Culture and Cognition

Mission Statement
Culture and cognition, one of the fastest growing programs in the sociology department, is unique among cultural sociology programs around the nation. Here, theoretical and empirical attentions focus mainly on the relationship between the social and the mental. Our program offers students interested in cognition the opportunity to study fundamental aspects of our thinking that are almost totally missing from current philosophical, psychological, neuroscientific, and linguistic theories of the mind. Our program emphasizes several substantive areas:

• The social foundations of mental processes: perceiving, attending, framing, classifying, generalizing, sequencing, symbolizing, denying, time reckoning, remembering
• Identity construction: individual, collective, place, gender, religion, object, and event
• Mass media, technology, and communication
• Belief systems: religion, ideology, science
• Discourse, communication, strategic interaction, and politics
• Institutions, power relations, and cultural change
• Symbol systems and symbolic interaction
• Narrative analysis
• Micro-level cultural practices and macro-level social transformation
• Sociology of art
• The relation between cognitive and social structures
• The interaction between believing and belonging
• Culture and power
• Social identity and social networks
• Space, place, and community
• The phenomenology of everyday life
• Collective memory
• Visual sociology
• Spiritual experiences and practices and their effects on public and private life and on physical and mental health

Affiliated Faculty
József Böröcz
Ethel Brooks
Karen A. Cerulo
Lee Clarke
Ira Cohen
Phaedra Daipha
Judith Friedman

Allan Horwitz

Ellen Idler
Catherine Lee
Paul McLean
Ann Mische
Arlene Stein
Richard Williams
Ben Zablocki
Eviatar Zerubavel

Graduate Courses Taught in the Core Area
Cognitive Sociology: (Click here for syllabus) Drawing upon a number of major sociological and anthropological traditions (sociology of knowledge, symbolic interactionism, symbolic anthropology, phenomenology, semiotics, cognitive anthropology), this course examines relations between the social and the mental within the specific contexts of perceiving, attending, remembering, reasoning, classifying, framing, time reckoning and assigning meaning. It is designed to prepare students to do theoretically informed empirical studies of the social dimensions of our thinking.

Culture, Cognition, and the Media: (Click here for syllabus) What role do the media play in the development of culture … and vice-versa?  Do media impact contemporary and historical perceptions of reality?  Can media create fields of collective cognition? Do media reflect reality, construct it … or both? This course explores both classical and contemporary excursions on these very complex issues. 
In examining the relationship of media, culture, and cognition, we will anchor our inquiry within the elements of the traditional mass communication model:
Who: Professional sources of message making and their techniques
Says What:Message content, message structure, framing, schematization,
                                   and narrative
How: Medium as message; technology and perception
To Whom: Audiences – active or passive
With What Effect:  Emotional, behavioral, and socialization effects

Culture, Symbols, and Social Interaction: (Click here for syllabus) Social interaction is made possible, in large measure, by the existence of cultural symbols. During the semester, we will examine a variety of symbol systems, exploring the social foundations of these systems, the character of the symbols themselves, and the various ways in which social actors project and manipulate symbols. We also will explore the differing effects that certain symbols and social interaction styles can have on the structure of social life. At the same time, we will probe the ways in which social structure and technological innovation influence the face of social interaction.Part one of the course will highlight symbolic communication within micro-level interaction. Lectures and readings will focus our attentions on four specific symbol systems: gestures, smell, touch, and talk. Class discussions will unfold the role these systems play in the establishment of meaning within interpersonal encounters. Part two of the course will focus on institutionalized symbol systems: language, visual arts, music, national symbols, and media narratives. We will examine the different levels of meaning contained in each of these systems. We also will explore the role social structure plays in the production of these systems. We will probe the impact of various symbolic forms with reference to communication effectiveness. And we will examine the ways in which audience responses to these symbols can alter the social setting. In its final phase, the course directs attentions to technologically mediated interaction. Lectures and readings focus on the ways in which technology alters the interaction process, and the ways in which it can blur previously conceived social distinctions: e.g. macro versus micro level interaction, life versus death.

Political Sociology: (click here for syllabus) In this course, we will examine the relationship between political conflict, cultural processes, and institutional change. In much of the literature on political sociology, culture is seen as something distinct from political institutions and processes; when acknowledged, culture tends to play a peripheral or “epiphenomenal” role, subordinate to the dominant effects of political and/or economic forces such as states, governments, political parties, policy-makers, class actors, interest groups, and social movements. Many cultural analysts, on the other hand, give causal primacy to such elements as discourse, symbols, and ideologies, often with the effect of reducing politics to nothing more than arrays of symbolic battles. In contrast to both of these approaches, our premise will be that culture, institutions, and political change are necessarily intertwined, but that this interrelationship takes varied forms, depending on social and historical contexts.

