What is Soc About Music

SO36CH09-RoyDowd ARI 10 June 2010 3:53

What Is Sociologicalabout Music?William G. Roy1 and Timothy J. Dowd21Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1551;email: [email protected] of Sociology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322;email: [email protected]

Annu. Rev. Sociol. 2010. 36:183203

First published online as a Review in Advance onApril 20, 2010

The Annual Review of Sociology is online atsoc.annualreviews.org

This articles doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102618

Copyright c 2010 by Annual Reviews.All rights reserved

0360-0572/10/0811-0183$20.00

Key Words

cultural production, cultural consumption, interaction, institutions,genres, boundaries

Abstract

The sociology of music has become a vibrant eld of study in recentdecades. While its proponents are well aware of this elds contribu-tions and relevance, we focus here on demonstrating its merit to thebroader sociological community. We do so by addressing the followingquestions: What is music, sociologically speaking? How do individualsand groups use music? How is the collective production of music madepossible? How does music relate to broader social distinctions, espe-cially class, race, and gender? Answering these questions reveals thatmusic provides an important and engaging purchase on topics that areof great concern to sociologists of all stripestopics that range fromthe microfoundations of interaction to the macro-level dynamics ofinequality.

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INTRODUCTION

The rst generations of sociologists took itupon themselves to delineate a specic swatchof reality that belonged exclusively to theedgling discipline, proclaiming that societywas a reality sui generis and surrendering thestate to political science, markets to economics,space to geographers, and the past to historians.But in the past half-century, now that sociologyhas secured its place in the academy, we havestepped out from the terrain of society narrowlyframed to one broadly oriented and have em-braced such elds as economic sociology, po-litical sociology, and the various sociologiesof. Each of these elds faces questions of whatgeneral theories or analytical tools our disci-pline offers and what is uniquely sociologicalabout the subject matter. This review reectson a burgeoning eld of inquiry that offers dis-tinctive challenges and insights: the sociologyof music.

Like many specializations in sociology,scholars have often gravitated toward the so-ciology of music because of a personal interest.Not surprisingly, they have also found a readyaudience in other music lovers. As evidenced bythe seminal works of Max Weber, W.E.B. DuBois, Alfred Schutz, Howard Becker, RichardPeterson, Pierre Bourdieu, and Tia DeNora,sociology has long offered an important van-tage from which to understand music, the peo-ple who do it, and its effect on people. Recentwork continues to show the contributions thatsociology brings to the study of music; it is alsomarked by efforts to speak to a broad sociologi-cal audience and to contribute to other areas ofthe discipline.

This broader relevance of music sociologyis our focus here. Whereas other works surveythe roots and development of this specializedeld (Dowd 2007, Martin 1995), we take a dif-ferent approach by demonstrating how the so-ciological salience of music can be framed interms of the following questions: (a) What ismusic, sociologically speaking? (b) How do in-dividuals and groups use music? (c) How is thecollective production of music made possible?

(d ) How does music relate to broader socialdistinctions, especially class, race, and gender?By addressing these questions, we show thatthe sociology of music is relevant for such var-ied subelds as stratication, socialmovements,organizational sociology, and symbolic inter-actionism. Beyond highlighting its broad rele-vance, we also stress an ongoing theme: Musicis a mode of interaction that expresses and con-stitutes social relations (whether they are sub-cultures, organizations, classes, or nations) andthat embodies cultural assumptions regardingthese relations. This means that socioculturalcontext is essential to understanding what mu-sic can do and enable. Indeed, when the samemusic is situated across these contexts, it canwork in dramatically different fashions (as so-ciologists would expect). What is sociological,then, is less the sonic qualities than the social re-lations that music is both a part of and shaping.

WHAT IS MUSIC,SOCIOLOGICALLY SPEAKING?

Music is not a singular phenomenon and, hence,is not captured by one denition. Still, issuesof what music is" set the boundaries of theeld by clarifying what is and is not being stud-ied. Scholars in the social sciences and human-ities emphasize that the distinction betweenmusic and not music" is ultimately a socialconstructone that is shaped by, and shapes,social arrangements and cultural assumptions.Given that the construction of what we think ofas music is so widely accepted, its socioculturalunderpinnings can often be invisible. Followingmusicologist Phillip Bohlman (1999), we bringthis construction to the fore by discussing howmusic can be conceptualized as both object andactivity. These conceptualizations, as shown insubsequent sections, have tremendous implica-tions for the production and consumption ofmusic.

Music as Object

Music is often treated as an objecta thingthat has a moment of creation, a stability of

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characteristics across time and place, and po-tential for use and effects. As such, music can beabstracted from its time and place and put intonew contexts, such aswhenBachsBMinorMassis performed in a secular, rather than a religious,setting more than 250 years after its creation.Transforming the eeting sounds of music intoan object is a social achievement that requiressociological explanation. That said, sociologiststreat music as different kinds of objects, as illus-trated by but two of the following types in theliterature: music as an institutionalized systemof tonality andmusic as a commodity. Bothhavelong histories and undergird the view of musicas a written and/or recorded text that can bepossessed, circulated, and inspected.

Music as an institutionalized system oftonality means, fundamentally, that certainnotes are regularly utilized and repeatedfrequently enough that they can be treatedas things: the sonic building blocks for songs,symphonies, and other compositions. Onefundamental aspect of tonality is the division ofpitch into distinct tones (i.e., notes). Althoughthis division could be approached in highlyidiosyncratic fashion, Weber (1958) points to aremarkable uniformity found across time: a sys-tem of tonality, he argues, that began in and setsapart the West. This system emerged as the di-vision of pitch shifted from an ad hoc approachto one of systematic calculation based partlyupon advances in mathematics and acoustics.This eventually resulted in equal temperamentby the early 1700sthose 12 notes per octave(C,C-Sharp,D,D-Sharp, etc.) that are equidis-tant from each other and that permit a song tobe transposed easily from one key to another(e.g., when the melody and harmony forHappy Birthday can be shifted up or down interms of pitch while retaining its character). Asthe division of pitch grew more rational via thecalculations involved in equal temperament, sotoodidother elements in this system:Harmonicelements grew somewhat predictable and stable(such as the common usage of major chords);written notation that detailed these notes andharmonies grew more precise; and manufac-ture of standardized instruments capable of

playing the notes of equal temperament grewmore prevalent, as exemplied by the pianocapturing the 12 notes per octave via its whiteand black keys. This ongoing rationalization,Weber suggests, facilitated the ourishingof distinctive and elaborate music in theWest, such as orchestral music, and it alsorevealed social processes about rationalizationin general. Although this system is neither theonly nor the most scientic way for dividingpitch into notes (Dufns 2007; see Becker1982, pp. 3233), this musical object is widelytaken for granted, especially in the West, andit shapes the very manner in which individualshear music (see Cross 1997).

