Pierre Bourdieu famously argued that "nothing more clearly affirms one’s class, nothing more infallibly classifies, than tastes in music". This means that, for Bourdieu, musical choices do not come by coincidence, but can be related to people’s particular positions in society and the ways in which these, by informing what he calls people’s 'habitus', will influence what they like and dislike and how they want to mark their distinction from other social actors and groups. Following from Bourdieu, sociologists of music have long been interested in how especially popular music can be linked to more than just class positions, and is often used to articulate various social identities, like those related to age, gender, sexuality or ethnicity.
In this course, we will examine the relationship between popular music and social identities in the British context and from a cultural studies perspective. We shall look at the role of music in some youth subcultures (mod and punk), in the formation of minority ethnic British identities (dub, bhangra, and grime), in the articulation of feminist and post-feminist ideas (riot grrrl and the Spice Girls), in the celebration of nostalgic national identity and the commodifications of the cultural heritage industry (mod revivals, Britpop and the British Music Experience). Time allowing, we will also discuss to what extent popular music remains a reliable social identity marker in times of increasing digitisation, streaming services, and TV talent shows.
Assessment/requirements: Übung: short oral presentation and one-page response paper; Seminar: the above, plus 12-page term paper.
- Kursleiter/in: Claus-Ulrich Viol