Towards aesthetic understanding of Culture: Jerey Alexander's Strong program theory in Cultural Sociology

In response to deficiencies of sociological theories of culture, Jeffrey Alexander, has shaped ‘Strong program’ in ‘Cultural Sociology’. One of these deficiencies was ambiguity in conceptualizations of culture. Ambiguity, although reduce to the dual (literary & social) perception of culture, but underlying problem, in fact, was ambiguousness of explanatory status of culture. By maintaining a causal role for culture, Cultural Sociology tries to give a special and distinct status to this concept. This idea can give further explanatory power to the sociological theories of culture. Such an approach demands using rich conceptual resource of literary theory – from Aristotle to Fry and Brooks- in the sociological theories of culture. ‘Strong program’ tries to provide such a possibility.