The achievement of music as an object goesfar beyond its codication in notation and therationalized system of tonality. In many places,music is embodied in objects of exchange(commodities). This buying and selling of mu-sic has occurred for centuries, with the rangeof commodities growing more expansive. Anearly precursor involved the buying and sellingof labor, with the state, Church, and aristocracyserving as patrons that secured the services ofmusicians and composers (Abbott & Hrycak1990, DeNora 1991, Scherer 2001). Outrightcommodication ofmusical objects took root inthe (late) 1700s with the expansion of commer-cial music publishing and the rise of copyrightlaws that xed sets of notes as distinct entities.The objectication of notes and words into aproduct helped composers move from patron-age into the freelance marketplace (Lenneberg2003, Scherer 2001); almost concurrently,commercial venues that featured performanceof these musical texts proliferated (see DeNora1991, Weber 2006). In the present, publishersand others are nancially compensated whenthose texts are performed in various venuesand/or disseminated by others for prot (Dowd2003, Ryan 1985). Commodication expandedfurther in the late 1800s and early 1900s, whenthe application of technologies freed musicfrom the eeting nature of performance andthe static nature of the printed page. Thetechnologically captured performance becamea product widely disseminated by the emergent

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recording, radio, and lm industries (Dowd2003, Sanjek & Sanjek 1991). These industriescontinue to offer such products, with addi-tional captured performances coming via suchsources as iPods and online music (Bull 2007,Leyshon et al. 2005). The commodication ofmusic is now commonplace and a fact of life inmost societies, which Adorno (2002) and otherslament. What exactly is ownedthe notes onthe page, the performance, the technologicalreproductionis a matter of conict, whoseadjudication has far-reaching consequencesfor the social dynamics of music (see Leyshonet al. 2005, Sanjek & Sanjek 1991).

This self-conscious examination of howmusic is treated as an object has lessons forsocial construction more generally. Becausethe achievement of musics object-ness isrelatively culturally and historically specic,it can be studied as a model for the processof reication, whereby human creations aremistakenly treated as simply resulting fromnature (Berger & Luckmann 1966). Just as theseven-day week is one of many ways of dividingtime, so too equal temperament is but oneway of dividing pitch. That both are treatedas natural speaks to the deep entrenchmentof these inventions in daily life (Dufns 2007,Zerubavel 1985). Its object-ness as commodityis also instructive. Musics object-ness, its em-beddedness in institutions, its pervasiveness ineveryday life, its popularity as an avocation, andits afrmation in a discourse of transcendentsanctication make it an accessible exemplar ofthe process of social construction. Scholars ofsociologically similar phenomenasuch as art,technology, and moneycould learn from theprocess by which much of music (but not all)became a commodied object.

Music as Activity

Scholars critical of the treatment of music asan object have frequently asserted that music ismore fruitfully understood as a processan ac-tivity. Rather than treating it as an object withxed qualities, we can treat music as somethingalways becoming that never achieves full object

status, something unbounded and open, some-thing that is a verb (musicking) rather than anoun. Musicologist Christopher Small (1998,p. 2), who coined the term musicking, makesthe point forcefully:

Music is not a thing at all but an activity,something that people do. The apparent thingmusic is a gment, an abstraction of the ac-tion, whose reality vanishes as soon as we ex-amine it at all closely.

This activity is evident in the performanceofmusicgiven its physical naturebut also inthe efforts that precede and enable such perfor-mance. In the realm of classical music, which isknown for its performers who resolutely seekto capture the intention of the composer asconveyed in notation, the rendering of thesemusical texts involves a considerable process,containing both musical and nonmusical ele-ments. Among professional string quartets inGreat Britain, themost nancially and criticallysuccessful are those whose members adeptlyhandle interpersonal issues that arise duringpractice and concerts (e.g., conict, leadership)and who focus on musically pleasing them-selves rather than the audience (Murninghan &Conlon 1991). Similarly, the quality of or-chestral performance is wrapped up withevaluations of conductor competency andlegitimacy, which often emerge in rehearsal(Benzecry 2006, Khodyakov 2007, Marottoet al. 2007), and with dynamics of informal andformal relations that unfold within and beyondthe concert (Allmendinger & Hackman 1995,Glynn 2000, Khodyakov 2007, Marotto et al.2007). Even the supposedly isolated gure ofthe concert pianist grapples with conicting ex-pectations of powerful others (e.g., competitionjudges, conservatory faculty), such as simulta-neous calls to ignore or treat the persistent painthat can result from extensive play of techni-cally demanding music (Alford & Szanto 1996,McCormick 2009). (Pain also gures promi-nently in the careers of ballet dancers; seeTurner & Wainwright 2006.) The objectof musical notation that lies at the heart of

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classical music is made alive by the musickingthat surrounds it.

In the realm of jazz, which is known for im-provisation that can render a song differentlyevery time, the development of improvisationalskills is an ongoing process, as well. In orderto improvise, jazz musicians develop such cog-nitive skills as understanding the relationshipbetween chords and individual notes and iden-tication with the character and role of theirparticular instrument. They acquire such cor-poral skills as knowing how to use their body inthe delivery of this instantaneous music. Theylearn interactional skills and etiquette for col-lective performance that involves the sponta-neous musical passages of soloists, turn-takingamong soloists, and accompaniment that ablyresponds to the expected and unexpected di-rections that improvisation takes. Their mas-tery of improvisation, in turn, is shaped bya larger context containing familial support,mentorship, social connections among musi-cians, and the changing landscape of perfor-mance opportunities (Berliner 1994, Dempsey2008, Gibson 2006, MacLeod 1993, Sudnow1978). What appears to be ephemeralthe im-provisation that is commodied at jazz venuesand on recordingsis actually embedded in ex-tended activity that connects both the musicaland the nonmusical.

