 Culture, Class, and Critical
70 Social Theory in Contemporary Theory
Asia Between Bourdieu and the
Ann Brooks Frankfurt School
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71 Governmentality
Current Issues and Future
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Edited by Ulrich Bröckling,
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Culture, Class,
and Critical Theory
Between Bourdieu and the Frankfurt School
David Gartman
Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gartman, David, 1950–
Culture, class, and critical theory : between Bourdieu and the Frankfurt
school / by David Gartman.
p. cm. — (Routledge studies in social and political thought ; 78)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Critical theory. 2. Culture. 3. Bourdieu, Pierre, 1930–2002.
4. Frankfurt school of sociology. 5. Sociology. I. Title.
HM480.G36 2012
306dc23
2012020063
ISBN: 978-0-415-52420-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-08081-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by IBT Global.
To my teachers
Randall Collins and Joseph Gus(cid:2) eld
who provided not only an excellent education but also an
exemplar of intellectual commitment and integrity
Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
1 Modern Culture as Mass Unity or Ranked Diversity 1
2 Reifi cation of Consumer Products:
A General History Illustrated by the American Automobile 12
3 Culture as Class Symbolization or Mass Reifi cation?
A Critique of Bourdieu’s Distinction 33
4 Three Ages of the Automobile:
The Cultural Logics of the Car 54
5 Why Modern Architecture Emerged in Europe, Not America:
The New Class and the Aesthetics of Technocracy 79
6 Bourdieu’s Theory of Cultural Change:
Explication, Application, Critique 102
7 Bourdieu and Adorno:
Converging Theories of Culture and Inequality 131
References 167
Index 175
Preface
The essays collected in this book were written over the course of twenty-fi ve
years of empirical research in the sociology of culture. They were forged
by the practical problems of making sense of two artifacts of material cul-
ture—the automobile and architecture. This does not mean, however, that
these theoretical ideas emerged wholly out of the empirical data, as the
advocates of grounded theory suggest. I began my cultural studies with
preconceived theoretical notions of how culture legitimates social inequal-
ity, drawn largely from the Frankfurt School of critical theory. However,
the discrepancies and inconsistencies of my specifi c cases, as well as general
trends in sociology as a whole, eventually led me to the powerful cultural
theory of Pierre Bourdieu. I was initially critical of his theory of culture as
class distinction, because it did not seem to be a good fi t for the empirical
case that occupied my attention at the time—the history of American auto-
mobile design. The aesthetics of cars seemed to legitimate social inequality
by obscuring class diff erences, not by symbolizing these diff erences and
making some classes seem superior to others, as Bourdieu claims. But my
research in the history of modern architecture soon led me to recognize
the validity of Bourdieu’s approach, and forced me to think about how the
validity of the two theories vary by both historical period and type of cul-
ture, i.e., material and nonmaterial.
Out of these empirical problems and specifi cations, I struggled to develop
a unifi ed critical theory of culture, one that took into account the insights
of both Bourdieu and the Frankfurt School. This task was facilitated by
the vicissitudes of Bourdieu’s theory over the course of some forty years.
Although he never explicitly acknowledged revising his theory, it is clear
that in the late 1980s he reversed himself on such importance issues as the
validity of Kant’s theory of aesthetics. It seems that his increasing political
involvement in the European movement against neoliberal economic poli-
cies led him to embrace Kant’s standard of disinterestedness as a bulwark
against the subordination of culture to the market’s standard of profi tabil-
ity. This politically motivated shift in his cultural theory brought him in
line with the Frankfurt School, which also argued that critical culture must
be autonomous from the market. So the integration of these two theories
xii Preface
was implicitly initiated by Bourdieu himself. My task then became to make
this explicit.
For assistance and encouragement over the course of the evolution of my
thinking I acknowledge the editors and referees of the journals in which
these essays fi rst appeared: The American Journal of Sociology, Theory
and Society, Theory, Culture and Society, and Sociological Theory. They
pushed me in the right direction, even though I did not initially realize it.
My colleague Douglas Marshall often served as my primary interlocutor
about these issues. Even when we disagreed, his comments were insightful.
David Swartz has also been central in molding and correcting my ideas on
Bourdieu, as well as off ering advice on the structure of the book.
Finally, I feel compelled to acknowledge an intellectual and personal
debt long in arrears to the teachers most infl uential on my development as
a sociologist. I abjure use of the more popular term, “mentor,” not merely
because of its clichéd overuse but also because of its paternalistic implica-
tions. Randall Collins and Joseph Gusfi eld did not “take me under their
wings,” nor protect this fl edgling intellectual from the slings and arrows of
academic contention. They educated me, giving me the knowledge to hold
my own in the academic arena. Joseph Gusfi eld taught me to see beneath
the superfi cial issues of social contention to the symbolic dimension, where
people express, often unconsciously, the aspirations and fears behind their
actions. That I have become a cultural sociologist is largely attributable to
him. Randall Collins taught me to see society as an arena of complex and
imbricated contests, in which even seemingly innocent actions have impli-
cations for who gets what. If recently his confl ict sociology has become less
cynical by discovering the inherent potential for human solidarity in all
interactions, this only serves for me to highlight by contrast the injustice
of many existing arrangements. In addition to the specifi c insights that my
teachers transmitted, they also provided me with an exemplar of commit-
ted intellectual eff ort. Watching them go about their work of educating stu-
dents, conducting research, and contributing to a university and a discipline
with a serious and committed, yet joyful attitude inspired me to follow in
their footsteps. It is to you, Randy and Joe, whom I dedicate my eff orts
here, in the hope that I have not fallen too far short of your example.