Abstract
Sociological studies of culture have made significant progress on conceptual clarification of the concept, while remaining comparatively quiescent on questions of measurement. This study empirically examines internal conflicts (or “infighting”), a ubiquitous phenomenon in political organizing, to propose a “resinous culture framework” that holds promise for redirection. The data comprise 674 newspaper articles and more than 100 archival documents that compare internal dissent across two previously unstudied lesbian and gay Marches on Washington. Analyses reveal that activists use infighting as a vehicle to engage in otherwise abstract definitional debates that provide concrete answers to questions such as who are we and what do we want. The mechanism that enables infighting to concretize these cultural concerns is its coupling with fairly mundane and routine organizational tasks. This mechanism affords one way to release the culture concept, understood here as collective self-definitions, from being “an amorphous, indescribable mist which swirls around society members,” as it was once provocatively described.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Vivid evidence stems from Cultural Sociology, “the first journal [launched in 2007] explicitly to be dedicated to the sociological comprehension of cultural matters,” as stated on the American Sociological Association’s website.
The study of “meaning” or how people make sense of their world, has from the earliest days been the domain of a distinctively cultural sociology, although how much emphasis to place on it and how to go about studying it have been matters of ongoing debate (see Griswold 1992 for review).
Strategies delineate a desirable course of action by identifying objectives and goals, means and ends. Relevant concerns include what members want and how to obtain it (Gamson 1975; McAdam 1982). Identities denote agreed upon definitions of group membership. To make this systematic, I emphasize how the social category “gay” was elaborated (identity catness) and how different contenders who claimed membership were connected (identity netness) (Melucci 1995; Taylor 1989; Tilly 1978; White 1992)
A common attack on the social scientific inquiry of culture targets “the straw person called the ‘positivist’” (MacCoun 2003). Social scientists return the favor and criticize humanistic approaches to the study of culture as “highly abstract verbal theories with little predictive power” (Cook 1985: 34). Although I believe meaning versus quantitative measurement is ultimately a false opposition (see also Mohr 1998), I nonetheless employ a three-part integrative strategy: I use multimethod design, multiple theoretical frameworks, and ground my observations in specific historical events (c.f., Cook 1985: 21–22).
Much of the social movements literature conflates infighting with organizational defections, a distinct phenomena in which groups fail at conflict resolution, that is, in which there is a “proper break-up of the group” (Simmel 1955: 48–49). This marks defections as analytically distinct from infighting. See (Balser 1997; Mushaben 1989; Stern et al. 1971; Zald and Ash 1966; Zald and McCarthy 1980).
See (Ghaziani 2008) for a detailed description of the data set, coding, and analysis. Note there is persisting debate in the social movements literature on the use of newspaper accounts (Earl et al. 2004). This literature councils against using such data to construct a list of time-varying protest events or to assert social-psychological arguments (McAdam 1982), neither of which affects the analytic strategy of the present study.
“Gay Community News: 30 Years Later,” by Scott A. Giordano. Bay Windows, January 16, 2003.
“Why a signer of the Ad Hoc Call is marching in the MMOW.” Windy City Times, April 6, 2000, p. 13.
“Lessons from the March.” Windy City Times, May 27, 1993, p. 12.
“Pulling through in a big way,” by Steve Greenberg. Washington Blade, October 11, 1987, p. 7.
Altman, Lawrence K. 1981 (July 3). “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexual Men.” New York Times A20.
Karposi’s Sarcoma and Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia Among Homosexual Men—New York City and California. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1981 July 4; 30: 305–308.
“Pulling through in a big way.”
“Civil Disobedience: Are We Entering a New Militant Stage in the Struggle for Gay Rights?” Advocate, September 29, 1987, p. 48. Reported by Mark Vandervelden.
“Pulling through in a big way.”
“March on Washington,” Advocate, August 18, 1987, p. 11.
“Civil Disobedience: Are We Entering a New Militant Stage in the Struggle for Gay Rights?”
“A call to bisexuals,” by Lucy Friedland and Liz Nania. The Washington Blade, September 25, 1987, p. B-13. A note on style: Italicized items are those that most closely speak to the theoretical concerns of the study.
“Bi’s, Gays struggle for the same thing.” By Tracy S. Dryden. Washington Blade, November 6, 1987, p. B-17.