Sociology of Art:

Sociology of Culture: (click here for syllabus) The course considers selected themes in the sociology of culture -- how symbols, language, conceptual structures, and forms of knowledge construct meanings and constitute forms of power. Four key substantive areas will be the focus: 1) political culture and the moral order; 2) symbolic boundaries and inequality, 3) mass culture and subcultural resistance, and 4) bodies and knowledge. We’ll spend three weeks on each of these themes, asking the following: How do each of these streams of work define the field of cultural sociology? What are their principal objectives and contributions? What methodologies do they use? How does each make sense of the relationship between "culture" and "society"?

Sociology of Identity: (Click here for syllabus)

Sociology of Religion: (Click here for syllabus)

Sociology of Symbolic Boundaries: (Click here for syllabus) Check back soon for an updated course description.

Space, Place and Community: (click here for syllabus)

Temporality in Social Analysis: (click here for syllabus) In this course we will examine the orientations to temporality that undergird different analytical approaches in sociology. We will start by looking at general conceptions of temporality as expressed by major theorists such as Durkheim, Mead, Schutz, Whitehead, Luhmann, and Elias, as well as at how these theorists are contributing to (or being invoked in) the recently bubbling critique that most standard techniques in sociology are static and atemporal. We will then examine the array of recent theoretical and methodological approaches that attempt, in very different ways, to “bring time back in.” These will include approaches focusing on the personal and social experience of temporality – including time perspective, narrative, and interactionist approaches – as well as those focusing on the use of temporality in social and historical explanation. Among these we will look at historical/comparative approaches; statistical techniques such as time series and event history analysis, sequence analysis and formal approaches to narrative analysis. We will discuss both the theoretical underpinnings of these approaches as well as their practical implications (possibilities and limitations) for the conduct of sociological research.

Time, History and Memory: (Click here for syllabus) This course offers a sociological perspective on the intricate relations between present and past with a particular emphasis on the ways in which our present social, cultural, and political environments affect how we collectively remember our common past. The course begins by examining such themes as the presence of the past in the present, the relations between memory and identity, and the social organization of memory. We then address the social structure of the past, specifically examining both the form and content of history as a narrative and the social construction of both historical continuity and discontinuity.


Recent Dissertations in Culture and Cognition
In Progress

Karen Danna-Lynch, Role Switching: A Social/Cognitive Approach to Multiple Role Enactment. (Karen Cerulo, Allan Horwitz, Sarah Rosenfield, Eviatar Zerubavel)

Jenna Howard, Recovery from Recovery: The Temporal Organization of Identity. (Eviatar Zerubavel, Allan Horwitz, Sarah Rosenfield)


Chantelle Marlor, The Cultural Construction of Ecological Knowledge: How does the Construction Process Affect the Conclusions? (John L. Martin, Eviatar Zerubavel, Thomas Rudel)


Ph.D. Degrees Awarded

2007

John Lang, Acceptable Trust? The Public Perception of Organizations Involved in Genetically Modified Food, 2007.

Vanina Leschziner, Cultural Creation: The Creation of Culture and the Culture of Creation. A Sociological Analysis in the Culinary Sphere. (Karen Cerulo, John L. Martin, Paul McLean, Ann Mische)

2006

Kevin Keogan, The Contemporary Politics of Immigration Within the United States: An Historical-Comparative Analysis of Southern California and the New York Metro Area. (Karen A. Cerulo, Thomas Rudel, Ann Mische, Rubén G. Rumbaut)

Ruth E. Simpson, Changing Conceptions of Air and Social Space: Miasmatic Theories, Microscopic Worlds, and Myopic Vision. (Eviatar Zerubavel, Ira Cohen, Allan Horwitz, József Böröcz, Richard Williams)

2005
Jamie McLennan, Solitude and Sociability: The Social World of Long Distance Hikers on the Appalacian Trail, (Thomas Rudel, D. Randall Smith, Deborah Carr)

Takiko Mori-Saunders, Media Discourse For Japanese Middle-Aged Women: Between Docile Body and Silent Resistance. (Ellen Idler, Judith Friedman, Ethel Brooks)

Keumjae Park, Immigrant Identities: The Case of Korean-Americans. (Karen A. Cerulo, Richard Williams, Vilna Bashi, Kyeyoung Park)

Ian Watson, Cognitive Design. (Eviatar Zerubavel, Paul McLean, Allan Horwitz)

2004
Julie McLaughlin, It's In the Timing: The Relationship Between the Temporal Composition of Family Transitions and Psychological Well-Being. (Allan Horwitz, Sarah Rosenfield, Ellen Idler, Deborah Carr)


