{"id":185,"date":"2025-10-14T09:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T09:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/sociologyofeverydaylife\/?post_type=content&p=185"},"modified":"2025-10-15T11:09:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:09:05","slug":"chapter-12","status":"publish","type":"content","link":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/sociologyofeverydaylife\/students\/chapter-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 12 \u2013 Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Chapter 12 \u2013 Music<\/h1>\n\n\n
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Chapter Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Music is an important source of cultural symbolism, and a way to articulate dissent. Sociologically, music can teach us about tastes, subcultures, and the power of subcultural capital. Our attraction to cool new music is not simply dictated by high-powered executives in the music industry. Coolness often emerges from subaltern social classes\u2014those who are economically disadvantaged and\/or racially oppressed. Through music, Black Americans have played a pivotal role shaping cultural concepts of cool. In this chapter, the case of hip-hop is used to reflect on dynamics of racism (including prejudice, discrimination, and institutional racism) as well as White privilege, cultural appropriation and color-blind ideology. Musical icons that are \u201cedgy\u201d and critical can be commercialized and turned into a mass-market commodity. At the same time, music can also be thought of as an art form and continues to offer a powerful medium for collective protest to oppression and injustice. In terms of economic sociology, music can teach us about the impact of digital technologies on our consumption practices, and the immense (but contested) power of the music industry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Further Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Guerra, Paula. 2020. \u201cUnder-Connected: Youth Subcultures, Resistance and Sociability in the Internet Age.\u201d In Keith Gildart et al., Hebdige and Subculture in the Twenty-First Century<\/em>. Palgrave MacMillan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This chapter reviews sociological theories of subcultures and examines the ramifications of digital technologies on subcultural forms and practices. It examines shifting scholarly perspectives on subculture, from the class- and age-based affiliations of early subcultural theories to the fluid and globalized networks of the digital era. While the internet democratizes access and fosters global connections, it also dilutes the physical artifacts and face-to-face interactions central to subcultural identities. The chapter suggests the need to reconceptualize subcultures as dynamic, evolving entities that integrate resistance with the fragmented, networked sociabilities of the digital age. However, subcultural theory continues to offer crucial resources for studying the dynamics of resistance and commodification, as digital spaces simultaneously enable new avenues for the dissemination and neutralization of oppositional culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussion questions<\/summary>\n
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  • What are some critiques of earlier subcultural theories? How have more recent scholars incorporated the dimensions of gender, ethnicity, lifestyle and digital culture into subcultural analysis?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • How has the rise of the internet and digital platforms transformed the ways that subcultural identities are formed and expressed? How does the internet alter the ways in which subcultural capital is accumulated, displayed, and recognized?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • In what ways do contemporary subcultures blur the traditional divide between cultural production and consumption? What implications does this have for the understanding of subcultural participation?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • How do digital spaces enable both resistance and commodification of subcultural practices?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

    Wang, Yehan. 2024. \u201cMusical Taste Preferences in Chinese Hip\u2010hop: Between Cultural Openness and the Rejection of Vulgarity.\u201d Sociology Compass<\/em> 18(1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This article explores hip-hop\u2019s recent success in China as a product of globalization and the shift toward \u201comnivorous\u201d class consumption patterns. Fans demonstrate cultural omnivorousness by embracing diverse musical styles and hybridizing global hip-hop influences with traditional Chinese elements. Although these fans express openness toward musical tastes, they simultaneously reject hip-hop songs and artists that use vulgar or violent themes in favor of \u201cauthentic\u201d and \u201cserious\u201d content. The author highlights how hip-hop\u2019s adoption by the Chinese middle class is shaped by state censorship, which restricts \u201cimmoral\u201d themes, allowing hip-hop to serve as both a marker of cultural capital and a unique fusion of global and local influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Discussion questions<\/summary>\n
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    • What is cultural omnivorousness? How do middle-class consumers in China exemplify this consumption pattern, and what does this mean for the relationship between culture and social stratification?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • How do consumers use the distinction between \u201cauthentic\u201d and \u201cvulgar\u201d hip-hop to gauge the legitimacy of particular artists and performances? How might these boundaries differ from those in Western hip-hop scenes?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • In what ways has state censorship influenced the reception of hip-hop in China? <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Does the rising popularity of hip-hop among Chinese consumers represent cultural appropriation? Why or why not?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

      Wingfield, Adia H., and Melinda Mills. 2012. \u201cViewing Videos: Class Differences, Black Women, and Interpretations of Black Femininity.\u201d Race, Gender & Class <\/em>19(3-4): 348-367.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This article examines how young Black women interpret the representation of Black femininity in rap music videos. The study employed a focus group design in which participants viewed and discussed a selection of rap music videos featuring Black women. Middle-class participants largely rejected the images as unrealistic and demeaning, associating them with a lack of \u201cclass,\u201d while working-class participants viewed them as realistic and often framed them as expressions of agency and economic mobility. The study highlights how race, gender, and class intersect to influence audience interpretations of hip-hop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Discussion questions<\/summary>\n
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      • In what ways did middle-class and working-class Black women differ in their perceptions of rap music videos? What accounts for these differences?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Why is it important to view hip-hop production and consumption at the intersection of class, gender, and race?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • How do structural dynamics within the music industry influence the (re)production of gendered and racial stereotypes in hip-hop?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • How do hip-hop and its associated imagery simultaneously enable cultural resistance against societal racism and the commodification of Black bodies and experiences?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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        Quizzes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Test your knowledge with the Chapter 12 quizzes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        Quiz<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n