“Bi’s march on Washington.” Gay Community News, September 6–12, 1987, p. 4.
“Bitter Debate Opens Nat’l March Planning,” Gay Community News, December 7–13, 1986, p. 1, 3. For a discussion of why coalition building was not a viable strategy in the first march, see (Ghaziani 2008).
“Bitter Debate Opens Nat’l March Planning.”
“National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, October 11, 1987,” p. 34 (Official Program). Primary source material, Gerber Hart Library, Chicago, IL.
“Notes from the People of Color Caucus at the National Conference for the March on Washington November 14–16, 1986.” Folder: 1987 L & G March/Jan. L.A. Meeting. Box: 1987 March on Washington National Committee—Record. Box 1. GLBT Historical Society of Northern California, San Francisco, CA.
“List of March demands is a lampoon of itself,” The Washington Blade, October 9, 1987, p. B-15.
“March on Washington,” Advocate, August 18, 1987, p. 11.
“Notes from the People of Color Caucus at the National Conference for the March on Washington November 14–16, 1986.” Signed by Jaime Credle. Folder: “1987 L & G March/Jan. L.A. Meeting.” Box: “1987 March on Washington National Committee Record, Box 1.” GLBT Historical Society of Northern California.
“The Gay ‘90s.” Entertainment Weekly September 8, 1995.
“Washington—by Way of Stonewall.” The New York Times, April 27, 1993, page A20.
See the NIA Plan of the African American AIDS Policy and Training Institute’s “Chronology of Selected Events.” http://www.blackaids.org/niaplan/niaexec_chronology.htm (accessed June 21, 2005).
“First March on Washington Meeting Proves Contentious.” Windy City Times, January 30, 1992, p. 4. See also “1993 March on Washington National Steering Committee Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, January 18–19, 1992, Meeting Summary.” Personal Papers of Billy Hileman.
“National march adds the word ‘bi’ to official title.” Washington Blade, January 31, 1992.
“Major Mistake,” by Dave Reyman. Washington Blade, February 14, 1992, p. 31.
“Fed up,” written by B.G. Johnson. Washington Blade, February 21, 1992, p. 31.
“Expand definition,” written by Loraine Hutchins. Washington Blade, February 28, 1992, p. 31.
“Same struggle,” written by Debra R. Kolodny. Washington Blade, February 28, 1992, p. 31.
“A clear majority,” The Washington Blade, May 29, 1992, p. 33.
“D.C. march committee says it can’t endorse Dallas platform.” The Washington Blade, May 29, 1992, p. 11. See also “D.C. March Committee Urges Platform Rescission,” Windy City Times, June 18, 1992, p. 10.
“Political Correctness Endangers March on Washington.” Windy City Times, December 3, 1992, p. 19.
“A Disaster in the Making.” Windy City Times, December 10, 1992, p. 13. Unauthored Editorial.
“What Are We Marching For?” Windy City Times, June 4, 1992, p. 14. Written by Paul Varnell.
“Political Correctness Endangers March on Washington.”
“A Disaster in the Making.”
“...But Don’t Risk the Movement.” Windy City Times Editorial, March 25, 1993, p. 13.
“1993 March on Washington Finalizes Agenda, Executive Committee meets to complete Platform Planks and Items.” Press release dated June 9, 1992. Folder: March on Washington—April 1993 IV, the ONE Institute.
“A clear majority,” The Washington Blade, May 29, 1992, p. 33.
“1993 March on Washington Finalizes Agenda.”
“D.C. March: ‘Historic’ Coalition Forged.” Windy City Times, March 4, 1993, p. 1. Reported by David Olson.
“Support the March...” Windy City Times, March 25, 1993, p. 13. Unauthored Editorial.
“Community Unites Around D.C. March.” Windy City Times, February 4, 1993, p. 4. Reported by David Olson.
“Going with the Community’s Flow.” Windy City Times, February 4, 1993, p. 12. Written by Joseph Schuman.
“Eating Our Own,” Advocate, August 13, 1992; “Pride and Prejudice,” Advocate, February 9, 1993, p. 6; “Why I Hated the March on Washington,” Undated (but referencing the 1993 march); “Shredding the Rainbow,” Frontiers, May 28, 1999, p. 63; “The longing of the Age of Aquarius,” Advocate, January 18, 2000, p. 7; “Cease fire!” Advocate, February 15, 2000, p. 36.