Smalls musicological position is inherentlysociological because it highlights the intertwin-ing of music and interaction. Smalls (1998) ap-proach focuses on the variety of actors involvedin the ongoing activity of music. Yet Smalltends to focus on actors associated with musicalperformance (e.g., ticket-takers at concerts).In contrast, the art world approach of Becker(1982) considers all people involved in thecreation and dissemination of music, including,for lack of a better term, support personnelwho may have little involvement in the musicalperformance itself. Consequently, the processof musicking should be of interest to propo-nents of sociological approaches that addressinteraction and cognition more generally, suchas ethnomethodology, symbolic interaction-ism, the sociology of work, and organizational

sense-making. Those approaches reveal thatindividuals collectively work to interpret andenact the world that they confront. Musickingprovides a powerful example of such efforts,particularly in showing that the facticity ofmusical scores and performances rests onintersubjective meanings that are invented inand sustained by interaction. This becomesespecially apparent when considering the usageof music by listeners.

HOW DO INDIVIDUALSAND GROUPS USE MUSIC?

Approaching music as merely an object or anactivity risks treating it as set apart and self-contained rather than as part of, and insepa-rable from, social life (Bohlman 1999). Manyscholars thus focus on how music is embed-ded in social life (e.g., social relations). Hence,DeNora (2000) speaks of a range of strategiesthrough which music is mobilized as a resourcefor producing the scenes, routines, assumptionsand occasions that constitute social life (p. xi).That is, people use music to give meaning tothemselves and their world.

Like Griswold (1987), we treat meaningas shared signicance that occurs when musicpoints to something beyond itself, representingsome aspect of social life. We rst discusshow academics grapple with musical meaning.This covers important ground and situates ourdiscussion of how people use music to denewho they are individually and collectively. Ofcourse, when focusing on the embeddednessof music in social relations, music performedfor audiences is but one of a manifold set ofsocial relations. That so much musicking takesthe form of, say, performer/audience relationsis a characteristic of Western society to beexplained rather than a restrictive assumptionto impose on analysis (Turino 2008).

Embeddedness of Musical Meaning

The embeddedness of music complicates theconstruction of meaning, as meaning is notsolely located in either amusical object or activ-ity. Drawing inspiration from DeNora (1986),


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we address two broad approaches to this com-plication: those who emphasize the musical ob-ject (what we label here as textualists) and thosewho emphasize the activity (contextualists).

The textual approach often treats musicas analogous to language. The most straight-forward example comes from numerous stud-ies focusing on song lyrics. Sociologists andothers probe meaning by interpreting one setof words (lyrics) into another set describingit. For instance, in an ambitious analysis ofmore than 400 songs found on best-selling hip-hop albums, Kubrin (2005, p. 366) ultimatelyinterprets their lyrics as [helping] constructan interpretive environment where violence isappropriate and acceptable. Acknowledgingthat rappers could have different lyrical inten-tions and listeners could have divergent inter-pretations of these lyrics, Kubrin neverthelessroots the meaning in violence while connectingit to inner-city streets that he notes are famil-iar to hip-hop artists and audiences (but seeRodriquez 2006, p. 664).

The textual approach is less straightforwardwhen scholars turn to themusic itself, especiallygiven an important difference between musicand language. Whereas basic elements of lan-guage (wordsdog) havemeaning, basicmu-sical elements (notesC-Sharp) have trivial,if any, meaning. Some scholars handle this byfocusing on the structure ofmusic (e.g., interre-lationships among individual notes) and track-ing the meaning from there (DeNora 1986).

This focus on musical structure has exten-sive roots in the humanities. Viennese criticEduard Hanslick (1957 [1854]) argued that,just as language can be analyzed in terms of theformal structures of its syntax, so can music beparsed into its formal features (thereby launch-ing the formalist approach in musicology). Healso argued that music parallels language onlyin its syntax (structure) and not its semantics(meaning), thus stopping short of linking thetwo. Musicologists from Cooke (1959) onwardhave aggressively made that linkage. McClary(1991) locates meaning in this interplay be-tween musical structure (text) and social life(context), as when arguing that certain music

(e.g., classical sonatas) projects the same ten-sion as conventional literary plots, pitting thedominant masculine against the subordinatefeminine before resolving into the triumph ofmasculinity. Walser (1999) similarly elaborateshow the musical structure of heavy metal(e.g., rhythms, timbres) ties to broader notionsof masculinity. Some suggest that meaningarises when musical structure calls to mind thephenomenal world. The sonic ebb and ow ofGamelanmusic inBali and Java evoke for listen-ers the natural cycles of calendars and cosmosand feel not only natural but beautiful and pow-erful (Becker&Becker 1981),whereas the arc inMozarts musicwith its denite sequence thatpoints to the ending, much like a narrative plotdoesconjures for listeners the linear notionsof time that mark modernity (Berger 2007).

Some sociologists likewise focus on musicalstructure. For example, Cerulo (1995) analyzes161 national anthems by heeding the relation-ship of notes that unfolds within each anthemsimultaneously (e.g., harmony that occurs whennotes are sounded together) and temporally(e.g., successive notes in a melody). On the onehand, Cerulo focuses intently on the texts ofthese anthems, observing how certain musicalrelationships have gained political meaning.Anthems with melodies that proceed smoothlywith small differences in pitch between suc-cessive notes (i.e., intervals) have a differentmeaning than those anthems with melodieslled with large differences: The small intervalsof God Save the Queen signify a hymn ofhonor, whereas the leaping intervals of LaMarseillaise arouse a call to arms. On theother hand, Cerulo links the musical structuresof these anthems to such things as the politicalenvironment. Nations with few political voices(i.e., authoritarian governments) tend to chooseanthems with basic musical structures, as thewidely shared worldview accompanying this(imposed) solidarity requires little explanationpolitically or musically. Nations with manypolitical voices (i.e., multiparty democracies)gravitate toward anthemswith complexmusicalstructures, as much elaboration, politically andmusically, is needed to overcome differences.

