Simon J. Bronner, University Press of Mississippi, 2019

Social media, commercialization and an increasingly digital world have not done away with folklore. In “The Practice of Folklore: Essays toward a Theory of Tradition,” Simon J. Bronner, professor of social sciences, explains the social and psychological need for tradition in everyday life. Bronner, who’s also dean of the College of General Studies, builds on previous studies and presents an overview of folklore theories for the 21st century. Topics explored include case studies of folklore traditions and terms that have application to modern life, as well as tradition-centered “folk societies” like the Amish and evolving ideas about folk museums in a digital world.