Page 48 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

34 Changing Definitions of Politics and Power

What this example also shows is the importance of symbolic meaning
in structuring social life. Cultural politics is not just about words. Indeed,
it need not be about words at all. Bodily gestures, fashion, fl ags, global
brands – these are all examples of sets of meaningful signs within which
we understand particular gestures and movements, what an item of cloth-
ing says about the person wearing it, and so on (see Barthes, 1972 ). Nor
is cultural politics restricted to the manipulation of symbols in texts and
images. In order for signs to be politically relevant, they must become
part of routine use in practice .
Although Anthony Giddens does not use the term “ culture, ” (which is
surely related to the fact that he takes little interest in the content of social

actors ’ interpretations), his influential theory of social practice helps us
understand how social life is reproduced, and altered, through the use of
meanings in a way that is close to the model of cultural politics we are
discussing here (see Ortener, 2006 ; Sewell, 1992 : 7). Giddens ’ s structura-
tion theory is an attempt to overcome the duality of “ structure ” and
“ agency ” which he sees as a perennial motif in sociology. He argues that
social reproduction should be seen as stabilizing relationships across time
and space through the knowledgeable use of rules and resources on the
part of social agents (Giddens, 1984 ). In face - to - face or mediated interac-
tions, social actors more or less consciously sustain, re - make, or challenge
structures whilst, at the same time, their interpretations and actions are
themselves constrained by existing distributions of resources and ways of
making sense of the world. What Giddens calls “ structures ” are consistent
patterns of social interaction that both emerge from situated practices and
provide the frameworks within which those interactions take place. To
return to our example of the “ working mother, ” it is not diffi cult to
imagine how her daily practices at home and in paid work would be
routinized in quite different ways compared with those of women who
expect to negotiate with managers, colleagues, teachers, people employed
to care for babies and young children, family, and friends to sustain what
is currently described in the UK as “ work - life balance. ”
Finally, what this example also shows is the importance of identities

to the reproduction and modification of social structures. Although what
is important in a general way in cultural politics is how symbols are
interpreted and re - interpreted in social life, it is important not to lose
sight of the fact that it is embodied people with emotional ties to others
and individual biographies who are making social reality (see Turner,
1996 ). It is in the creation of identities which may then be very hard
to dislodge – perhaps especially where people are barely conscious of
their strong attachments to particular ways of thinking and feeling – that