Culture As (And After) Production

Abstract

This paper discusses the contribution of Richard A. Peterson to the discipline of sociology in general, and the sociological study of cultural production and consumption more particularly. It illustrate the main tenets of the 'production of culture' perspective proposed by Peterson from the early 1970s onwards, its intellectual genealogy, and the impact this perspective has had on the development of the sociology of culture in different countries. The paper also considers some of the criticisms addressed to the production of culture approach by scholars who have insisted on more interpretivist or critical analyses of culture. The paper concludes by arguing for the heuristic usefulness and epistemological relevance of an approach to cultural analysis which, while still cultivating a sense for the specificities of cultural objects as symbolic representations and meaning structures, is empirically focused on institutions and forms of social organization.