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The contextual approach differs markedly.Contextualists particularly focus on listeners,who, in the textual approach, are often ignored,imagined, or simply the academics themselves.Martin (2006) criticizes as sociologically naivethe newmusicology that probesmusic for its so-cialmeaning.DeNora (2000, p. 22) charges thattextualists often conate ideas about musicsaffect with the ways that music actually worksfor and is used by its recipients instead of ex-ploring how such links are forged by situatedactors. Feld (1984, p. 383) similarly advocatesgoing beyond readings of music to investigatethe primacy of symbolic action in an ongoingintersubjective lifeworld, and the ways engage-ment in symbolic action continually builds andshapes actors perceptions and meanings. Themost explicit argument is by Small (1998, p. 13):

The act of musicking establishes in the placewhere it is happening a set of relationships,and it is in those relationships that the mean-ing of the act lies. They are to be found notonly between those organized sounds . . . butalso between the people who are taking part,in whatever capacity, in the performance.

He illustrates this with an insightful account ofthe meanings created by a classical music con-cert, including the architecture of the concerthall, the physical relations of participants, theconventions for behavior, and microsocial in-teraction, all of which frame the music itselfand the discourse around it.

The contextual approach maintains that themeaning is never purely in the music becausethere is never a meaning. Whereas somelisteners deplore the violence in rap lyricsreducing the range of lyrics to that particu-lar meaningothers hear them as signifying aneeded critique, a political rallying cry, and/oran emergent art form (Binder 1993, Watkins2001). According to contextualists, whether rapmusic foments violence or conciliation dependsless on its lyrics or sounds than on what peo-ple do with it. Thus, meaning is more a set ofactivities (e.g., interpretation, reection) thana product. As Alfred Schutz (1951) argued,

musical meaning is particularly sociological be-cause it both happens through interaction andmakes interaction possible. By this logic, musicand its meaning do not simply unfurl in a so-cial context but are also part of the context itself(Seeger 2004).

Music and Meaningful Constructionof Identity

Music and its meanings inform people, quiteprofoundly, about who they are. From agingpunk rock fans (Bennett 2006) and passionateopera connoisseurs (Benzecry 2009) to youthfuldance club devotees (Thornton 1996) and blue-grass music enthusiasts (Gardner 2004), musicboth signals and helps constitute the identity ofindividuals and collectivities.

DeNora (2000) is the leading sociologistaddressing musical meaning and individualidentity. Through interviews and observation,she nds that individuals construct an identity(a me) by using music to mark and documentimportant aspects of their livesincludingmemorable events and evolving relationshipsand to guide how they negotiate such activitiesas shopping, aerobics, and lovemaking. Likesome academics described above, individualsnd meaning by linking text and context, usingmusic to signify their evolving autobiographies.However, this is best seen as an ongoing ac-tivity steeped in interactions with others (e.g.,lovers). Moreover, meanings that individualsidentify are not necessarily the same as thoseof academics. Some like classical music (i.e.,Mozart) because it is good background musicfor studying and not because, as Berger (2007)suggests, it resonates with the modern owof time. Music thus gets into individuals viaa deliberate meaning-making process. Thatsaid, music also gets into the body with littleforethought, as when certain musical elementsinspire action (e.g., marching) or rest (DeNora2000, McNeill 1995, Small 1998).

Music is a technology of the self (DeNora2000). It is something in which to lose one-self apart from others. Classical music aciona-dos can seek transcendence while listening to


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albums in the connes of their home (Hennion2001), and iPod users can create sonic solitudewhile surrounded by strangers in a bustling city(Bull 2007). Music is also something by whichto nd oneself amid others, which is of par-ticular interest to sociologists. Construction ofan autobiographical soundtrack is an intraindi-vidual process, suggests Hesmondhalgh (2007),because people compare themselves to othersimagining how their experiences and perspec-tives do (or do not) lead to similar musical pref-erences (for possible implications of this, seeSalagnik & Watts 2008). Meanwhile, many usemusic to develop their private faith while con-necting themselves to a religious community(Chaves 2004, Wuthnow 2003).

Groups likewise usemusic as a tool for build-ing identityan us (Roy 2002). The relation-ship between a group andmusic ows twoways:Music is identied by people inside (and out-side) the group as belonging to it, andmember-ship in the group is marked partly by embracingthis music. Sometimes this occurs in a sustainedand tacit fashion. Among the Suya in centralBrazil, daily enactment of relationships throughceremonial singing helps create a collectiveidentity, which inuences tremendously otheraspects of Suya life. Musicking recreates, re-establishes, or alters the signicance of singingand also of the persons, times, places, and au-diences involved. It expresses the status, sex,and feelings of performers, and brings these tothe attention of the entire community (Seeger2004, p. 65). Music does not simply reect thisgroup but plays a performative role in deningit. The two-way relationship can also occur in adeliberate and sudden fashion, as when groupscome to see particular music as signifying boththeir us-ness and their plight. African Ameri-can slaves used spirituals with religious lyricsto dene themselves and covertly critique de-plorable conditions (Douglass 1993 [1845]; seealso Du Bois 1997 [1903]). In the early 1900s,some 400,000 textile workers walked off thejob after encountering local music that taughtthem of their solidarity and offered prescrip-tions for action (Roscigno & Danaher 2004).Serbian students of the late 1990s drew upon

rock music to mobilize against Milosevic, si-multaneously constructing a collective identityand a discourse of opposition that demarcatedthem not only from the regime but from otheroppositional forces (Steinberg 2004, p. 22).

