The arts are fertile ground for sociological observation, as they touch diverse aspects of social life. Art can create communities, be an expression of power, be bought and sold – or used to buy and sell –, elicit emotion, and the list goes on. This course will introduce students to the sociological study of the arts, with a particular focus on the visual arts and music and the different ways sociologists have approached these in the 20th-21st centuries. More specifically, we will look at how art consumption has been used to study cultural inequalities, how gender studies have influenced the sociology of art, and how different musical genres are studied from a sociological perspective. We will also study aspects that are more unique to the fields of art and music, such as canonization processes, the functioning of art markets, and how artistic genres are formed and consolidated. The seminar will be taught in English.
- Lehrende(r): Annelies Fryberger