DAVID INGLIS lectures in the Department of Sociology, University of Aberdeen, UK.JOHN HUGHSON is Senior Lecturer in the School of Physical Education, University of Otaga, New Zealand.

• PART 1: THEORY PAST, PRESENT AND FUTUREWhat is the 'Sociology of Art'?; D.Inglis and J.HughsonWhen Does Art Become Art? Assessing Pierre Bourdieu's Theory of Artistic Fields; J.JaneFeminist Art and Feminist Sociology: New Departures; A.HowsonA New Paradigm for a Sociology of Aesthetics; R.WitkinInvisible Aesthetics and the Social Work of Community Culture; P.WillisCultural Studies and the Sociology of Culture; J.WolffThe Sociology of Art: Cynical or Celebratory?; D. InglisPART 2: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE: CASE STUDIES IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF ARTFraming Old Age: Sociological Perspectives on the Art of the Past; M.HepworthThe Rise and Fall of the Art House Movie; A.TudorOpera, Modernity and Cultural Fields; A.Swingewood'World Music' and the Globalisation of Sound; R.Robertson and D.Inglis'High Arts' and the Market: An Uneasy Partnership in the Transnational World of Ballet; H.WulffReconstructing the Centre: Sociological Approaches to the Rebuilding of Berlin; J.Stewart.

'Inglis and Hughson are to be congratulated for producing such an exciting, innovative and rigorous collection of original papers on the sociology of art, which is long overdue in this area of study.' - Professor Helen Thomas, Research Director at London College of Fashion, UK