Music canbe a technologyof the collectivebecause people gravitate toward those whoshare similar tastes (Bourdieu 1984, Roy 2002).This is particularly important in contemporarysocieties, as individuals can potentially bemem-bers of many (disparate) groups (see DiMaggio,1987, 1991). Music scenes research grappleswith this, acknowledging the ease with whichindividuals can enter (and exit) groups thatcoalesce around particular types of music(Bennett 2004). The gathering of like-mindedindividuals occurs not only within localesasGrazian (2003) has critically demonstrated forChicago bluesbut also across physical locales(Roman-Velazquez 1999) and virtual spaces(Beer 2008). This uid and evolving construc-tion of us-ness sometimes results in sprawlingcollectives, such as the extreme metal scenethat brings together enthusiasts and musiciansfrom such far-ung places as Brazil, Israel,Malaysia, and Sweden (Kahn-Harris 2007). Ofcourse, tastes can also prove divisive, as groupssometimes use music to dene themselvesagainst others (Bourdieu 1984, Roy 2010).

Scholars in the social sciences and humani-ties demonstrate that meaning does not simplyreside in the content of media goods but in theinterplay between audiences and content. Suchstalwarts asGriswold (1987) emphasize the con-tingent nature of meaning, whereby the socialsituation of readers shapes how they interpretnovels. Music scholarship provides importantevidence of this contingent meaning by prob-lematizing how musical content gets into peo-ples minds, bodies, and especially their activi-ties. In doing so, it also shows that the linkagebetween meaning and musicking plays a cru-cial role in identity construction. Musics rolein the dening of me versus not-me and usversus them should especially appeal to socialpsychologists (Killian & Johnson 2006) and so-cial movement scholars (Eyerman & Jamison1998). They will likely agree that the

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question of how musical meaning arises is per-haps more sociologically compelling than whatit is (DeNora 1986). Put another way, scholarswithin and beyond music sociology can bringtogether texts and contexts by attending towhatmusic affords both individuals and groups, in-cluding its affordance of identity constructionand (collective) action (DeNora 2000, 2003;see Clarke 2005). In doing so, they will seethe powerful resource that this sonic materialoffers daily life.

HOW IS THE COLLECTIVEPRODUCTION OF MUSICMADE POSSIBLE?

Musical creation is deeply social. Even whenone person is apparently responsible for music(e.g., recording original songs in a bedroomstudio), her efforts are most likely intraindi-vidual (Becker 1982). This occurs when thatperson uses the long-established system oftonality (Weber 1958), relies upon technolo-gies devised by others ( Jeppesen& Frederiksen2006), or engages conventions shared by many(Hesmondhalgh 1998). Particularly intrigu-ing are frequent instances in which musicalproduction is explicitly collectivewhereindividuals and organizations with their ownrespective interests come together for deliveryof music (Regev 1998).

Several approaches take this aggregation assomething to explain, including the art worldsapproach (Becker 1982), the production-of-culture approach (Peterson & Anand 2004),eld theory (Prior 2008), and neo-institutionaltheory ( Johnson et al. 2006). They all point towidely shared cognition that enables this col-lective production to work: (oftentimes) taken-for-granted ways of viewing the world (insti-tutions) that bring together individuals andorganizations into a (somewhat) coherent eld.Heeding DiMaggio (1987), we focus on thedifferentiation of music into categories (genres)and the ranking of certain genres (hierarchy).Both play crucial roles in collective productionby similarly orienting innumerable actors inrelationship to each other across time and place.

Genre as Collective Enactment

A distinctive feature of modern Westernmusic is the way that genre simultaneouslycategorizes cultural objects and people. Somedenitions of genre emphasize the content ofcultural objects more than the people engagingsuch objects, as when Rosenblum (1975,p. 424) denes genre (i.e., style) as particularmannerisms or conventions that are frequentlyassociated together. Other denitions bringpeople a bit more into the mix, as when Walser(1999, p. 29) summarizes, Genres . . . come tofunction as horizons of expectations for readers(or listeners) and as models of composition forauthors (or musicians). Still other denitionsemphasize more fully that genres are sociallyrelevant in different ways for different actorsand that people, as well as the music itself, canbe categorized by genres. For example, Fabbri(1982, 1989) offers a well-known attempt totreat genre as socially accepted rules and tospecify what those rules entail for specicgenres, such as the Italian canzone dautore(author-song) and its creators (cantautorisinger-songwriters). These generic rulesaddress technical aspects of music (e.g., the un-polished soundof cantautori), the semiotic (e.g.,how cantautori convey truth via sincere words),the behavioral (e.g., the unassuming onstageposture of cantautori), and the ideological (e.g.,cantautoris commitment to justice). Thoughcomprehensive, Fabbris denition of genreis criticized for being too static, as it glossesover changing aspects of genre (Negus 1999,Santoro 2004). Finally, a stream of scholar-ship in sociology (Lena & Peterson 2008,Lopes 2002, Peterson 1997, Santoro 2004)emphasizes that genres are moving targetswith evolving, rather than xed, elementsthat morph over time, sometimes gradually,sometimes abruptly (Becker 1982). We takethe latter view here.

Collective enactment by musicians anchorsthese moving targets, both sustaining andchanging genres in the process. While somemusicians invent a new genre (Prior 2008),most only work within existing genres. Current


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understandings of a given genre serve aspowerful tools for socialization, particularlywhen conveyed via mentors, peers, publica-tions, and recordings (Bayton 1998, Clawson1999, Curran 1996). In adopting a genre astheir own, novices learn conventions regardingwhat to play (the swing of jazz drumming) andhow to play (the pounding approach of rockdrumming), as well as conventions about equip-ment (the massive drum sets of heavy metal)and appearance (the big hair of certain rockgenres). Pursuit of a genre thus links novicesto others who appreciate these conventions: aeld spanning the local (Crossley 2008), virtual(Beer 2008), and imagined (Lena 2004). How-ever, conventions are not hard-and-fast rules.Given sanctions for being generic, few musi-cians slavishly adhere to all, contributing to agradual drift in what constitutes a genre. Somechoose to subvert conventions, mavericks thatcan (decisively) redene a genre (Becker 1982).Of course, musicians are not always bound toa single genre. Those adept at multiple genrescan spur innovation, as when they combinedisparate elements of various genres into anew fusion; they can also benet economically,as when expanding the range of availablegigs for which they are qualied (Dempsey2008, MacLeod 1993). Small wonder that jazzmusicians conversant in a wide range of genresenjoy more critical and nancial success thanothers (Pinheiro & Dowd 2009). In short,the institution of genre allows musicians, aswell as audiences and mediators, to negotiatecollectively the vast possibilities of musicalmaterial by relying upon a shifting mixture ofprecedence and uniqueness (Becker 1982).

