Photography: A Middle-Brow Art

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Photography: A Middle-Brow Art

Pierre Bourdieu

Description

The everyday practice of photography by millions of amateur photographers - the family snapshots, the holiday prints, the wedding portraits - may seem to be a spontaneous and highly personal activity. But Bourdieu and his associates show that few cultural activities are more structured and systematic than the social uses of this ordinary art.

This perceptive and wide-ranging analysis of the practice of photography brings out the logic implicit in this cultural field. The norms which define the occasions and the objects of photography serve to display the socially differentiated functions of, and attitudes towards, the photographic image and act. For some social groups, photography is primarily a means of preserving the present and reproducing the euphoric moments of collective celebration, whereas for other groups it is the occasion of an aesthetic judgement, in which photos are endowed with the dignity of works of art.

About the Author

Pierre Bourdieu is Professor of Sociology at the Collège de France and Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.

Features

* A unique sociological study of the everyday practice of photography, from family snapshots to amateur photographic clubs.
* Examines the motivation behind our desire to record moments on film. It shows that the practice of taking photographs is by no means arbitrary and that there is a definite structure to this cultural activity.
* Renowned for his in-depth sociological analyses of social and cultural activities, Bourdieu has based this work on the results of surveys and interviews with both professional and amateur photographers.
* A unique sociological study of the everyday practice of photography, from family snapshots to amateur photographic clubs.
* Examines the motivation behind our desire to record moments on film. It shows that the practice of taking photographs is by no means arbitrary and that there is a definite structure to this cultural activity.
* Renowned for his in-depth sociological analyses of social and cultural activities, Bourdieu has based this work on the results of surveys and interviews with both professional and amateur photographers.

To Purchase this product, please visit

https://dev.store.wiley.com/en-ca/Photography%3A+A+Middle-Brow+Art-p-9780745617152