Iconic Power

Jeffrey C. Alexander, Yale University, USADominik Bartma?ski, Yale University, USAGottfried Boehm, Basel University, SwitzerlandHans Belting, Northwestern University, USAFuyuki Kurasawa, York University, CanadaWendy Bowler, LaTrobe University, AustraliaWerner Binder, Masaryk University, Czech RepublicPhilip Smith, Yale University, USAIan Woodward, Griffith University, AustraliaDavid Ellison, Griffith University, AustraliaDaniel uber, University of Lucerne, SwitzerlandSlobodan Karamani?, Ljubljana Graduate School of the Humanities, SloveniaValentin Rauer, Goethe University Frankfurt Main, GermanyBernhard Giesen, Universität Konstanz, Germany Julia Sonnevend, Columbia University, USAPiotr Sztompka, Jagiellonian University, Poland

'Iconic Power is the strongest theoretical statement to yet come out of the 'Strong Program' in Cultural Sociology. Arguably, more than any other trope, including those of ritual and performance, the concept of 'iconicity' promises to break free of the economistic, linguistic and other kinds of reductionisms that plague the cultural sciences. This fine volume contains both theoretical expositions on how pictorial icons do their cultural work, as well as applied analyses of phenomena such as 9/11, images of famines, Woodstock and Bayreuth as 'iconic' events, expensive Australian red wines and the political iconography of Post-Communist Eastern Europe. If cultural sociology is to have a vibrant future and not repeat the mistakes of the past then in Iconic Power: Materiality and Meaning in Social Life practitioners have a handbook on how to approach the distinctive character of the visual and other non-discursive symbols.' - Eduardo de la Fuente, Sociology, Flinders University; author of Twentieth Century Music and the Question of Modernity 'Ranging in its coverage from the events of 9/11 to images of HIV, and from the revolutions of 1989 to cult wines, this book systematically unpacks the tremendous importance of icons in social life. Both a striking contribution to visual sociology, and a powerful manifesto for new directions in cultural sociology, Iconic Power is fascinating reading for everyone interested in the seductive potency of iconography.' - David Inglis, Head of Department, Department of Sociology, University of Aberdeen

• Materiality and Meaning in Social Life: Toward an Iconic Turn in Cultural Sociology; D.Bartmanski  & J.Alexander   PART I  Representation, Presentation, Presence: Tracing the Homo Pictor; G.Boehm  Iconic Power and Performance: the Role of the Critic; J.Alexander   PART II  Inconspicuous Revolutions of 1989. Culture and Contingency in The Making of Political Icons; D.Bartmanski   The Making of Humanitarian Visual Icons. On the 1921-1923 Russian Famine as Foundational Event; F.Kurasawa   Seeing Tragedy in the News Images of September 11; W.Bowler  The Emergence of Iconic Depth. Secular Icons in a Comparative Perspective; W.Binder   PART III  Shifting Extremism: On the Political Iconology in Post-socialist Serbia; D.Šuber  & S.Karamanic   The Visualization of Uncertainty: HIV Statistics in Public Media; V.Rauer  How To Make an Iconic Commodity: The Case of Penfolds' Grange Wine; I.Woodward  & D.Ellison   Becoming Iconic. The Cases of Woodstock and Bayreuth; P.Smith   PART IV  Body and Image; H.Belting Iconic Difference and Seduction; B.Giesen   Iconic Rituals. Towards a Social Theory of Encountering Images; J.Sonnevend   Visible Meanings; P.Sztompka   Afterword; B.Giesen