Cultural power via contaminating dualities

Abstract

Cultural objects possess varying degrees of cultural power, defined as their capacity to directly or indirectly shape beliefs and behavior. Research on cultural objects has identified various ways cultural objects possess cultural power, such as by evoking meanings and emotions and stabilizing and disrupting collective practices. This paper extends research on cultural power by investigating how the dualities of cultural objects contribute to cultural power. Cultural objects do not exist in isolation, but are connected to various persons, places, and things. For example, a TV show has a dual relation with its fans, such that the show's identity is partially constituted by its fans, and the fans’ identities by the show they watch. These dual relations facilitate “contamination,” insofar as something or someone tied to a cultural object alters the meaning of the other persons and things associated with the cultural object. We argue that these “contaminating dualities” are a form of cultural power, insofar as contamination from other nodes in cultural object networks elicits responses from contaminated parties. We illustrate the framework by analyzing a series of cases in which people respond to contamination and discuss the implications for the study of culture and action.