Jeffrey Alexander, Professor of Sociology at Yale University, discusses his cultural sociology approach to political performance and cultural icons. We start out with the concept of fusion, and how political actors work to achieve it through the elements of political performance. Then, we turn to a discussion of objects, affordances, and the power of political icons.
Here’s some extra reading on the topics we cover in the episode:
Cultural Pragmatics: Social Performance Between Ritual and Strategy (2004)