Tia DeNora: After Adorno: Rethinking Music Sociology (2003)
Filed under book | Tags: · listening, music, music history, music sociology, music therapy, popular culture, sociology
Theodor W. Adorno placed music at the centre of his critique of modernity and broached some of the most important questions about the role of music in contemporary society. One of his central arguments was that music, through the manner of its composition, affected consciousness and was a means of social management and control. His work was primarily theoretical however, and because these issues were never explored empirically his work has become sidelined in current music sociology. This book argues that music sociology can be greatly enriched by a return to Adorno’s concerns, in particular his focus on music as a dynamic medium of social life. Intended as a guide to ‘how to do music sociology’ this book deals with critical topics too often sidelined such as aesthetic ordering, cognition, the emotions and music as a management device and reworks Adorno’s focus through a series of grounded examples.
•Hands on guide to how to do music sociology • First book to explore Adorno’s work within context of empirical music sociology and reassess his legacy • Develops a new approach to music sociology drawing on current musicological and sociology concerns
Publisher Cambridge University Press, 2003
ISBN 052153724X, 9780521537247
176 pages
PDF (updated on 2012-8-23)
Comment (0)Tia DeNora: Music in Everyday Life (2000)
Filed under book | Tags: · ethnography, everyday, music, music therapy, popular culture, sociology, sociology of music
The power of music to influence mood, create scenes, routines and occasions is widely recognised and this is reflected in a strand of social theory from Plato to Adorno that portrays music as an influence on character, social structure and action. There have, however, been few attempts to specify this power empirically and to provide theoretically grounded accounts of music’s structuring properties in everyday experience. Music in Everyday Life uses a series of ethnographic studies – an aerobics class, karaoke evenings, music therapy sessions and the use of background music in the retail sector – as well as in-depth interviews to show how music is a constitutive feature of human agency. Drawing together concepts from psychology, sociology and socio-linguistics it develops a theory of music’s active role in the construction of personal and social life and highlights the aesthetic dimension of social order and organisation in late modern societies.
• The first book to show how music is used in daily life as a structuring device • Novel in its application of recent perspectives from the sociology of technology and material culture • Develops recent concern with the aesthetic dimension of social action
Publisher Cambridge University Press, 2000
ISBN 052162732X, 9780521627320
181 pages
PDF (updated on 2012-8-23)
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