SOC 3020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Contemporary Sociology, Normal Science, Thomas Kuhn

• School: University of Virginia
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 3020
• Professor: Stephan Fuchs

Document Summary

Marx, weber, and durkheim considered the classics of social theory. No work is born as a classic, classical status does not confer on inception. It"s an acquired status, constructed status, follows from a process of construction. Once the status has been conferred, then the status is very stable and then it is relatively uncontroversial/uncontested. So a classic generates a certain degree of consensus that it is a classic. Even in controversial fields (such as social theory) these are considered basic concepts and are recognized as classics. A classic once it has been established/recognized retains that status overtime. Not given to many works, most do not ever achieve classical status. There are classics in a variety of cultural fields. A cultural field is a more/less bounded and closed network of cultural production, network of communication between its practitioners. The professional community is the social core of a cultural field. A cultural field has professional practitioner recognized as contributors/practitioners of a field.