76-458 Sociology of Literature & Culture
9 units, Carnegie Mellon University
This course introduces you to the sociology of literary and cultural media, emphasizing how texts arise within the field of cultural production and its dynamics. We will first read in the classical social theory of Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and Karl Marx, then move to late 20th and early 21st century sociological thinking about literature by Raymond Williams, Pierre Bourdieu, Bruno Latour, Sara Ahmed and others. Key topics will include the problem of social conditioning and habitus the structure of the literary and media fields the question of affect and emotiona topic not usually considered sociologicalin the writing of Ahmed, Williams, and others the politics of social networks in Latour and other network theorists who have been aiming to redefine what the social means. Literary writers to be read alongside these theorists will include William Blake, the Shelleys, Herman Melville, William Morris, Bertolt Brecht, and Toni Morrison. The last two weeks of the course will be devoted to students presentation of their research. Two papers and several inclass presentations will be required. This course is for juniors and seniors only.
Prerequisites: 76-101 or 76-102 or (76-106 and 76-107) or (76-106 and 76-108) or (76-107 and 76-108)
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