“March moves forward on misguided course,” by Nadine Smith. The Washington Blade, April 17, 1998, p. 33.
Gay Community News 24(1), 1998, pp. 24–25.
“A Gay Rights Rally Over Gains and Goals,” by Robin Toner. The New York Times, May 1, 2000, p. A14.
“Cease Fire!” by Richard Goldstein. Advocate, February 15, 2000, pp. 36, 39–40.
“Eating Our Own.”
“Cease fire!”
References
Alexander, J. C. (2003). The meanings of social life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities. New York: Verso.
Archer, M. S. (1996). Culture and agency. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Armstrong, E. A. (2002). Forging gay identities: Organizing sexuality in San Francisco, 1950–1994. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Armstrong, E. A., & Crage, S. M. (2006). Movements and memory: the making of the Stonewall myth. American Sociological Review, 71, 724–751.
Arnold, M. ([1869] 1949). Culture and anarchy. In L. Trilling (Ed.), The portable Matthew Arnold. New York: Viking.
Balser, D. B. (1997). The impact of environmental factors on factionalism and schism in social movement organizations. Social Forces, 76, 199–228.
Barber, L. G. (2002). Marching on Washington: The forging of an American political tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Baxandall, M. (1972). Painting and experience in fifteenth-century Italy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Becker, H. (1982). Art worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Becker, P. E. (1998). Making inclusive communities: congregations and the ‘problem’ of race. Social Problems, 45, 451–472.
Becker, P. E. (1999). Congregations in conflict: Cultural models of local religious life. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Beisel, N. (1990). Class, culture, and campaigns against vice in three American cities, 1872–1892. American Sociological Review, 55, 44–62.
Beisel, N. (1993). Morals versus art: censorship, the politics of interpretation, and the Victorian nude. American Sociological Review, 58, 145–162.
Beisel, N. (1997). Whither culture? Culture, 12, 1–2.
Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. T. (1985). Habits of the heart. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Berezin, M. (1994). Theatrical form and political meaning: state subsidized theater, ideology and the language of style in Fascist Italy. American Journal of Sociology, 99, 1237–1286.
Bernstein, M. (1997). Celebration and suppression: the strategic uses of identity by the lesbian and gay movement. American Journal of Sociology, 103, 531–565.
Bielby, W. T., & Bielby, D. D. (1994). ‘All hits are flukes’: institutionalized decision making and the rhetoric of network prime-time program development. American Journal of Sociology, 59, 1287–1313.
Biernacki, R. (2000). Language and the shift from signs to practices in cultural inquiry. History and Theory, 39, 289–310.
Binder, A. J. (2002). Contentious curricula: Afrocentrism and creationism in American public schools. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Binder, A., Blair-Loy, M., Evans, J., Ng, K., & Schudson, M. (2008). The diversity of culture. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 619, 6–14.
Bonnell, V. E., & Hunt, L. (eds). (1999). Beyond the cultural turn: New directions in the study of society and culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Brown-Saracino, J., & Ghaziani, A. (2009). The constraints of culture: evidence from the Chicago Dyke March. Cultural Sociology, 3, 51–75.
Cohen, C. J. (1999). What is this movement doing to my politics? Social Text, 17, 111–118.
Cook, T. D. (1985). Postpositivist critical multiplism. In R. L. Shotland & M. M. Mark (Eds.), Social science and social policy (pp. 21–62). Beverly Hills: Sage.
Coser, L. (1956). The functions of social conflict. New York: Free Press.
Crane, D. (ed). (1994). The sociology of culture: Emerging theoretical perspectives. Cambridge: Blackwell.
Crane, D. (ed). (2000). Fashion and its social agendas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Crimp, D. (ed). (1996). AIDS: Cultural analysis, cultural activism. Cambridge: MIT.
D’Emilio, J. (2002). The world turned: Essays on gay history, politics, and culture. Durham: Duke University Press.
DiMaggio, P. (1987). Classification in art. American Sociological Review, 52, 440–455.
DiMaggio, P. (1997). Culture and cognition. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 263–287.
Downey, G. L. (1986). Ideology and the clamshell identity: organizational dilemmas in the anti-nuclear power movement. Social Problems, 33, 357–373.
