Social Aesthetics: The Senses and Sociology In a New Key

The topic of aesthetics has had a chequered history in sociology. While aesthetics was important to classical social theorists like Simmel, Dewey and Mead, disciplinary consolidation seemed to push aesthetics to the margins. The ‘cultural’ turn and the growing interest in the senses has seen a renewed interest in aesthetics as evidenced by Strati’s Organization and Aesthetics, Vannini, Waskul and Gottschalk’s The Senses in Self, Society and Culture, and Staubmann’s Sociology in a New Key. Alongside such texts there has been a growing interest in fields with clear sociological important such as environmental aesthetics, everyday aesthetics, gendered aesthetics, and the aesthetics of atmospheres. To elaborate on just one, Leddy writes that ‘when we talk about everyday aesthetic experience’ we are not restricted to the ‘fine arts or... the natural environment... [it] allows us to talk about things that do not generally come up in traditional aesthetics’. Can the same be said of a social aesthetics – namely, that it allows us to talk about things that didn’t traditionally come up in urban sociology, the sociology of religion, science and technology studies, the sociology of embodiment, or even the sociology of art (which has been criticized for reproducing formal or institutional definitions of art)? In addition to sharing research on social aesthetics, the session welcomes papers addressing practical and organizational considerations (i.e., reports on existing research networks/centres, dedicated teaching programs, possible publication outlets, as well as ideas for extending social aesthetics beyond the ‘ivory tower’ in a playful, creative way).