Nostalgia, irony and collectivity in late-modern culture: The ritual watching of The Disney Christmas Show in Scandinavia

TY - JOUR

T1 - Nostalgia, irony and collectivity in late-modern culture

T2 - The ritual watching of The Disney Christmas Show in Scandinavia

AU - Schiermer, Bjørn

AU - Carlsen, Hjalmar Bang

PY - 2017/5/1

Y1 - 2017/5/1

N2 - The paper seeks to promote a sociological understanding of the current wave of nostalgic expressions haunting late-modern Western culture and to re-evaluate the predominantly negative assessment of nostalgia. Filling two gaps in the existing research on nostalgia, the authors wish (1) to reintegrate into the phenomenon its experiential and collective dimensions and (2) to propose a theoretical sociological framework capable of analysing nostalgic ritual. In the first part of the paper, we discuss different approaches to the phenomenon of nostalgia. Second, we delve into the complex emotional and experiential aspects of the phenomenon and distil three different types of nostalgia. Third, seeking inspiration from Émile Durkheim and Randall Collins, we scrutinise the common collective characteristics of these different types of nostalgia. Arguing that Collins remains too interactionist in his approach to ritual, we seek to erect a theoretical framework apt for articulating mediated forms of nostalgic ritual. Fourth, we use our theoretical framework to analyse a well-known instance of nostalgic ritual in Scandinavia: The Disney Christmas Show.

AB - The paper seeks to promote a sociological understanding of the current wave of nostalgic expressions haunting late-modern Western culture and to re-evaluate the predominantly negative assessment of nostalgia. Filling two gaps in the existing research on nostalgia, the authors wish (1) to reintegrate into the phenomenon its experiential and collective dimensions and (2) to propose a theoretical sociological framework capable of analysing nostalgic ritual. In the first part of the paper, we discuss different approaches to the phenomenon of nostalgia. Second, we delve into the complex emotional and experiential aspects of the phenomenon and distil three different types of nostalgia. Third, seeking inspiration from Émile Durkheim and Randall Collins, we scrutinise the common collective characteristics of these different types of nostalgia. Arguing that Collins remains too interactionist in his approach to ritual, we seek to erect a theoretical framework apt for articulating mediated forms of nostalgic ritual. Fourth, we use our theoretical framework to analyse a well-known instance of nostalgic ritual in Scandinavia: The Disney Christmas Show.

KW - collectivity

KW - Collins

KW - digital methodology

KW - Durkheim

KW - irony

KW - mediation

KW - nostalgia

KW - ritual

U2 - 10.1177/0001699316659321

DO - 10.1177/0001699316659321

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85019003386

SN - 0001-6993

VL - 60

SP - 158

EP - 175

JO - Acta Sociologica

JF - Acta Sociologica

IS - 2

ER -