DuBois, W. E. B. (1903). The souls of black folk. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Company.
Earl, J., Martin, A., McCarthy, J. D., & Soule, S. A. (2004). The use of newspaper data in the study of collective action. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 65–80.
Echols, A. (1989). Daring to be bad. Radical feminism in America 1967–1975. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Epstein, S. (1999). Gay and lesbian movements in the United States: Dilemmas of identity, diversity, and political strategy. In B. D. Adam, J. W. Duyvendak & A. Krouwel (Eds.), The global emergence of gay and lesbian politics (pp. 30–90). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Fetner, T. (2008). How the religious right shaped lesbian and gay activism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Fine, G. A. (1979). Small groups and cultural creation: the idioculture of little league baseball teams. American Sociological Review, 44, 733–745.
Fine, G. A. (1996). Kitchens: The culture of restaurant work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fine, G. A. (1998). Morel tales: The culture of mushrooming. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Fine, G. A. (2001). Gifted tongues: High school debate and adolescent culture. Princteon: Princeton University Press.
Friedland, R., & Mohr, J. W. (2004). The cultural turn in American sociology. In R. Friedland & J. W. Mohr (Eds.), Matters of culture: Cultural sociology in practice (pp. 1–70). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gamson, W. A. (1975). The strategy of social protest. Belmont: Wadsworth.
Gamson, J. (1989). Silence, death, and the invisible enemy: AIDS activism and social movement ‘newness’. Social Problems, 36, 351–367.
Gamson, J. (1995). Must identity movements self-destruct? A queer dilemma. Social Problems, 42, 390–407.
Gamson, J. (1997). Messages of exclusion: gender, movements, and symbolic boundaries. Gender & Society, 11, 178–199.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Ghaziani, A. (2008). The dividends of dissent: How conflict and culture work in lesbian and gay marches on Washington. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ghaziani, A., & Fine, G. A. (2008). Infighting and ideology: how conflict informs the culture of the Chicago Dyke march. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 20, 51–67.
Ghaziani, A., & Ventresca, M. J. (2005). Keywords and cultural change: frame analysis of business model public talk, 1975–2000. Sociological Forum, 20, 523–559.
Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gitlin, T. (1980). The whole world is watching. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gitlin, T. (1995). The twilight of common dreams: Why America is wracked by culture wars. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Goldfarb, J. (1987). The sociology of culture as a subfield. Culture, 2, 2.
Goldstein, R. (2003). Homocons: The rise of the gay right. London: Verso.
Gould, D. B. (2002). Life during wartime: emotions and the development of ACT UP. Mobilization, 7, 177–200.
Greenfeld, L. (1987). Sociology of culture: perspective not specialty. Culture, 2, 2.
Griswold, W. (1986). Renaissance revivals: City comedy and revenge tragedy in the London Theatre 1576–1980. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Griswold, W. (1992). The sociology of culture: four good arguments (and one bad one). Acta Sociologica, 35(4), 323–328.
Griswold, W. (1994). Cultures and societies in a changing world. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge.
Griswold, W. (2008). Regionalism and the reading class. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gross, L. (2001). Up from invisibility: Lesbians, gay men, and the media in America. New York: Columbia University Press.
Hallett, T. (2003). Symbolic power and organizational culture. Sociological Theory, 21, 128–149.
Hebdige, D. (1979). Subculture: The meaning of style. London: Routledge.
Hunter, J. D. (1991). Culture wars: The struggle to define America. New York: Basic Books.
Hutchins, L. (1996). Bisexuality: Politics and community. In B. A. Firestein (Ed.), Bisexuality: The psychology and politics of an invisible minority (pp. 240–259). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Jacobs, M. (1999). Against closure: the semantic richness of the section’s culture. Culture, 14, 1–6.
Jepperson, R. L., & Swidler, A. (1994). What properties of culture should we measure? Poetics, 22, 359–371.
Johnston, H., & Klandermans, B. (eds). (1995). Social movements and culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Jones, C., & Dawson, J. (2000). Stitching a revolution: The making of an activist. New York: HarperSanFrancisco.
Kaufman, J. (2004). Endogenous explanation in the sociology of culture. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 335–357.
Kaufman, J., & Patterson, O. (2005). Cross-national cultural diffusion: the global spread of cricket. American Sociological Review, 70, 82–110.
