As urban centers concentrate organizational, service, and communication infrastructures, amplifying both the influence of networks and the importance of global flows, the urban policy and theorization emphasis has to shift towards the performative, contingent and material aspects of cities. The theoretical effort of Münch reinforces the explanatory power of both theoretical research and practical problem solving by laying the foundations of a theory of modernity, systems of accumulation, and action.
Münch’s sociology allows for the analytical and historical description of individual and collective action. Post-traditional connections among anthropology, philosophy, political economy, and history make possible interdisciplinary arenas of inquiry defined more by subject than by discipline guiding the process of clarification of links among multiple sites where researcher can pursue his or her subject matter using the methodology of multi-sited anthropology. Münch’s theorization of interpenetration, systems, and action allows for the reconstruction of the relations between economy and culture as analytical ideal types that allow for variation and change. Münch’s development of Parsons’, Weber’s and Durkheim’s sociology theorizes modern development in terms that connect systems of economic, cultural, social and political accumulation into a dynamic structure of related contradictions showing historical and geographical variations.
In temporally, spatially, and socially specific ways, urban spaces actively contribute to the formation of economies, cultures, societies and polities. Cities serve as sites of strategic centrality, interrelated diversity, and mobile interconnection for individual and collective actors entering into spatially, historically, and relationally specific interrelations. Arising from the strategies of urban development, cultural clusters are variously shaped by the dynamics and contradictions of the interrelations among individual organizations, available strategies, and cultural objectives. Notably aligned with the transformations afoot in global cities, art museums and biennials manifest urban structures of modern social order. Thus, art exhibitions are complex and contingent instances of social, cultural, political, and economic accumulation.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- A. Richard Münch on Cultural Accumulation
- B. The Contradictions and Dynamics of Modern Development
- C. Theoretical Development of Münch's Sociology
- D. Present Application of Münch's Sociology
- I. Economic and Cultural Accumulation in World Cities
- A. Cultural Accumulation in World Cities
- B. World Cities in the Entrepreneurial Strategies of Urban Development
- C. Poststructuralist Critiques: World City Policy-Making and Culture
- II. Culture and Economy in Sociological Theory
- A. Revitalization of European Sociological Theory
- B. Historical Overview of European Sociological Traditions
- C. Philosophical Foundations of Parsons' Social Theory
- D. Systematization by Münch of European Classical Traditions
- E. Concluding Overview
- III. Theory of Action in American Sociological Tradition
- A. Münch's Development of Action Theory
- B. Parallels in American Sociology to Münch's Theorization
- C. Individual and Collective Action in Sociological Research
- D. Dynamics and Contradictions of Individual and Collective Action
- IV. Operationalizing Münch I: A Methodological Excursus on Multi-Sited Anthropology
- A. Multi-Sited Applications of Anthropological Methodology
- B. Methodological Challenges of the Anthropology on Global Capitalism
- C. Relevance and Shortcomings of Multi-Sited Anthropology
- V. Operationalizing Münch II: Evaluating ‘Spirits of Capitalism’
- A. Ideal-Typical Relations between Economy and Culture
- B. Culture and Economy as Historical Ideal Types
- C. Analytical Ideal Types of Economy and Culture
- VI. Modern Systems of Economic Accumulation
- A. The System of Economic Accumulation in the Structure of Modernity
- B. Varieties of Capitalism within the Structure of Modernity
- C. Theorization of Varieties of Modernity
- VII. The Spatial Analysis of Urban Modernity
- A. The Spatial Theorization of Urban Modernity
- B. The Historical Production of Urban Space
- C. The Historiographical Critique of Spatial Analysis
- D. Sociological Applications of Spatial Analysis
- VIII. The Structure of Modernity in Cities
- A. Economic and Cultural Accumulation in Cities
- B. Economic, Cultural, Social and Political Accumulation in Cities
- C. Urban Structure of Modernity, Accumulation and Action
- IX. Strategies of Cultural Accumulation in Cities
- A. Urban Strategies of Cultural Clustering
- B. Cultural Accumulation via Cultural Clustering
- C. Cultural Accumulation as Urban Development
- X. Cultural Accumulation of Global Modernity
- A. International Art Exhibitions as Cultural Accumulation
- B. Philosophical Transition to Global Modernity
- C. International Art Institutions vis-à-vis Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural Accumulation
- D. Art Museums in the Urban Structure of Modernity
Objectives and Key Themes
This thesis aims to analyze Richard Münch's theorization of modernity, systems of accumulation, and action, applying it to the study of cultural accumulation in world cities. It seeks to demonstrate the explanatory power of Münch's sociological framework in understanding the complex interrelations between economy, culture, and urban development.
- Münch's sociological framework and its application to urban studies.
- The dynamics and contradictions of modern development in relation to cultural accumulation.
- The role of cities as sites of economic and cultural accumulation.
- The interrelationship between economy and culture in sociological theory.
- Methodological approaches to studying global capitalism and cultural processes.
Chapter Summaries
The introductory chapters establish Münch's theoretical framework, exploring his concepts of modernity, systems of accumulation, and action. Subsequent chapters delve into the relationship between culture and economy within sociological theory, tracing historical and theoretical developments. Further sections examine methodologies for studying global capitalism through the lens of multi-sited anthropology, specifically focusing on the application of ideal types to analyze economic and cultural systems. Chapters leading up to the final section analyze modern systems of economic accumulation, urban modernity, and strategies of cultural accumulation in cities, examining the role of art museums and biennials as sites of cultural accumulation within the urban structure of modernity.
Keywords
Richard Münch, modernity, systems of accumulation, action theory, cultural accumulation, urban development, world cities, global capitalism, multi-sited anthropology, ideal types, economy and culture, art museums, biennials.
- Quote paper
- Dr Pablo Markin (Author), 2008, Cultural Accumulation in Richard Münch’s Theorization of Modernity, Systems of Accumulation, and Action, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/121394
