Vulgar, All Too Vulgar: Untimely Meditations on Cultural Sociology of Cultural Representations

Abstract

This response to Thorpe’s book Cultural Sociology of Cultural Representations deals with two sets of questions. The first concerns how ‘cultural representations’ are to be conceptualised, and it notes the highly limited nature of the critical post-colonialism of Edward Said. The second is about the nature of sociology and the nature of the discipline of history, as well as the relations between the two. It argues that long-term historical sociology is a necessary corrective to the myopia of scholarly specialisms, while warning against using currently dominant theoretical vocabularies in unmediated manners.