Cultural sociology and the ‘black box’ of meaning: Responding to Villegas and Watts's ‘Reading Jeffrey C. Alexander’

In this article, I respond to the overview and exegesis of Alexander's sociology provided by Villegas and Watts. I explore their case for the theorist's ‘canonization’ and outline what they see as the major ‘commitments’ of his social theory. As someone who self-defines as a cultural sociologist, I am particularly interested in what the authors term the ‘multidimensionality’ and ‘postpositivism’ of Alexander's thought. However, I also note Villegas and Watts identify a possible shortcoming: namely, whether Alexander's cultural sociology pays sufficient attention to the materiality of social life. What I call ‘Cultural Sociology 2.0’ has linked meaning to materiality more explicitly; and rather than positing culture as an ‘independent’ or ‘dependent’ variable has gravitated towards nonlinear models of culture. I conclude by asking whether cultural sociology is a style of analysis; and suggest both preserving the ‘black boxes’ of meaning and being attentive to things at the ‘edges’ of comprehension.