SOC461 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: High Art
13 Dec 2016
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Soc 461: October 11, 2016 – Writing Class 2
1.Sociology vs Philosophy
• 1st paper: Key beliefs developed by philosophers of art.
o They may have disagreed, but agreed belief in specialness of art.
1a. Art vs Non-art
• Philosophical can be contrasted w/ sociological.
• Art has less to do w/properties and more with its social relations and definitions.
o Dickie suggests that nothing about the object itself makes it a work of art.
1b. High Art vs lowbrow art
• Taste, good art/badart distinction has to do with social conflicts.
o Job: How does taste get formed socially
1c. The enjoyment of Art
• The experience we have in art is different from other kinds of pleasure or experience.
• Whe e ejo art e are ehiitig these ost hua faulties… ot just haig our appetites
fulfilled.
• Geertz: Abilities we have to enjoy art are trained
• Bordieu: Signaling our social-status
1d. Art and Transcendence
• When we engage in art as individuals we are lifted above our every day life.
o Kant: reflect onrationality. When a judgement is taste, be disinterested.
o Hegel: spirit
o Tolstoy: Emotional communion that brings us together. Taste has to do more with
rationality, and judgement.
▪ All believe that Art requires special abilities.
▪ We are actually engaged in really practical struggles.
1e. The uniquely artistic elements
• Ca’t sa these are produts of soial soure.s
1g. The work as expression
• Are we looking less at the talents of the artist or more about what the work tells us about
human existence. Is this how societies project their deepest struggles so that they can deal with
them?
• Not necessarily produced by higher faculty (often told what to produce).
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