Vytauto Kavolio vaizduojamojo meno sociologija
Kavolis’ sociology of visual arts

Summary/Abstract: Summary The article deals with the Lithuanian-American sociologist Vytautas Kavolis’ sociology of visual arts and its relationship to Talcott Parsons’ structural functionalism. A question is raised: How much Kavolis succeeded in founding the sociology of visual arts conforming to the principles of Parsons’ structural functionalism? To answer this question, the main differences in the approach of both authors to the method, social functions of art and structural features of social reality are discussed. It is argued that Kavolis didn’t succeed in full. Kavolis’ sociology of visual arts differs from Parsons’ structural functionalism in two respects. First, both authors conceive the character of the functioning of art differently. Parsons speaks about manifest functions of art, whereas Kavolis believes that art performs latent functions. Second, they differently interpret the American anthropologist Florence Kluckhohn’s theory of value-orientations.

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