"An indispensable collection that cracks open a site for more rich and interdisciplinary work." — Dan DiPiero, boundary 2
"[Readers] will be more than rewarded by the insight it offers into the social aesthetics of improvisation, issues you will no longer be able to ignore as you listen to your next improv recording or attend your next improv concert." — Lawrence Joseph, Musicworks
"Improvisation and Social Aesthetics is a substantial addition to the literature on improvisation." — Virginia Anderson, Notes
"This volume makes a clear and distinct contribution to the sociology of culture through its theorization of aesthetics, its sociology of improvisation, and its proposed shift in the theoretical language with which we approach research problems in the sociology of art." — Alexander C. Sutton, American Journal of Cultural Sociology
"Through both their rigorous theoretical grounding and curation of such a brilliant array of cross-disciplinary contributions, Born, Lewis and Straw offer a thoroughly inspiring set of tools for the academy to begin theorizing where, how and for whom art’s social mediations are occurring. I cannot recommend it highly enough." — Toby Young, Visual Studies
"The editors and authors of this important collection have assembled a striking and original set of ideas and examples to illustrate and demonstrate their contention that the time is ripe for a new approach to the classical questions of aesthetic theory. The resulting comprehensive and persuasive demonstration will persuade interested readers that the job has been done, that a social aesthetics illuminates questions that have too long been left unexplored." — Howard S. Becker, author of Art Worlds
"This groundbreaking collection brings together disparate fields, from ethnomusicology and art history to queer theory and philosophy, drawing them into a productive and at times heated conversation. Putting forward a whole set of new paradigms for considering music, improvisation, contemporary art, time-arts, new media, and aesthetics, the contributors advance the discourse on the improvised arts, potentially shaking up a number of disciplines in the process." — John Corbett, author of Vinyl Freak