Keen, L., & Goldberg, S. B. (2000). Strangers to the law: Gay people on trail. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Lamont, M. (1992a). Crisis or no crisis: culture and theory in sociology, the humanities and elsewhere. Culture, 6, 8–9.
Lamont, M. (1992b). Money, morals, and manners. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lang, K., & Lang, G. E. (1961). Collective dynamics. New York: Crowell.
Lichterman, P. (1995). Piecing together a multicultural community: cultural differences in community building among grassroots environments. Social Problems, 42, 513–534.
Lorde, A. (1984). Sister outsider: Essays and speeches. Trumansburg: Crossing.
MacCoun, R. (2003). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference, by William R. Shadish, Thomas D. Cook, and Donald T. Campbell (book review). Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 22, 330–332.
March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (1976). Ambiguity and choice in organizations. Bergen: Universitetsforlaget.
Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1978). Manifesto of the communist party. In R. C. Tucker (Ed.), The Marx–Engels reader (pp. 469–500). New York: Norton.
McAdam, D. (1982). Political process and the development of black insurgency, 1930–1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Melucci, A. (1995). The process of collective identity. In H. Johnston & B. Klandermans (Eds.), Social movements and culture (pp. 41–63). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Mohr, J. W. (1998). Measuring meaning structures. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 345–370.
Mohr, J. W. (2003). The cultural turn in American sociology: a report from the field. Culture, 17, 1–5.
Morris, A. (1984). The origins of the civil rights movement: Black communities organizing for change. New York: Free.
Mukerji, C., & Schudson, M. (1986). Popular culture. Annual Review of Sociology, 12, 47–66.
Mushaben, J. M. (1989). The struggle within: conflict, consensus, and decision making among national coordinators and grass-roots organizers in the West German Peace Movement. International Social Movement Research, 2, 267–298.
Park, R. E., & Burgess, E. W. (1921). Introduction to the science of society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Penelope, J. (1992). Call me lesbian: Lesbian lives, lesbian theory. Freedom: Crossing.
Peterson, R. A. (1979). Revitalizing the culture concept. Annual Review of Sociology, 5, 137–166.
Peterson, R. A., & Berger, D. G. (1975). Cycles in symbol production: the case of popular music. American Sociological Review, 40, 158–173.
Polletta, F. (2002). Freedom is an endless meeting: Democracy in American social movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Pratt, M. G., & Rafaeli, A. (1997). Organizational dress as a symbol of multilayered social identities. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 862–898.
Quadagno, J., & Knapp, S. J. (1992). Have historical sociologists forsaken theory? Thoughts on the history/theory relationship. Sociological Methods and Research, 20, 481–507.
Rich, A. (1980). Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 5, 631–660.
Robinson, P. (2005). Queer wars: The new gay right and its critics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ross, E. A. (1920). The principles of society. New York: Century Company.
Sahlins, M. (1985). Islands of history. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Schudson, M. (1989). How culture works: perspectives from media studies on the efficacy of symbols. Theory and Society, 18, 153–180.
Sewell, W. H., Jr. (1992). A theory of structure: duality, agency, and transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 98, 1–29.
Sewell, W. H., Jr. (1996). Historical events as transformations of structures: inventing revolution at the bastille. Theory and Society, 25, 841–881.
Sewell, W. H., Jr. (1999). The concept(s) of culture. In V. E. Bonnell & L. Hunt (Eds.), Beyond the cultural turn: New directions in the study of society and culture (pp. 35–61). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Shilts, R. (1987). And the band played on: Politics, people, and the AIDS epidemic. New York: St. Martin’s.
Simmel, G. (1955). Conflict and the web of group-affiliations. New York: Free.
Skrentny, J. D. (1996). The ironies of affirmative action: Politics, culture, and justice in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Smelser, N. J. (1963). Theory of collective behavior. New York: Free.
Spillman, L. (ed). (2002). Cultural sociology. Oxford: Blackwell.
Spillman, L. (Ed.). (2008). Cultural sociology and its others. Culture, 22, 1–3.
Stamatov, P. (2002). Interpretive activism and the political uses of Verdi’s Operas in the 1840s. American Sociological Review, 67, 345–366.