Businesses collectively enact genres too,but in a less dynamic fashion than musicians.Rather than focus on all available genres, largemusic rms have historically mined relativelyfew, taking amainstream approach that empha-sizes well-known conventions and establishedmusicians rather than the cutting-edge devel-opments of unheralded musicians. One notableexample, for instance, occurred in the mid-1900s, when major recording and radio rmschampioned pop music (e.g., Perry Como),

while rock, country, and R&B percolated onthe periphery (Dowd 2003, 2004; Phillips& Owens 2004; Roy 2004). Some suggestthat such a conservative approach then (andnow) stems from managerial preferences forpredictability and from formalization that canmake large organizations sluggish (Ahlkvist &Faulkner 2002, Negus 1999, Rossmann 2004).Regardless of the reasons, this historically con-servative approach also creates opportunitiesfor small music rms to compete by addressingthose genres that large rms overlook. Con-sequently, small rms have often championednew genres that transform the music business,thereby forcing large rms to deal with suchonce-peripheral genres as blues, jazz, R&B,rock and roll, and electronica (Dowd 2003,Hesmondhalgh 1998, Phillips & Owens 2004).In the late 1900s, often smarting from thetransformative success of small rms, largerecording rms in North America, Europe,and Japan moved proactively to address morethan the mainstream. They established smalldivisions within their rms (to emulate smallrms) and entered into contractual allianceswith a host of small rms, thereby funding, andbenetting from, an expanding range of genres(Asai 2008, Burnett 1996, Dowd 2004, Negus1999). Across the twentieth century, then,small and large rms enacted a proliferationof genres deemed commercially viable, withonline music in the twenty-rst century likelypushing this proliferation further (see Asai2008, Beer 2008, Leyshon et al. 2005). Forthese organizations, genre is a way of deningmusic in its market or, alternatively, the marketin its music (Frith 1996, p. 76).

Collective enactment of genre highlightsissues of classication that have informed soci-ology since the days of Durkheim (Lamont &Molnar 2002). For many, classication is a cog-nitive map imposed upon reality, as though re-ality is there before its classication. Zerubavel(1991), for instance, analyzes the logic by whichwe divide the worlddistinguishing betweencontinuous dimensions, mental gaps, etc. Incontrast, collective enactment of genre revealsthat reality is sometimes constructed amid the

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process of classication: that ongoing cognitionabout and action for genre categories informtheir collective denitions at a particular time,which, in turn, inform subsequent cognitionand action. This resonates with the duality ofstructure described by Sewell (1992, p. 27), asgenres are constituted by mutually sustainingcultural schemas and sets of resources thatempower and constrain social action and tendto be reproduced by that action.

Hierarchy and Classical Music

Differentiation of music can also entail hier-archy. The hallmark of subcultures is theirmembers insistence on the superiority of theirfavored genre (punk rock rules!") and theattendant hierarchy of people based on theirassociations with that genre (Bennett 2004).More remarkable is when disparate individualsfrom many groups acknowledge the merit of aparticular genre(s). To illustrate such a widelyheld hierarchy, we turn to a broad ranking thathas centuries-old roots and has been upheldinternationally: the touting of classical musicas superior to popular music.

The ranking of classical music over popularmusic requires that those categories haverelevance. Yet the former category has notalways existed (Weber 1984, 2006). Europeanpatrons and audiences long favored contem-porary musicoften devised for one-timeperformance at social eventsrather than therepeated performance of complete works fromthe past (i.e., classics). The Paris Opera of theseventeenth century was arguably more con-cerned with extolling both Louis XIV and theFrench language viamusical spectacle thanwithcreating great art ( Johnson 2007). DeNora(1991) locates an important shift in Vienna ofthe late 1700s. Aristocrats once distinguishedthemselves by sponsoring musical ensemblesthat played new music, but as those furtherdown the social ladder did so too, aristocratsturned to another way of distinctiontherened ability to appreciate the complex anddemanding music of Beethoven, Mozart, andHaydn. Although their emphasis on these

classics did not gain widespread acceptance atthe time, it presaged what was to come.

Hierarchy took root on both sides of theAtlantic with the proliferation of performanceorganizations that offered only classics, cor-doning them off from popular music of theday (Allmendinger&Hackman 1996, Benzecry2006, Levine 1988, Santoro 2010). In theUnited States, DiMaggio (1982, 1992) em-phasizes rst-mover organizations that offeredonly classics in the domains of orchestral mu-sic [the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO)]and opera [the New York Metropolitan Opera(the Met)]. Under the guidance of cultural en-trepreneurs drawn from and connected to ur-ban elites, both organizations combined the el-evation of classical music with the nonprotform, as the BSO did upon its founding in1881 and the Met did when discontinuing itsfor-prot status in 1939. The nonprot pro-vided relief from the vagaries of audience de-mand because donations from various sourcescould compensate for low ticket sales that typi-cally resulted from featuring only serious workswhile eschewing entertaining tunes. These rstmovers respectively made this hierarchy vi-able for U.S. orchestras, and later for U.S.opera companies, providing examples to em-ulate. From the late 1800s onward, orchestrasoffered programming that overwhelmingly em-phasized the works of the past, such as the verycomposers once touted by Viennese aristocrats(Dowd et al. 2002, Kremp 2010). Moreover, atthe turn of this century, nonprot organizationsremain preeminent among U.S. orchestras andopera companies, whereas for-prot organiza-tions dominate the production of popularmusic(DiMaggio 2006).