2003
Eric K. Shaw, What Goes Around Comes Around: A Social Psychological Examination of Helping Behavior Among Haitian Immigrants, Christian Fundamentalists, and Gang Members. (Richard Williams, Benjamin Zablocki, Vilna Bashi, Philip Kasinitz)

Jamie Mullaney, Everyone's Not Doing It: An Exploration of Abstinence as Chosen Pursuit. (Eviatar Zerubavel, Richard Williams, Benjamin Zablocki)

Marla Perez-Lugo, Vulnerability to Natural Disasters and the Mass Media (Tom Rudel, Karen O'Neill, Karen Cerulo)

2002
Brian Hall, Chinese Americans at the Border of Christian Faith. (Benjamin Zablocki, Cathy Greenblat, Chaim Waxman)

Sherril Schuster, Princess for a Day: Perpetuating the "White Wedding" as a Traditional Ritual. (Ann Parelius, Judith Gerson, Chaim Waxman)

2001
Shawna Hudson, Watching Sex on TV: Reinterpreting Content Using A Sociological Gaze. (Cathy Greenblat, Karen A. Cerulo, Richard Williams, John Gagnon)

Nicole Isaacson, "The Unfinished Infant": An Analysis Of The Cultural Representations And Practices To Finish The Premature Baby. (Eviatar Zerubavel, Judith Gerson, Karen A. Cerulo, Cathy Greenblat, John Gagnon)

Kristen Purcell, Leveling The Playing Field: Constructing Parity In The Modern World. (Eviatar Zerubavel, Jozsef Borocz, Allan Horwitz, Viviana Zelizer)

Rick Phillips, Saints in "Zion"; Saints in "Babylon": Mormonism, Pluralism and the Transformation of Religious Vitality in the Uniter States. (Benjamin Zablocki, Chaim Waxman, John Martin, Daniel V.A. Olsen)

William Smith, Christian Psychotherapists: Being in the World, But Not of It. (Benjamin Zablocki, John Martin, Chaim Waxman)

2000
Johanna Foster, Feminist Theory and the Politics of Ambiguity: A Comparative Analysis of the Multiracial Movement, the Intersex Movement and the Disability Rights Movement as Contemporary Struggles Over Social Classification in the United States, (Judith Gerson, Richard Williams, Eviatar Zerubavel)

Mary L. Gatta, Juggling Food and Feelings: Emotional Balance in the Workplace, (Ira Cohen, Patricia Roos, Benjamin Zablocki)

1999
Wayne Brekhus, Lifestylers, Commuters, and Integrators: The Grammar and Micro-Ecology of Social Identity. (Cathy Greenblat, Eviatar Zerubavel, Judith Gerson, John Gagnon)

Mary Chayko, Technology and Togetherness: How We Create and Live in a World of Mental Connections. (Eviatar Zerubavel, Karen A. Cerulo, Ira Cohen)

Kimberly Wittenstrom, From Stay-At-Home Mothers to Professional Family Day Care Providers: Explaining Women's Transformations Using a Multi-Analytic Approach. (Karen A. Cerulo, Judith Gerson, Eviatar Zerubavel, Hartmut B. Mokros)

1998
Katharine Jones, Accent on Privilege: Negotiating English Identities in an American Context. (Judith Gerson, Richard Williams, Roberto Franzosi)


Culture and Cognition Students' ASA Awards
Tom DeGloma - Co-winner, American Sociological Association's Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section Elise M. Boulding Student Paper of the the Year, 2007

Karen Danna-Lynch - Winner, American Sociological Association's Culture Section Best Student Paper Award, 2003.

Karen Danna-Lynch - Honorable Mention, Shils-Coleman Memorial Award, 2002.

Jamie Mullaney - Co-Winner, American Sociological Association's Culture Section Best Student Paper Award, 2001.

C. Lynn Carr - Winner, American Sociological Association's Social Psychology Best Student Paper Award, 1999.

Wayne Brekhus - Winner, Shils-Coleman Memorial Award, American Sociological Association's Theory Section Best Student Paper Award, 1998.

Kristen Purcell - Winner, American Sociological Association's Culture Section Best Student Paper Award, 1998.

Wayne Brekhus - Winner, American Sociological Association's Culture Section Best Student Paper Award, 1997.

Geoffrey Curran - Honorable Mention, Thompson Prize, American Sociological Association's Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section Best Student Paper Award, 1995.

Culture and Cognition Links
Culture and Cognition Network
Rutgers information and communication school (SCILS)
Rutgers Center for the Critical Analysis (CCA)
Culture Section of the ASA