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Foreword
HSociety”isincreasinglyviewedandtreatedas
aHnetwork”ratherthanHstructure”(letaloneasolid
Htotality”):itisperceivedandtreatedasamatrixof
randomconnectionsanddisconnectionsandofan
essentiallyinfinitevolumeofpossiblepermutations.1
Ifcontemporaryculturalstudiesandsociologyareruledbyanystruc-
turingprinciplesrenderingordertootherwisenebularcharacterofthe
disciplines,thismaybetheideaoffluiditypermeatingeverypossible
fieldofsociallifeandculturalproduction.Acognitivelyinformedand
intellectuallydexterousobservermaypurporttoimmobilizeasingle,
isolatedsnapshotofculturalrealitybutthisactionwillresultin
providinganillusory,simplifiedrepresentation.Inthisway,scholarly
perceptionofcultureemerges,asChrisJenksdeclares,Hfromthenoun
Iprocess,’inthesenseofnurture,growthandbringingintobeing.”2
Ontologicallyspeaking,bothsocietyandcultureareprocessesinstatu
nascendi—theirnaturesunveilthemselvesasthedynamicsofsocial
becoming.3Thisstatement,toputitotherwise,demonstratesthatsocio-
culturalrealitiesresembleconstantlyevolvingnetworksofinterper-
sonalphenomenachiefamongwhichareprocessesofinteractionand
communicationundertakenbyknowledgeableagents.Moreover,this
inherentdynamismisalsoexperiencedasthedialecticofcontinuity
andchangewhichistypicalofthesupposedlystaticandsystemic
characterofnorms,valuesandsignsofculture.
1ZygmuntBauman,LiquidTimes.LivingintheAgeofUncertainty(Cambridge:
PolityPress,2007),p.3.
2ChrisJenks,TheAnalyticBasesofCulturalReproductionTheory,inCultural
Reproduction(LondonandNewYork:Routledge,1993),p.3.
3PiotrSztompka,SocietyinAction.TheTheoryofSocialBecoming(Cambridge:
PolityPress,1991),p.95.
