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Cited by 181Contemporary Sociological Theory and PracticeAnthropological Studies and InsightsWeber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

The sociology of the local: action and its publics.

Fine, Gary Alan·2010·Sociological Theory
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-9558.2010.01380.x
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Abstract

Sociology requires a robust theory of how local circumstances create social order. When we analyze social structures not recognizing that they depend on groups with collective pasts and futures that are spatially situated and that are based on personal relations, we avoid a core sociological dimension: the importance of local context in constituting social worlds. Too often this has been the sociological stance, both in micro-sociological studies that examine interaction as untethered from local traditions and in research that treats culture as autonomous from action and choice. Building on theories of action, group dynamics, and micro-cultures, I argue that a sociology of the local solves critical theoretical problems. The local is a stage on which social order gets produced and a lens for understanding how particular forms of action are selected. Treating ethnographic studies as readings of ongoing cultures, I examine how the continuing and referential features of group life (spatial arenas, relations, shared pasts) generate action and argue that local practices provide the basis for cultural extension, influencing societal expectations through the linkages among groups.

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  • Groups of all sizes have cultures, and these cultures are shared, providing members with a sense of identity, feelings, thoughts, actions, and belonging.

    “Groups of all sizes have cultures, and these cultures are shared – within reason – providing individual members with a sense of who they are, what they are supposed to feel, think, and do under various conditions, and what it means to belong to that group (Fine, 2010).”

    From The Social Roots of Suicide: Theorizing How the External Social World Matters to Suicide and Suicide Prevention (2021) · cites this paper as Fine, 2010

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Authors
Fine, G. A.
Affiliations
Northwestern University (US)
Corresponding author
Fine, Gary Alan
ORCID
Fine, Gary Alan
Venue
Sociological Theory
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2010-11-17
Volume
28
Issue
4
Pages
355-376
ISSN
  • 0735-2751 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9558
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9558.2010.01380.x
OpenAlex
W2081793073
Cited by
181
References
162
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 10
FWCI
28.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Sociological Theory (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Anthropological Studies and Insights
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory
Keywords
local context, social order, collective action, group dynamics, microculture, spatiality, interpersonal relationships, shared past, cultural extension, social structure, ethnography, philosophy of action

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