SOC317H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Protest Song, African-American Art, Subculture
Document Summary
Many things we have discussed so far in the course involve necessities (e. g. , food, clothing). Music is different; it"s not a necessity; it involves pure aesthetics. Debate and social evaluation when it comes to deciding what"s good music and what"s bad music; no functional criteria. Music is not just entertainment; it is a way to form identities and symbolic boundaries. It is also an important way of how people form their identities; who we are, who we think other people are. Example: think of how high-school social groups were at least partly based on music (e. g. , metal heads). Music is the pure" art par excellence. -p. bourdieu 1984:19) Non-functional, aesthetics, entertainment, symbolically rich, vehicle for meaning, fodder for identity. Outline: how music matters to sociologists, music: the status of subcultures, the music industry. In this section of the lecture, we look at three ways that music matters to sociologists. Music = art (not necessity) projects, symbolic boundaries, hidden curriculum.
