3/11: At the Swedish biennial sociology conference parties are in castles and there is always assigned seating like at a wedding. There were also songs about sociology and sociology-themed stand-up, including a complicated joke about birth rates that involved puns on letting sleeping dogs lie and kicking a man when he’s down. Demography jokes.
8/14: To be honest arriving at ASA to see a big ol’ blown up version of the book cover at the Stanford booth was pretty exciting. As are the blurbs I got to read:
“The Work of Art offers an intimate investigation of the economics of earning a living making art: where the money comes from and where it goes, and how artists justify, to themselves and others, their strategies for supporting their work. Alison Gerber makes a solid contribution to sociology, to economics, and to our understanding of the practicalities of an artistic career.”
—Howard S. Becker, author of Art Worlds
“Alison Gerber’s The Work of Art is a welcome treatment of how artists develop their self-conceptions and their production practices. This account expands our insight into a cutting edge area of economic and cultural sociology, examining the art world where questions of valuation and good work are highly salient, and provides an exciting approach to how material objects are given value. Personal and powerful, Gerber’s work will alter how those who care about the lives of artists think about the role of money and identity in the creative process.”
—Gary Alan Fine, author of Everyday Genius
8/13: There’s a version of my talk about cultural fields, binarism, and gravity (sans janky animations) over at SocArXiv. Thanks much to great audiences at ASA and ESOOW; more conversations now and forevermore very much welcome.
7/21: Two midsummer notes:
In August I’ll be in Montreal with the rest of the North American wing of the discipline. I’ll be presenting on the regular program on Saturday at 8:30 at a panel on Art & Money in Creative Living, and at the Economic Sociology / Organizations, Occupations, and Work preconference at 10:15 on Friday. I’ll also be rushing around at the Economic Sociology roundtables at 8:30 on Sunday, as Emily Barman and I organized ’em. Hope to see you in Montreal.
and
In November plans are coming together for a miniature “book tour” and a couple of related talks, workshops, + seminars on new work up and down the East Coast, starting November 7 at Yale. Holler at me if you want me to come and wave my new book around or workshop a messy new paper with you!
4/2: Uploaded a new working paper over at SocArxiv. Thanks again to the SocArxiv team for making this great repository happen.
3/31: I was surprised to find that my book happened on Amazon the other day, complete with twitter-egg cover image. I’m guessing this is what happens when the publisher registers the ISBNs? In any case, it’s happening…
