Aesthetic Style: How Material Objects Structure an Institutional Field

Adler, Gary J.; DellaPosta, Daniel; Lankes, Jane

doi:10.1177/07352751221076864

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 87 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The aesthetic properties of charismatic presentation thus offer opportunities for imitation by charismatic followers, who will create “robes, sceptres, insignias” and other presentational items (Glassman 1975:624) to produce “a recurring pattern that enables style to classify the groups that carry it and differentiate among those that do not” (Adler, DellaPosta, and Lankes 2022:57, emphasis added). To continue with the example of Francis of Assisi, his followers quickly developed a “uniform” (Vauchez 2013:40) inspired by their leader, which communicated their belonging to a movement that was meant to contrast starkly with all previous monastic orders: “a single tunic .…”

Section: Charismatic Lookalikes?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Charismatic Mimicry: Innovation and Imitation in the Case of Volodymyr Zelensky

Joosse

Želinský

2023

Sociological Theory

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Moving beyond frameworks of charisma scholarship that stress antagonism between charisma and establishment society, this article discerns and theoretically accounts for more mutualistic forms of influence between charismatic leaders and elite representatives of traditional or rational-legal institutions. Specifically, we combine contemporary work in the cultural sociology of charisma with Girard’s notion of mimesis to provide a theory of charismatic mimicry; we explain situations where, rather than opposing the charismatic leader, elites align themselves with the new sources of legitimacy being proffered by the charismatic leader. At times, these institutional elites even co-opt new charismatic protocols into their own vocabularies of leadership. We demonstrate the usefulness of our model for interpreting the case of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his encounters with European leaders.

show abstract

Section: Charismatic Lookalikes?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Charismatic Mimicry: Innovation and Imitation in the Case of Volodymyr Zelensky

Joosse

Želinský

2023

Sociological Theory

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is not unusual for materiality to play a role in cultural production, from architecture to food or fashion itself (Adler et al, 2022). But fashion culture's strong aesthetic logic rarely extends materially beyond the quality of textiles to explicitly include garments' physical production chain.…”

Section: Prioritizing Material-technical Over Aesthetic Qualitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Who made my clothes?” How transparency apps bring politics to cultural fields

Brans

2023

Journal of Consumer Culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As the climate crisis accelerates, consumers, lawmakers, and activists demand transparent supply chains in industries that form the material backbone of cultural fields such as fashion. Consequently, new apps have emerged that promise to make supply chains transparent by translating opaque production data into easily comprehensible product ratings. Integrating the literature on transparency, cultural intermediaries, and digital consumption apps, this article asks: how do these apps, which I call transparency apps, afford politics in cultural fields and new political ways of consumption? Using fashion as a strategic case of a cultural field with strong material underpinnings, this paper combines a walkthrough analysis of Good On You, Retraced, and Renoon with interviews of employees of the first two. I found these apps to afford a politics of transparency consist of eco-progressive values embedded in ideologies of consumer rights and self-optimization, which elevates the technical-material logic of fashion at the cost of its aesthetic logic. This politics is usually offered in a personalized form resembling platformized cultural production. Transparency apps are thus politicizing cultural intermediaries that simultaneously enable and limit the political contestation of fashion. This article demonstrates how transparency apps bring politics to cultural fields, upsetting usual logics in the process, carrying implications for any cultural field that faces demands for supply chain transparency.

show abstract

“…Congregations with a contemporary worship style shifted the sacramental focus of worship away from rituals such as communion to music (Lim and Ruth 2017). This shift in focus is evident in church buildings that eschew traditional ritual objects in favor of an auditorium-style arrangement designed to enhance the musical performance (Adler et al 2022;Kilde 2002;Loveland and Wheeler 2003). A service that leans heavily on concert-style musical performances likely translates more easily to an online format.…”

Section: Affinities For Streaming In Worshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Streamable Services: Affinities for Streaming in Pre-Pandemic Congregational Worship

Roso

2023

Religions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Following the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, many congregational leaders had to scramble to set up streaming or recording systems in order to continue their worship services without putting congregants at risk, but some congregations had already set up such systems in the years leading up to the pandemic. Previous research has found that these capabilities were not evenly distributed throughout the population of congregations, but this work has primarily focused on how technological divides are the result of a lack of economic resources. However, economic resources were not the only factor associated with whether congregations had streaming options or not. Using Wave 4 of the National Congregations Study (NCS) conducted in 2018–2019, I find that, prior to the pandemic, Catholic congregations and Protestant congregations with more enthusiastic worship services were more likely to have streaming or recording systems even after controlling for economic resources, technological knowledge, and other organizational features. The elective affinities between certain worship practices and online streaming meant that some congregations were in a better position to meet the unexpected challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. These findings highlight the important role congregations’ cultural beliefs and practices can play in shaping their activities.

show abstract

Aesthetic Style: How Material Objects Structure an Institutional Field

Cited by 9 publications

References 87 publications

Charismatic Mimicry: Innovation and Imitation in the Case of Volodymyr Zelensky

Charismatic Mimicry: Innovation and Imitation in the Case of Volodymyr Zelensky

“Who made my clothes?” How transparency apps bring politics to cultural fields

Streamable Services: Affinities for Streaming in Pre-Pandemic Congregational Worship

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About