Enduring Divisions

Critique, Method, and Questions of Value in the Sociology of Literature

Bibliographic Data

ID2412409
AuthorsA Barnwell (0000-0003-2254-4482, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume9
Issue4
Pages550-566
Publication date2015-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCultural Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1749-9755 • E-ISSN: 1749-9763
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1749975515587716
OpenAlexW2208737286
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited66

The sociology of literature has a troubled history. Across the past 50 years, proposal after proposal has attempted to develop a method and bridge the cultural division between the social sciences and literary studies. Focusing on the most recent attempt to revitalise the field, this article examines the legacy of the 'two cultures' in current debates about the politics and value of method. Departing from the Marxist tone of preceding arguments, James F. English's (2010) description of the sociology of literature bears the influence of the recent turn away from critique toward alternative modes of inquiry. Tracing the logic of this turn, my article questions whether an opposition between critical and 'new' genres is a useful step forward for the sociology of literature or a continuation of the two cultures divide its intervention aims to rethink. Furthermore, it considers what is at stake in recent disciplinary representations of critical sociology and the intellectual fate of ideology critique

Critical theory · Discipline · Epistemology · Historical sociology · Ideology · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of culture · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Political theory and Gramsci · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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