Evaluative judgements: fields, value and time

While ‘canons’ of culture were dismantled decades ago by postmodern, postcolonial and feminist critics, evaluative judgements about ‘the best’ and ‘best ever’ continue unabated in the cultural field and in everyday life. We find examples of these judgements in the prizes and awards bestowed by powerful institutions but also in the relentless to and fro of internet forum discussions among individuals. How might we make sense of these evaluative judgements using sociological approaches? How do judgements at an individual and collective level intersect? How do they play out over time? How do they relate to the specific logics of cultural fields? In what ways are they expressive of wider societal inequalities? How can we distinguish between various types of judgement (ethical, aesthetic, instrumental)? How can we research their cumulative logic over time? This episode is hosted by dr. Simon Stewart, Reader in Sociology and Director of the Centre for European and International Studies Research at the University of Portsmouth. Readings Stewart, S. (2018). Making evaluative judgements and sometimes making money: independent publishing in the 21stCentury. Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change, 3(2). Stewart, S. (2020). Celebrity Capital, field-specific aesthetic criteria and the status of cultural objects: the case of Masked and Anonymous. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(1), 54-70.

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