Jeffrey C. Alexander is the Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology at Yale University. With Ron Eyerman, he is the Co-Director of the Center for Cultural Sociology (CCS). Dominik Maksymilian Bartmanski is a doctoral student at Yale University in the Sociology Department's Center for Cultural Sociology. Bernhard Giesen is a professor of Sociology and the Chair of the Department of Macrosociology at the Universität Konstanz in Germany.

Iconic Power is a collection of original articles that explores social aspects of the phenomenon of icon. Having experienced the benefits and realized the limitations of so called "linguistic turn," sociology has recently acknowledged a need to further expand its horizons. "Visual sociology" is emerging as a separate field and prominent scholars announce the coming of "the pictorial turn." The methods and themes taken up in these studies respond to this shift in social scientific interest. Each contribution to this book carefully tests the analytic purchase and empirical implications of iconicity. If we can succeed in understanding the iconic, we should be able to know our culture much better.

'Iconic Power is the strongest theoretical statement to yet come out of the 'Strong Program' in Cultural Sociology. Arguably, more than any other trope, including those of ritual and performance, the concept of 'iconicity' promises to break free of the economistic, linguistic and other kinds of reductionisms that plague the cultural sciences. This fine volume contains both theoretical expositions on how pictorial icons do their cultural work, as well as applied analyses of phenomena such as 9/11, images of famines, Woodstock and Bayreuth as 'iconic' events, expensive Australian red wines and the political iconography of Post-Communist Eastern Europe. If cultural sociology is to have a vibrant future – and not repeat the mistakes of the past – then in Iconic Power: Materiality and Meaning in Social Life practitioners have a handbook on how to approach the distinctive character of the visual and other non-discursive symbols.' - Eduardo de la Fuente, Sociology, Flinders University; author of Twentieth Century Music and the Question of Modernity

'Ranging in its coverage from the events of 9/11 to images of HIV, and from the revolutions of 1989 to cult wines, this book systematically unpacks the tremendous importance of icons in social life. Both a striking contribution to visual sociology, and a powerful manifesto for new directions in cultural sociology, Iconic Power is fascinating reading for everyone interested in the seductive potency of iconography.' - David Inglis, Head of Department, Department of Sociology, University of Aberdeen

1. Materiality and Meaning in Social Life: Toward an Iconic Turn in Cultural Sociology; D.Bartmanski and J.Alexander
PART I
2. Representation, Presentation, Presence: Tracing the Homo Pictor; G.Boehm
3. Iconic Power and Performance: the Role of the Critic; J.Alexander
PART II
4. Inconspicuous Revolutions of 1989. Culture and Contingency in The Making of Political Icons; D.Bartmanski
5. The Making of Humanitarian Visual Icons. On the 1921-1923 Russian Famine as Foundational Event; F.Kurasawa
6. Seeing Tragedy in the News Images of September 11; W.Bowler
7. The Emergence of Iconic Depth. Secular Icons in a Comparative Perspective; W.Binder
PART III
8. Shifting Extremism: On the Political Iconology in Post-socialist Serbia; D.Šuber and S.Karamanic
9. The Visualization of Uncertainty: HIV Statistics in Public Media; V.Rauer
10. How To Make an Iconic Commodity: The Case of Penfolds' Grange Wine; I.Woodward and D.Ellison
11. Becoming Iconic. The Cases of Woodstock and Bayreuth; P.Smith
PART IV
12. Body and Image; H.Belting
13. Iconic Difference and Seduction; B.Giesen
14. Iconic Rituals. Towards a Social Theory of Encountering Images; J.Sonnevend
15. Visible Meanings; P.Sztompka
Afterword; B.Giesen