The Strong Program in Cultural Sociology:
Balancing Between Culturalism and Scientism
Braslavskiy R.G.
Сand. Sci. (Sociol.), Senior Researcher, Sociological Institute of FCTAS RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia r.braslavsky@socinst.ru
The work was supported by RFBR, research project No. 19-011-00950.
Braslavskiy R.G. The Strong Program in Cultural Sociology: Balancing Between Culturalism and Scientism. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2021. No 2. P. 26-38
The Strong Program in cultural sociology by J. Alexander and his colleagues since the mid-1980s is considered а major carrier of the cultural turn in sociology. Supporters and critics of the Strong Program tend to focus on its central thesis of “cultural autonomy” and on the challenge it poses to traditional, institutionally oriented social science. On the contrary, the article focuses on the “scientific” intensions of the Strong Program and the resulting ambiguities, limitations and contradictions for cultural-sociological theorizing.