Cultural turn - Definition and Overview

The cultural turn describes developments in cultural studies and the sociology of culture. It describes a shift in emphasis towards meaning. This shift of emphasis occurred over a prolonged time, but particularly since the 1960s.

The introduction of social constructionism has helped this development a great deal. With the shift towards meaning, the importance of high arts and mass culture in cultural studies has declined. If culture was about things (a piece of art, a TV series), it is now more about processes and practices of meanings.

There are scholars who resist this development, but their number is waning. Problems of the shift towards meaning include the fuzzy boundaries it implies. A culture is understood as a group that understands the world roughly in the same way. Whereas this helps to understand cultural differences, it does not help to define the boundaries of cultures. Following a social constructionist line of thought, however, this is not a problem. It merely underlines the constructed manner of culture.

The cultural turn has helped cultural studies to gain more respect as an academic discipline. With the shift away from high arts the discipline has increased its importance and influence on other disciplines.