ABOUT THIS BOOK

While numerous studies over the years have focused on the ways in which art functions in our society, How to Study Art Worlds is the first to examine it in light of the organizational aspects of the art world. Van Maanen delves into the works of such sociologists as Howard S. Becker, Pierre Bourdieu, George Dickie, and Niklas Luhmann, among others, to examine the philosophical debates surrounding aesthetic experience—and then traces the consequences that each of these approaches has had and continues to have on organizations in the art world.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Hans van Maanen is professor of art and society at the University of Groningen.

REVIEWS

“This study stands on the highest level of commentary in this area and will be taken as a primary source of reference for the study of the art world and sociology of art in general; therefore it would be a mandatory purchase for any university that has an arts and humanity faculty; and it is also an important individual reference text book for both graduate students and academics.”

— Jonathan Vickery, University of Warwick

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

PART ONE THE ART WORLD AS A SYSTEM

1 The Institutional Theory of George Dickie

2 The Institutional Pragmatism of Howard S. Becker and Paul DiMaggio

3 Pierre Bourdieu’s Grand Theory of the Artistic Field

4 From Theory to the Methodology of Singularity: Bruno Latour and Nathalie Heinich

5 Niklas Luhmann’s System of Artistic Communications

6 How Art Worlds Help the Arts to Function

PART TWO ON VALUES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE ARTS

7 What Philosophers Say that the Arts Do

PART THREE HOW TO STUDY ART WORLDS

Introduction

8 Foundations for the Functioning of Art Systems

9 How Distribution Conditions the Functioning of Art

10 How Aesthetic Values Become Contextualized

Epilogue: For a Second Life of Artistic Experiences