Stern, A. J., Tarrow, S., & Williams, M. F. (1971). Factions and opinion groups in European mass parties. Some evidence from a study of Italian socialist activists. Comparative Politics, 3, 529–559.
Streitmatter, R. (1995). Unspeakable: The rise of the gay and lesbian press in America. Boston: Faber and Faber.
Swidler, A. (1986). Culture in action: symbols and strategies. American Sociological Review, 51, 273–286.
Swidler, A. (1995). Cultural power and social movements. In H. Johnston & B. Klandermans (Eds.), Social movements and culture (pp. 25–40). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Swidler, A. (2001). Talk of love: How culture matters. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Taylor, V. (1989). Social movement continuity: the women’s movement in abeyance. American Sociological Review, 54, 761–775.
Taylor, V., & Rupp, L. J. (1993). Women’s culture and lesbian feminist activism: a reconsideration of cultural feminism. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 19, 33–61.
Tilly, C. (1978). From mobilization to revolution. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Turner, W. B. (2000). Mirror images: Lesbian/Gay civil rights in the Carter and Reagan administrations. In J. D’Emilio, W. B. Turner & U. Vaid (Eds.), Creating change: Sexuality, public policy, and civil rights (pp. 3–28). New York: St. Martin’s.
Tylor, E. B. ([1871] 1958). Primitive culture: Researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom. Gloucester: Smith.
Vaid, U. (1994). Foreword. In S. Schulman (Ed.), My American history: Lesbian and gay life during the Reagan/Bush years (pp. xi–xiii). New York: Routledge.
Vaisey, S. (2008). Socrates, Skinner, and Aristotle: three ways of thinking about culture in action. Sociological Forum, 23, 603–613.
Wagner-Pacifici, R. (2003). Edgework in the sociology of culture. Culture, 18, 1–3.
Warner, M. (ed). (1993). Fear of a queer planet: Queer politics and social theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Weber, M. (1949). The methodology of the social sciences. New York: Free Press.
White, H. C. (1992). Identity and control: A structural theory of social action. Princteon: Princeton University Press.
Wilde, M. J. (2004). How culture mattered at Vatican II: collegiality trumps authority in the council’s social movement organizations. American Sociological Review, 69, 576–602.
Williams, R. (1976). Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society. New York: Oxford University Press.
Williams, R. (1981). The sociology of culture. New York: Schocken Books.
Williams, R. H. (1995). Constructing the public good: social movements and cultural resources. Social Problems, 42, 124–144.
Wood, R. L. (1999). Religious culture and political action. Sociological Theory, 17, 307–332.
Wuthnow, R. (1987). Meaning and moral order: Explorations in cultural analysis. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Wuthnow, R. (1989). Communities of discourse: Ideology and social structure in the reformation, the enlightenment, and European socialism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Wuthnow, R. (1997). Is cultural sociology doomed? Culture, 11, 1–2.
Wuthnow, R., Hunter, J. D., Bergesen, A., & Kurzweil, E. (1984). Cultural analysis: The work of Peter L. Berger, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault, and Jurgen Habermas. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Wuthnow, R., & Witten, M. (1988). New directions in the study of culture. Annual Review of Sociology, 14, 49–67.
Zald, M. N., & Ash, R. (1966). Social movement organizations: growth, decline, and change. Social Forces, 44, 327–340.
Zald, M. N., & McCarthy, J. D. (1980). Social movement industries: competition and cooperation among movement organizations. Research in Social Movements, Conflict, and Change, 3, 1–20.
Zolberg, V. (1988). The sociology of culture is a capacious field. Culture, 2, 3.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by MacArthur Research Support (Department of Sociology, Northwestern University), the Dispute Resolution Research Center (Kellogg School of Management), and the Northwestern University Research Grants Committee. Thanks (in alphabetical order) to Elizabeth Armstrong, Ellen Berrey, Gary Alan Fine, Joshua Gamson, Wendy Griswold, Aldon Morris, Hayagreeva Rao, and Brian Uzzi, along with participants of the Culture and Society Workshop at Northwestern University, the Princeton University Society of Fellows, and Editors and reviewers of Theory and Society for their insightful critiques.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ghaziani, A. An “amorphous mist”? The problem of measurement in the study of culture. Theor Soc 38, 581–612 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-009-9096-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-009-9096-2