In the 80’s, a peculiar genre of underground music emerged: Japanoise—or Japanese Noise. Based on feedback, without melody nor structure, this genre is often perceived as the end of music. Drawing on the tools of media anthropology, David Novak traces the history of the construction of this genre.
Thirty years ago, Pierre Bourdieu’s La Distinction laid the groundwork for a reintegration of cultural factors into our thinking about capital. Is this argument still valid today? Philippe Coulangeon talks about the metamorphoses of distinction in a world defined by inequalities in wealth and by the mutations of cultural legitimacy.
Published eleven years ago, the Vocabulaire européen des philosophies, also known as the Dictionnaire des intraduisibles, was translated into English in 2014. Barbara Cassin discusses the aim of this project, and how the book is being given a new lease of life thanks to translations in various languages.
In this interview, Michele Lamont explains different facets of her intellectual work. She comments on the cultural sociology she practices and on her urge to both understand how individuals make their lives meaningful and how to make sociology meaningful.
Carlo Ginzburg, a historian specialising in witchcraft and popular beliefs, has produced an exceptional range of rich and powerful work. In this interview he looks back at his intellectual development, which has taken him from the Friulian countryside to the conspiracies of the 1970s and 1980s, and discusses the personal aspect of his relationship with the archives.
In the United States, the November midterm elections will most likely be a success for Republicans in Congress. Does it mean that the 2008 electoral map is already outdated? Does it definitely discard the hypothesis that 2008 was the beginning of a long term political realignment in American politics?
