Enduring Divisions: Critique, Method, and Questions of Value in the Sociology of Literature

The sociology of literature has a troubled history. Across the past 50 years, proposal after proposal has attempted to develop a method and bridge the cultural division between the social sciences and literary studies. Focusing on the most recent attempt to revitalise the field, this article examines the legacy of the ‘two cultures’ in current debates about the politics and value of method. Departing from the Marxist tone of preceding arguments, James F. English’s (2010) description of the sociology of literature bears the influence of the recent turn away from critique toward alternative modes of inquiry. Tracing the logic of this turn, my article questions whether an opposition between critical and ‘new’ genres is a useful step forward for the sociology of literature or a continuation of the two cultures divide its intervention aims to rethink. Furthermore, it considers what is at stake in recent disciplinary representations of critical sociology and the intellectual fate of ideology critique.