Developments in the broader eld of musi-cal production further solidied this hierarchybut, recently, have contributed to its erosion.In Europe and North America, recordingcompanies and broadcasters of the early 1900sgave prominent attention to classical music,using albums and shows to educate listenerson the merits of this music. By the mid-1900s,these for-prot corporations began marketingclassical music as a specialty product, if at all


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(Dowd 2003, Katz 1998, Maisonneuve 2001).From the mid-1900s, educators and criticsin multiple nations instructed many on theimportance and worth of classical music,showing surprising agreement on its exemplars(e.g., Beethoven). In recent years, educatorsand critics have given increasing attention tothe worth of popular music, raising its staturerelative to classical music (Bevers 2005, Dowdet al. 2002, Janssen et al. 2008, van Venrooij& Schmutz 2010). Meanwhile, in the UnitedStates, nonprots may have grown less effec-tive at insulating classical music from popularmusic, as declining audiences and dwindlingdonations have made ticket sales a centralconcern (DiMaggio 2006). Despite theserecent developments, this institutionalizedhierarchy remains surprisingly robust. Thissimple ranking enabled, and was enabled by, atransnational eld of musical production.

Musical hierarchy should appeal to or-ganizational sociologists, who have likewiseemphasized the context in which particularorganizations are embedded (the eld) and thecognitive (and tacit) foundations of such elds( Johnson et al. 2006). However, some organi-zational scholars note the relative inattentionpaid to (a) actual people rather than institutions,(b) expressive aspects of elds rather than, say,utilitarian, and (c) deinstitutionalization ratherthan institutionalization (Glynn&Dowd 2008,Glynn&Marquis 2004).The above scholarshipon musical hierarchy therefore offers a correc-tive: It is rife with the actions and discourseof people who mobilized organizations and/orconstituencies to proclaim an aesthetic prefer-ence and, in recent years, to dealwith challengesthat face this preference. Moreover, as we dis-cuss below, this particular form of musical hi-erarchy has implications for listeners and socialstratication more broadly (Bourdieu 1984).

HOW DOES MUSIC RELATETO BROADER SOCIALDISTINCTIONS?

If musical differentiation and hierarchy alignedsmoothly with the stratication of society, so-ciology of music would have little to say about

broader social distinctions such as race, class,and gender. However, various aspects of mu-sic sometimes invert stratication, turning it onits head. Although white listeners have some-times devalued music by African Americans be-cause of racial associations (Frith 1996, Lopes2002), they sometimes imbue black with a posi-tive value (e.g., authentic) and white with a neg-ative value (e.g., inauthentic) (Cantwell 1997,Grazian 2003). As one ethnographer observesabout hip-hop, Whites who pick up on AfricanAmerican styles and music do not necessarilywant to be black; they seek to acquire the char-acteristics of blackness associated with beingcool (Rodriquez 2006, p. 649). Music conse-quently plays a complex role: It upholds strati-cationwhen people use it to reinforce social dis-tinctions but undermines it when used to reachacross distinctions (Roy 2002, 2004). As such,music enters into social relations and helps toconstitute fundamental distinctions on amicro-and macro-level.

Musical Bounding of Distinctions

Bounding is one mechanism that shapes a so-cietys system of alignment between concep-tual distinctions (e.g., how music is classiedinto genres) and social distinctions (e.g., race,class). It thus links consequential distinctions,as when (de)valued musical genres are alignedwith (de)valued groups of people (Lamont &Molnar 2002, Roy 2001, Zerubavel 1991). Be-cause bounding does not simply happen, it isimportant to identify those actors involved.Weconsider below the bounding done by musiccompanies, by critics and employers, and bylisteners. The latter group is particularly in-teresting given the issue of homologywhereparticular groups of listeners gravitate towardmusic whose properties parallel aspects of theirsocial location (DeNora 2002, Frith 1996,Martin 1995, Shepherd & Wicke 1997). Suchhomology is more circumscribed than the typeof homology emphasized by earlier scholarswho sought to demonstrate the parallels be-tween entire societies and their musics (Adorno2002, Lomax 1962, Weber 1958).

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Commercial producers and distributorsprobably have the greatest impact on howthe general public forms associations betweenmusical genres and social distinctions (e.g.,race). The racialization of music has beenat the core of commercial music in Americasince its origins. The rst genre of Americancommercial popular music arguably was theminstrel, which was based on white mensappropriation of black culture. Throughoutmuch of the 1800s, minstrelsy was not onlythe place where most non-Southerners learnedabout African Americans, but it substantiallyinformed immigrants about what it meant tobe a white American (Lott 1993). Minstrelsyeven supplied the name for the oppressiveapparatus of legal segregation that framed racerelations for much of the twentieth century:Jim Crow. In the late 1800s, when publicationof sheet music became the most protable partof the music business, visual images added newpower to racial stereotypes. Music publicationswere adorned with cover pages display-ing Sambo caricaturesAfrican Americancartoons with exaggerated lips, bulging eyes,at noses, mocking top hats, and giganticbow tieswhich all congealed into an iconof derision (Lhamon 1998, Lott 1993, Roy2010).

The sharp racialization carried over into theera of recorded music. In the 1920s, recordcompanies targeted racial groups in their mar-keting. Although some executives were sur-prised that people other than white middle-class urbanites would buy records, most recordcompanies created special labels and catalogsfor race records and hillbilly music, be-fore eventually adopting the names rhythm andblues and country and western (Dowd 2003;Peterson 1997; Roy 2002, 2004). Concurrently,large recording rms prominently featured jazzorchestras of white musicians while hopingto avoid the stigma that purportedly owedfrom the hot jazz of black musiciansas whenthey relied on pseudonyms to hide the identityof well-known black musicians such as LouisArmstrong (Phillips & Kim 2009, Phillips &Owens 2004).

