What is the cultural approach to sociology? Although there are many paths to understanding society, all branches of sociology integrate meaning. A cultural approach requires an intellectual sensitivity toward meaning, a way of putting emphasis on the human experience. Whether studying race and ethnicity or the sociology of economics, each realm of human activities studied by social scientists is cultural. Taking this meaning-centered approach, the editors of this special volume of The ANNALS have gathered a diverse group of culture-minded sociologists, whose work encompasses a wide spectrum of topics from the study of large institutions, such as the economy and the legal system, to small group interactions. The editors highlight the common cultural thread that runs through a wide repertoire of areas such as the arts, pop culture, organization, education, race and ethnicity, sexuality, science and technology, social inequalities, sociology of law, economic sociology, and microsociology. Each of the authors featured in this issue studies a different subfield of the discipline.Yet collectively, these diverse papers clearly demonstrate the constant interplay between culture and society and how the cultural approach has been a highly productive perspective informing empirical research u throughout all of the branches of sociology. In addition to pointing up the pervasiveness of meaning throughout the discipline, this collaborative collection includes the following themes: * Culture implicated in the exercise of power+ The constitutive role of culture + Recent empirical sociological research that positions culture both as an orientation and a subject matter in the context of American Sociology Students and scholars of all specialty subjects will find this synergetic volume of The ANNALS offers a unique collaborative approach and a clearer understanding of how to use culture in different sociological subfields u especially in the translation from the intellectual background of one subfield to another.

Author Biography

Amy Binder is a professor at the University of California San Diego in the Department of Sociology. Amy Binder received her BA in Anthropology from Stanford University and her MA and PhD in Sociology from Northwestern University. Her principal research interests are in the areas of higher education, politics, cultural sociology, and organizations. One strand of her recent work focuses on the links between private universities and high-status first jobs, as exemplified in her award-winning article, "Career Funneling: How Elite Students Learn to Define and Desire 'Prestigious' Jobs" (in Sociology of Education, 2016). In other work, she has studied the influences of college campuses on students' political ideas, styles, and action. Her second book Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives (Princeton University Press, 2013) established her reputation as an expert on political socialization and higher education, and her current research studying college students across the political spectrum will advance our understanding of millennial political actors. At UC San Diego, she has served as director of graduate studies for the Department of Sociology and was a founding member and organizer of an interdisciplinary workshop called The Workshop for the Study of Conservative Movements. From 2019-2022 she will serve as chair of the department. She has co-organized four UCSD Culture Conferences, resulting in a widely read special issue of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. In other activities, Professor Binder served as the 2014-2015 Chair of the Sociology of Education section of the American Sociological Association, is a member of the Scholars Strategy Network, and recently completed a three-year term as deputy editor of the journal Sociology of Education. Professor Binder is a board member and chair of the Board Affairs Committee for The Preuss School, UC San Diego's award-winning charter middle and high school for first-generation college-goers.