Howard S. Becker and Pierre Bourdieu's approaches on sociology of art: A comparative study

ABSTRACT Sociological interpretation of art was mainly focused on consumption of works of art based on social classes and art as an ideological apparatus under the influence of Marxist theory and its followers to the third quarter of XIX. century. After that, mainly due to works of Howard S. Becker and Pierre Bourdieu in 1980's, sociology of art has shifted its attention on the production of art and art as a collective action and new fields of study were opened. In this study, we aim to compare and determine the disction and similarities between these two thinkers whose main focus is the production of art and art as a collective action. In this context, we try to compare and analyse Bourdieu and Becker's perspectives on sociology of art and works on art as a collective action, who represent two theoretical schools standing in contrast as relational sociology and symbolic interactionism, respectively. Keywords: art, sociology of art, art as a collective action, cultural production