Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Spring 2024

Course Description

This course approaches art as a sociological subject. The course covers a wide range of topics related to art and civil society, from contexts of creativity to production and reception, in addition to marketing, interpretation, and politics. The syllabus is divided into four units. In Unit 1, we’ll begin by studying foundational concepts, including taste, art worlds, and methods. In Unit 2, we will examine how artworks are produced, evaluated, and exchanged in the traditional “art market.” Unit 3 focuses on the objects and genres of art, developing our sociological mindfulness of exclusion and hierarchy in the art worlds. Digging deeper into the question of exclusion and hierarchy, Unit 4 focuses on the politics of art. We will look at communities of artists traditionally marginalized by the mainstream art market, including Outsider Artists, African American artists, Native American artists, and queer artists. On that, we reflect on intersectionality in the global production and reception of artwork. After taking this course, students are expected to be able to apply their sociological imagination to the art worlds, systematically analyze art as a social and political object, and engage in creative collective actions for social justice.

Student Outcomes

After taking this course, students will be able to: - Use the sociological imagination to understand and explain art, artists, artwork, and art worlds. - Understand how art shapes (and is shaped by) stratification and inequality by race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, and other important identity markers. - Interpret art and civil society at the micro, meso, and macro levels. - Identify and analyze strategies that individuals and institutions have used in the past and can develop in the future to address and ameliorate social injustice in the art worlds.

Download

Share

COinS