Scents and Sensibility

Olfaction, Sense-Making, and Meaning Attribution

Bibliographic Data

ID4522286
AuthorsK A Cerulo (0000-0002-8159-2102, Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume83
Issue2
Pages361-389
Publication date2018-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0003122418759679
OpenAlexW2791396279
LanguageEN
Citations received95
References cited77

How are smells invested with meaning and how do those meanings structure interactions and group relations? I use cultural theories of meaning-making to explore these questions, situating my inquiry in the world of commercially marketed perfumes. Using blind smell tests in focus groups, I examine how individuals make sense of certain fragrances absent direction from manufacturers or marketing materials. I find that most participants can correctly decode perfume manufacturers' intended message, target users, and usage sites. I unpack the role of culture in these initial classifications of smells, and later, in how participants apply those evaluations to reify social boundaries and reproduce social relations-especially with reference to race and class. I also identify two cognitive mechanisms-embodied simulation and iterative reprocessing-illustrating how these mechanisms facilitate a dynamic interaction between practical and discursive modes of consciousness in deciphering smells. Finally, I elaborate the role of sociocultural location in olfactory meaning-making. People in all locations may be familiar with public olfactory codes, but social position influences how participants think about, interpret, and apply those codes in meaning-making

Aesthetics · Attribution · Cognition · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Meaning (existential · Olfaction · Sensemaking · Sensibility · Social constructionism · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Computer Science · Cultural Differences and Values · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology

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