Music Sociology: Value, Technology, and Identity

by Raphaël Nowak, Andy Bennett

Overview

Music Sociology critically evaluates current approaches to the study of music in sociology and presents a broad overview of how music is positioned and represented in existing sociological scholarship. It then goes on to offer a new framework for approaching the sociology of music, taking music itself as a starting point, and considering what music sociology can learn from related disciplines such as critical musicology, ethnomusicology, and cultural studies.

As a central form of leisure, consumption, and cultural production, music has attracted significant attention from sociologists who seek to understand its deeper socio-cultural meaning. With case studies that address sound environments, consumption, media technologies, local scenes, music heritage, and ageing, the authors highlight the distinctive nature of musical experience, and show how sociology can illuminate it. Providing both a survey of existing perspectives the sociology of music, and a thought-provoking discussion of how the field can move forward, this concise and accessible book will be a vital reading for anyone teaching or studying music from a sociological standpoint.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367210199
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/25/2022
Pages:	194
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Raphaël Nowak is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of York, United Kingdom.

Andy Bennett is Professor of Cultural Sociology in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science at Griffith University, Australia

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Music in (the Context of ) Sociology
What we mean by music sociology
The focus of this book
References

Chapter 1 Situating the Sociology of Music
1.1 A brief perspective on the discipline
1.2 The constructivist sociological approach to music
1.3 The structuralist sociological approach to music
1.4 Where do we go from here? Music as a cultural object
Conclusion
Note
References

Chapter 2 The Techno-Cultural Transformations of Music in the Digital Age
2.1 Key trends of the ‘digital age’ of music
2.2 Framing musical experiences: from participation to branding
2.3 Streaming services and the datafication of music
2.4 Streaming services, listening, and the economy of attention
Conclusion
References

Chapter 3 Aesthetics and Value in Music Sociology
3.1 The problems with aesthetics
3.2 Sociology and aesthetics – identifying the mediators and mediations of value
3.3 Music, genres, and the ‘social’
Conclusion
References

Chapter 4 Sound Environments and Everyday Music Listening Practices
4.1 Accounting for the sounds of everyday life
4.2 Technologies of manipulation and/or of control?
4.3 A dynamic system for mediated music listening practices
4.4 Listening and the search for adequate music
Conclusion 
References

Chapter 5 Music Taste: What Is Liking Music?
5.1 The social distribution of music taste – structural homology, omnivorousness, or eclecticism?
5.2 Social expressions of music taste: distinction or differentiation?
5.3 Taste as activity
Conclusion
References

Chapter 6 Music, Identity, and Ageing
6.1 From youth to post-youth
6.2 Music and ageing identity
6.3 Music, ageing, and lifestyle
Conclusion
References

Chapter 7 Popular Music Heritage and the Obsession with Preservation
7.1 What is popular music heritage and what is it for? 
7.2 How does popular music heritage change the value of music?
Conclusion
References

Conclusion
References
Index