The Sociology of Art

790 Pages·2011·12.44 MB·English

by  Arnold Hauser

Routledge Revivals
The Sociology of Art
First published in English in 1982, The Sociology of Art considers all forms of
the arts, whether visual arts, literature, film, theatre or music from Bach to
the Beatles. The last book to be completed by Arnold Hauser before his death
in 1978, it is a total analysis of the spiritual forces of social expression, based
upon comprehensive historical experience and documentation. Hauser
explores art through the earliest times to the modern era, with fascinating
analyses of the mass media and current manifestationsof human creativity. An
extension and completion of his earlier work, The Social History of Art, this
volume represents a summing up of his thought and forms a fitting climax to
his life’s work.
The Sociology of Art
Arnold Hauser
Translated by
Kenneth J. Northcott
FirstpublishedinEnglishin1982
byRoutledge&KeganPaulLtd
OriginallypublishedasSociologiederKunst,
©C.H.Beck’scheVerlagsbuchhandlung(OscarBeck),
München
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2011byRoutledge
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SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
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©1982TheUniversityofChicago
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ALibraryofCongressrecordexistsunderISBN:0226319490
ISBN13:978-0-415-69994-5(hbk)
ISBN13:978-0-203-12773-5(ebk)
Arnold Hauser
The Sociology ofArt
Translated by Kenneth J. Northcott
Routledge & Kegan Paul
London, Henley and Melbourne
Arnold Hauser is the author of The Social History
ofArt, Philosophy ofArtHistory, and Mannerism.
KennethJ. Northcott is professor of German
literature and comparative studies at the University
of Chicago. He has written, edited, and translated
numerous works. His translation of Gotthold
Ephraim Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm is published
by the University of Chicago Press.
First published in 1982
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
39 Store Street, London WCIE 7DD and
Broadway House, Newtown Road,
Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 lEN
Originally published as Soziologie der Kunst,
c.
© H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (Oscar Beck),
Munchen 1974
© 1982 by The University of Chicago
No part ofthis book may be reproduced in
any form without permission from the publisher,
exceptfor the quotation of
brief passages in criticism
ISBN 07100 9231 8
Contents
Foreword xv
..
Preface
XVll
Part One Fundamentals
1 Totality of Life and the Totality of Art 3
Intensive and Extensive Totality· The "Triumph of
Realism" • Art as Weapon in the Struggle for Life·
Bias of Art • The "Loss of Reality" • Primitive and
Complex Cultural Unity
2 Spontaneity and Convention 18
Spontaneity and Inspiration· Causality and
Correspondence· Spontaneity in Art and Perception·
Character and Stimulus· The Language of Art •
Origin and Change of Conventions· Unity and the
Analysis of Experiences· Routine and Improvization
3 Sociology and Psychology 40
Individual and Society· from Imitation to Originality·
On the History of Individualism·
Sociological and Psychological Motivation·
Psychologism, Sociologism, and Aestheticism· Social
Structures· Class Consciousness, Ideology, and
Rationalization· Style and Ideal Type
VI Contents
4 Art and Historicity 71
The Contemporary andthe "Eternal.Human"•
"Backward-looking Prophecy" •"Art History
without Names" and Historicity •Causality and
Coincidence •Artistic Development's Freedom from
Value •Validity in Theory and Art •Historicity and
Timelessness
Part Two The Interaction between Art and Society
Introduction:
Interaction and Dialectic 89
5 Art as a Product of Society 94
The Elements of Artistic Creation 94
Natural Factors 97
Geographical-climatic, Ethnic-national, and
Biological-psychological data
The Generation Factor 119
The Cultural Factors 134
Social Station •Origin •Property Class •Professional
Status •Artistic Education •Tradition • Organization
ofArtistic Work •Prestige •Intelligentsia and
Boheme •Artistic Federations
Historical Materialism 185
Materialism and R~alism•Modifications of the
Materialist View ofHistory•The "Parallelogram
of Forces" •Leap and Mediation •Selection
and Constitution •Correspondence and Discrepancy
between Social and Artistic Values
The Role of the Artist in the L-ife of
Society 215
Propaganda and Ideology 215
Manifest Tendency and Latent Ideology •The
Discovery of the Ideological Nature ofThought•
"False Consciousness" and "Rationalization" •Limits
of the Critique of Ideology •The Problem ofTruth in
Art and Science •Turncoats •The "Triumph of
Realism" Once More •Revelatory Thought •
Consciousness and the Ability to Be Cons,cious•
Ideology and the History ofStyle•Relativism of
the History ofStyle
Vll Contents
The Position ofthe Artist in the
Changing Course ofHistory 242
Prehistory •Ancient East •Antiquity •Middle Ages •
Renaissance •Mannerism and Baroque •Rococo and
Enlightenment •Romanticism •Naturalism and
Impressionism
6 Society as the Product of Art 308
Art as Social Criticism 308
Iconoclasts and Aesthetes •"Critique of Life" •Value
and Effect ofArt
['art pour l'art Problem 313
Formalization ofArtistic Structures •The
Homogeneity of the Media•Aesthetic Immanence and
Illusion •The Threshold of the Artistic •The "Form
Content" Identity •Applied Art and "Pure" Art •
Form as Content· "You Must Change Your Life"·
Humanization ofThings and the Objectivization of
the Human
Part Three Dialectic: Light and Will-o'-the-Wisp
7 The Concept of Dialectic 331
Art and Science •Structure of Dialectic
8 The Principle of Contradiction 337
The Double Truth 337
The Limit as an Element of the Delimited •
Immanence and Transcendence•Resistance and
Contradiction •Identity
The Structure of the Dialectical Process 345
Tripartite Structure •Dialogue•Dialectic and
Historicity
The Dialectical Process 350
The Human and the Objective Element •The Turning
of Quantity into Quality•Paradoxes ofDialectic •
Self-Movement
The Concept of "Aufhebung" 360
Historical Achievements •Tradition •Progress and
Totality
Vl11 Cantents
Analysis and Synthesis 367
Presupposed Synthesis •The "Trap ofTotality"
Methodological and Ontological Dialectic 369
The Dialectic of Concepts •Real Dialectic •Categorial
Contents and Categorial Forms
9 The Dialectic of History and Nature 375
Critical and Prophetic Theory of History 375
Historicism •The Subject of Dialectical Processes •
Ontology and Establishment•Structure and
Historicity •Freedom and Bondage •Prognosis
The Fiction of the Dialectic of Nature 384
Mute Nature •Historicizing of Nature •Polar,
Complementary, Contrary, and Contradictory •Man,
Nature, History
10 The Dialectic of the Aesthetic 390
The Paradoxes of Art 390
Depsychologization and Animation •Desire and
Renunciation of the World
Artistic Creation 397
Paradigms of Dialectic •Stages of Artistic Creation •
Conscious and Unconscious •Marx, Fiedler, Lessing
The Dialectic of Structure 404
Structure and Score •Form and Content
The Process of Art History 408
Change in Style •Dualism ofStyle •Change of Style
from Within and Without •Form and Technique
11 Limits of Dialectic 417
Evolution and Revolution •Parting of the Ways •
Ambivalence and Dialectic •The Philosophy of
J
Identity •Dialectical Movement and Self-movement •
Fetishization of Negation •Growth of Antitheses•
Totality
Part Four En Route from Author to Public
12 Address and Discussion 429
The Productive and Receptive Subject •The Work
Offered and Received •Mediators between Author and