Narratives

Narratives refer generally to stories or accounts that are told individually and at the macro, societal level. At an individual level, narratives consist of the accounts or stories people tell themselves, and others, in order to both make sense of and make through practical means their lives.

Narratives are thus reflective, accounting for events that have already taken place. But they are also active as a site for articulating an individual's values and beliefs. They provide the resources and frames for constructing a person's future. Individuals tell their lives through stories, though these stories are not simply there waiting to be told; they are actively constructed for particular audiences, plots and contexts. This process of narrativization tells us about the meanings people apply to their lives.

There is a second type of narrative that is relevant to the concerns of cultural sociology. Narratives are important components of culture. That is, narratives are not just told by individuals to others or to oneself. They circulate within culture, telling members of a group about the meaning of events in their own culture.

Using the work of literary and genre theorists such as Frye and Propp, Philip Smith (2005) argues that the machinations of wars have less to do with realist struggles for resources and interests and more to do with interpretations and storylines held by their protagonists. For example, public discourses about the value of the 'Iraq War' invoke a series of dramatic elements, based on performances by key political, media and military players.

Smith, P. (2005) Why War? The Cultural Logic of Iraq, the Gulf War, and Suez, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.