A single work analyzed via social theory can reveal society’s structure

Evidence

The Institute works from the hypothesis that an analysis of an individual work of science or art, grounded upon a proper social theory, can frequently provide as deep an insight into the actual structure of society as many field studies conducted with an elaborate staff and resources. Our work in the sociology of art and literature has centered about those writings and artistic productions which are particularly characteristic for the spread of an authoritarian Weltanschauung in Europe. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 243

Categorization

• DEFINE: States the Institute’s own 1938 methodological self-definition: close analysis of individual cultural works as a substitute for large-scale empirical field research.
• XREF: connects to: Ethnographic study and structural analysis form two sides of one approach — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1043; Critical Theory held that researchers are part of the social object they study — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 299; A single encountered object discloses equipment, world, and shared sociality at once — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 219 (+1 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Ethnographic study and structural analysis form two sides of one approach — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1043; Critical Theory held that researchers are part of the social object they study — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 299; A single encountered object discloses equipment, world, and shared sociality at once — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 219 (+1 more)