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Chapter 15 - The Sociology of Decadence

from Part II - Developments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2019

By
Jeffrey K. Sachs
Edited by
Jane Desmarais  and
David Weir
Jane Desmarais
Affiliation:
Goldsmiths, University of London
David Weir
Affiliation:
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
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Summary

In sociological terms, decadence serves as a classifier for categorizing pathological social conditions that catalyse ‘decline.’ While the term ‘decadence’ itself has not been explicitly used in much sociological scholarship, the structure of decadence has been deployed to situate related concepts like anomie and alienation in narratives of decline. With respect to artistic production, the ‘decadent role’ may be such that pathological attributes become accepted or expected to the point that they confer artistic legitimacy. Hence the decadent role becomes acceptable under a creative mandate; that is, individual artists may present the pathological features of social decline so long as they connect those decadent attributes to creative output. This sociological dynamic helps to explain why the work of certain nineteenth-century decadents ? such as Oscar Wilde ? is now held in high artistic regard. In the case of Wilde, his reputation as an artist has survived efforts to label him as pathological, so he has posthumously ‘lived up’ to the creative mandate his decadence entailed.

Keywords

sociologydecadenceSachsdeclinealienationanomieWildeGibbonlabellingpathology
Type
Chapter
Information
Decadence and Literature , pp. 248 - 264
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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