Sociology of Literature and Culture

The German tradition of cultural sociology has had substantial influence and is currently being developed in a variety of ways. However, the realm of literature is not yet investigated as intensively as other artforms and cultural fields. For many reasons, the KWI will try to fill this gap: The literary field and the literary market are subject to a number of structural changes – new formats, media, and genres are changing aesthetic standards; new actors like agents and bloggers are shifting professional concepts and roles. A declining readership and a lack of appreciation for ‘the good book’ are lamented periodically. To address these complex developments, we aim to question one-sided diagnoses based on cultural criticism or tech euphoria in order to contribute to more detailed analyses. In order to achieve this, scholars from a variety of different fields need to cooperate: Contemporary reading behaviours and their history can, for example, only be described precisely if cognitive psychologists, philologists, and cultural sociologists as well as cultural economists were brought together. A specific focus will be put on the challenge to perceive literary texts not merely as “black boxes” in larger contexts of action, application, and distinction. Instead, the aim is to describe these forms of articulation as attractive documents, repositories of knowledge, and contexts of meaning for philology, cultural studies and the social sciences. At the same time, the social-scientific and especially sociological way of academically using literary sources, strategies and traditions has to be examined. A particular focus will lie on the development of interdisciplinary methods, and through this also on the transfer of the terminology developed by literary studies.