Dynamics of Culture Routledge Library Editions: Cultural Studies Series

This book, first published in 1987, is a landmark contribution to macrosociology that extends the tradition of Sorokin, Durkheim, Marx, Weber and other founders of the discipline in new and exciting directions. Using their innovative content analysis methodology to examine American and British political documents, the authors show that the long-term dynamics of culture are subject to their own laws and are independent of the actions of 'great men' and other individual actors. This comprehensive volume brings together over two decades of the authors' research on culture indicators. Key findings include the identification of two long-term cultural cycles in the United States and Great Britain: one is related to party realignments, the other to long-term economic fluctuations. In addition, the authors demonstrate how culture provides the themes that political parties use to interpret economic conditions in their appeal for votes. Other results show that organizational cultures move in opposite directions from those in the culture of the larger society. The book also includes detailed discussions of both the methodology used to analyse text content and related metatheoretical issues in the study of cultural dynamics.

Part 1. A Theoretical and Methodological Framework 1. Culture and Culture Dynamics 2. Classification and Interpretation in Content Analysis: the Lasswell Value Dictionary Part 2. Studies in Culture Dynamics 3. The Wheels of Time and the Interdependence of Culture Change in America 4. The Long-Term Dynamics of Cultural Problem Solving 5. Culture and Economy in the Western World System 6. Political Issues, Economic Performance, and Presidential Election Outcomes, 1892-1964 7. Values in American Science: Cultural Dynamics in Three Professional Societies Part 3. Theoretical and Methodological Issues 8. Measurement Models for Content Analysis 9. Ideography: the Description of Documents on Selected Ideational Dilemmas Part 4. A Concluding Assessment 10. Evolutionary Curves and Revolutionary Corners in the Progression of Culture and Its Explanations