Abstract
Tia DeNora, Professor of Sociology of Music, based in the department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology at the University of Exeter, has published a great deal on the topic of music. DeNora’s most recent contribution to knowledge, Making Sense of Reality: Culture and Perception in Everyday Life, provides a notably extensive case study based approach to decipher how we make sense of reality in our everyday (p. xx). DeNora draws upon an eclectic mix of theories, such as socio-music, sociology of health and illness, embodiment, organisational culture and neuropsychology, in support of her argument, claiming that ‘the aim of this slightly magpie tactic is to provide tasting-sized portions of what sociology can show, and what it can do’ (p. xvi).
Although the subtitle implies that the book aims to explore ‘culture and perception in everyday life’, the author primarily explores how we make sense of reality. Dedicating two pages to providing a working definition of the use of the term ‘everyday’ (p. xx), no reference is made to theories that have developed around the notion of the fluid boundaries that individuals transgress in order to break free from the reality of their daily fabric.
The book is divided into three parts and is discussed through nine themed chapters, each presenting numerous case studies. Throughout Part One, DeNora draws upon philosophically informed sociology to investigate age-old epistemological questions: ‘how do we know what we know?’, and ‘how is language constructed to create binary systems?’. In doing so, DeNora hopes to ‘learn how to observe the reflexive relationship between culture, categories, rules and generalities and action, instances, observances and particularities (for example, who counts as a woman, or a man; how and why …?’ (p. xxv). Drawing together well-established schools of thought, such as social constructionism, linguistics and structuralism, the suggestion that underpins Part One is the idea that reality is an outcome of cultural practices. However, reference to prominent thinkers in these fields is often lacking.
In Part Two, DeNora moves from philosophy to cultural sociology to establish how reality is created: where realities come from (p. 34); how they are made real (p. 44); the emotive ways in which we can encounter reality (p. 49); and micro-temporal presumptions that inform our experiences of what is real (p. 57). The author draws particular attention to Chapter Six, entitled ‘Reflexivity: Enacting cultural categories along with their instances’ (p. 69) asserting that it is ‘the core of this book and the turning point for the chapters that follow’ (p. xxv). Here, DeNora proposes that cultural categories are insufficient as a guide for knowing what is real and what is a judgement (p. 70), and in doing so argues against singularity (p. xxi). Instead, using Malcolm X’s hairstyle as an example (p. 71), the author sets the stage for developing the notion that there are various levels of existence and multiple realities (p. 85). Within this chapter, DeNora also provides a critique of ‘Cultural Sociology and Methodology’ (p. 80). However, DeNora fails to provide a detailed discussion of the methodology that was applied to the case study approach employed in this book. Given the unique case study approach adopted, it would have been fascinating to have learnt of some of the methodological and epistemological challenges that were encountered when researching and writing this book.
The concluding section of this book, Part Three, explores ‘Artful practices and making sense’ (p. 105), using the perception of ‘practical magic’ as an example to illustrate how realities can be understood as virtually real (p. xxvi). Paraphrasing from the Thomas theorem (p. 31), DeNora presents what she believes to be the most important lesson learnt from the book, that is, ‘realities are virtually real but nonetheless real in their consequence’ (p. xxvi).
Overall, the author of this book provides an impressive and wide breadth of rich and varied examples in a bid to ‘work-out’ how we make sense of reality (p. xv). However, at times the book can be overly convoluted and difficult to navigate. This is largely due to the absence of a clearly specified epistemological framework and, as a consequence, the book reads as experimental by design. At times, the author fails to reference influential scholars when discussing their key sociological concepts or to provide a detailed discussion of her methodological and epistemological approach, and hence, provides a less convincing position than could have been the case.