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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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Stingl, A. I. (2011) · The American Sociologist · doi:10.1007/s12108-011-9128-z · Cited by 5
Strangers in the Borderlands: WeChat and ethical ambiguity in Yunnan, China
He, H., & Tan, C. K. K. (2020) · Chinese Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/17544750.2020.1769701 · Cited by 5
“…in a general category (Horgan, 2012), strangership makes for a generalizable form of relation whose properties are culturally structured (Alexander, 2003), made visible in social practices (Bourdieu, 1990), mediated by different contexts (Fine, 2010), and politically (de)legitimated (Noble, 2005).”
Background
‘Scatter my ashes at Saks Fifth Avenue’: Boundary work and intermediation in the fashion landscape
Foster, J. (2022) · European Journal of Cultural Studies · doi:10.1177/13675494221099578 · Cited by 5
“These status hierarchies are shaped both by consumers’ class status and by ‘local’ cultures such as brand cultures and the affordances that they provide (Fine, 2010: 356).”
Background
After Atrocity: Community Reconstruction in Northern Uganda
Golden, S. (2013) · University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy (University of Minnesota) · Cited by 5
Moving Armies of Stop Signs
Dellwing, M. (2012) · Philosophy of the Social Sciences · doi:10.1177/0048393112445209 · Cited by 3
“…enacted in this situation, and “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” (Fine 2010, 355, emphasis removed).”
Background
Classed Beginnings: Status Socialization in Two Preschool Classrooms
Espy, H. W., & Lynn, F. B. (2023) · Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World · doi:10.1177/23780231231171109 · Cited by 6
“Whether this messaging is intentional or unintentional (Margolis 2001; Martin 1976; Vallance 1973), naming these practices is important, and here “a sociology of the local” (Fine 2010:355) provides grounded insights into the elusive process of soft-skills training.”
Background
MICRO-MORAL WORLDS OF CONTENTIOUS POLITICS: A RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF RADICAL GROUPS AND THEIR INTERSECTIONS WITH ONE ANOTHER AND THE MAINSTREAM*
Busher, J., & Morrison, J. F. (2018) · Mobilization An International Quarterly · doi:10.17813/1086-671x-23-3-219 · Cited by 4
The Dilemmas of Social Movement Identity and the Case of the Voice of the Faithful
Ewick, P., & Steinberg, M. W. (2014) · Mobilization An International Quarterly · doi:10.17813/maiq.19.2.a566816646930227 · Cited by 4
Social interaction in public space: A meta-narrative review
Mohammadi, M., Heurkens, E., & Mohammadi, M. (2026) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103080 · Cited by 3
The Sociology of Children and Youth Morality
Abrutyn, S. B., & Goldman‐Hasbun, J. (2023) · Handbooks of sociology and social research · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-32022-4_10 · Cited by 3
Phenomenology, Cultural Meaning, and the Curious Case of Suicide: Localizing the Structure-Culture Dialectic
Zhang, J., Uscola, C. J., Abrutyn, S. B., & Mueller, A. S. (2024) · Philosophy of the Social Sciences · doi:10.1177/00483931241246069 · Cited by 6
“However, within interpretive work that attends to structure, “ a division over the extent to which action is seen as responsive to the conditions of those settings as opposed to viewed as resulting from forces separate from embedded practices ” (Fine 2010, 356), is implicit but prevalent.”
Influential
Relational Sociology Paradigms
Manterys, A. (2017) · Stan Rzeczy · doi:10.51196/srz.12.3 · Cited by 3
Not Without a Shout
Olesen, V. L. (2011) · Culture Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies · doi:10.1177/1532708611414673 · Cited by 3
“The observation that activism has come to represent a continuum of efforts, voluntary and professional, that can not neatly fit under the same umbrella (Fine, 2010) hints at diverse forms activism takes in a wide range of arenas and levels.”
Background
Redefining the Refuge: Symbolic Interactionism and the Emergent Meanings of Environmentally Variable Spaces
Leap, B. (2015) · Symbolic Interaction · doi:10.1002/symb.182 · Cited by 3
Character Problems as Collective Behavior
McLuhan, A. (2020) · Symbolic Interaction · doi:10.1002/symb.520 · Cited by 4
In search of authenticity: the religiosity of Christian evangelicals
Montemaggi, F. E. S. (2013) · ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) · Cited by 3
Macro‐Level Climate and Minority Voice: How Indigenous Multiculturalism Relates to Collective Action
Gale, J., Yogeeswaran, K., Kende, J., Osborne, D., Vanderklei, M., González, R., Sibley, C. G., & Green, E. G. T. (2025) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.3150 · Cited by 2

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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The sociology of the local: action and its publics.

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