Well-placed individuals also shape the align-ment of genres and social distinctions. Thoseoffering public discourse about musiccritics,academics, and journalistsare the most visi-ble group doing so and perhaps the most in-uential. Schmutz (2009) nds clear evidenceof gender-bounding by newspaper critics infour nations over 50 years. As critics collec-tively devoted increasing coverage to particularpopular music genres, they also reduced rela-tive attention given to women artists in thosegenres. This critical discourse makes the as-sociation that valued genres are more the do-main of men than of women. This talk is notcheap because other well-placed individualspotential employershave similarly devaluedwomen over the years. Compared with men,women musicians have historically faced a nar-row range of instruments and responsibilities(Bayton 1998, Clawson 1999, DeNora 2002),unstable employment (Coulangeon et al. 2005),limited commercial success (Dowd et al. 2005),and disgruntlement from fellow instrumental-ists when their presence in symphony orches-tras moves from token numbers to a sizable mi-nority (Allmendinger & Hackman 1995). Thealignment between genre and gender has oftenworked against women in popular and classicalmusic.

Listeners of various types are involved inbounding. A notable strand of British scholar-ship, for instance, details the symbolic t be-tween the values and lifestyles of a particularsubcultureits subjective experienceand themusic it uses to express or reinforce its focalconcerns (Bennett 2004). Hence, punks gen-eral rejection of respectability is reected intheir strident music that subverts mainstreammusical aesthetics, just as piercing their faceswith safety pins subverts the meaning of mun-dane objects (Hebdige 1979).

Although members of subcultures mayintentionally use music to construct theirposition in the social order, Bourdieu (1984)argues that members of classes can do so withlittle forethought. The economic situationof each class shapes its members dispositiontoward music in a particular fashion, with this


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disposition seeming natural. Given the limitednances and free time of the French workingclass, they favor pleasurable music that requireslittle training to appreciate. The French upperclass, possessing considerable resources andleisure time, tends toward the cerebral ratherthan the entertaining, such as the classical mu-sic that requires much training and cultivationto appreciate. The privileged standing of theupper class means that its disposition is widelyseen as legitimate, as when familiarity withclassical music serves as cultural capital thatfacilitates opportunity and success in a varietyof domains. Armed with French survey datashowing class differences in musical appreci-ation and modes of listening, Bourdieu (1984,p. 18) asserts, Nothing more clearly afrmsones class, nothing more infallibly classies,than tastes in music. For him, the homologybetween musical preferences and social classesis systemic for France. This homology maymatter outside of France, too, but possibly ina less clear-cut fashion. Cultural capital con-tributes to educational success in the UnitedStates, for instance, but those who possess,and benet from, it are not necessarily afuent(Aschaffenburg & Maas 1997, Dumais 2002).

Musical Bridging of Distinctions

Bridging is another mechanism that shapes thealignment of conceptual and social distinctions(Roy 2002, 2004). It blurs the linkage betweendistinctions, as when a musical genre once lim-ited to a particular social group is embracedby other groups (Lamont & Molnar 2002, Roy2001, Zerubavel 1991). Our discussion belowsomewhat parallels that of bounding, but it alsoraises differences. In the case of listeners, bridg-ing edges alignment away from homology andtoward heterology, where conceptual distinc-tions map less cleanly, if not more complexly,on particular social distinctions (Coulangeon&Lemel 2007, Garca-Alvarez et al. 2007).

Although businesses played a substan-tial role in early racialization of Americanmusic, some later moved away from a strict

segregation of black and white music(ians).Since the early 1900s, a single organization,ASCAP (American Society of Composers,Authors, and Publishers) worked on be-half of composers and publishers to securepayment whenever venues or broadcastersused their compositions; however, its leadersresisted dealing in race and hillbilly music,leaving these genres and their composers(e.g., Jelly Roll Morton) without economicrepresentation. Chang from fees charged byASCAP, broadcasters established their ownorganization in 1939, BMI (Broadcast Music,Inc.). It aggressively represented genres thatASCAP had ignored and provided the eco-nomic foundation for the burgeoning of thosegenres from the 1940s onward (Dowd 2003,Ryan 1985). These genres further benettedwhen record companies of the mid-1900smoved away from the stringent categorizationof an earlier era. Folkways Records purpose-fully mixed African American and rural whiteperformers on key albums without identifyingtheir race for listeners. Large recording rmsdid not go as far, but they did complementtheir focus on pop music by investing heavily incountrymusic and R&B.Moreover, these rmssoon realized the value of crossover success,as when African American performers couldfare quite well in the pop market targetingwhite audiences (e.g., Nat King Cole) (Dowd2003, 2004; Peterson 1997; Skinner 2006).The relaxation of boundaries ltered down toinstrumentalists from the mid-1900s onwardwhen their union grew more receptive to rep-resenting country musicians and when it nallyintegrated once racially segregated operationin U.S. cities (Dowd 2003, Dowd & Blyler2002, Peterson 1997). Although not completelyeliminating racialization in American music(Negus 1999), such bridging has made it lessblatant and provided opportunities for oncemarginalized genres to reach new audiences.

The discourse of well-placed individualslikewise can bridge across distinctions. Even inthat despicable era, the relationship of slaves tomusic was complex (Roy 2010). Owners used

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the music of slaves to regulate the pace of laborand to entertain at white social events, but theyoften heard as noise the spirituals that slavesenacted on their own in richly symbolic and,at times, deant ways. To great effect, aboli-tionists, folklorists, and academics convincedsome whites that this noise is actually impor-tant music. Frederick Douglass and others ar-gued compellingly that spirituals dramatizedthe humanity of African Americans, revealedtheir relationship to the almighty, and por-trayed them as full, if not equal, human be-ings (Cruz 1999). In subsequent eras, critics andacademics have (successfully) made the case towhites that other genres associated with AfricanAmericanmusiciansparticularly jazz and hip-hopare neither noise nor immoral but emer-gent art forms that merit careful considera-tion (Binder 1993, Lopes 2002; see Lena &Peterson 2008). Recent analysis reveals that thegenre labels that critics employ in their reviewsare oftentimes overlapping, particularly blur-ring the boundaries of the pop and rock genreswith those of R&B and hip-hop (van Venrooij2009). The alignment between genre and raceis growing more uid in much discourse.

Recent scholarship suggests that listeners,particularly high-status individuals, are en-gaged in considerable bridging, aligning a var-ied range of music to their own daily expe-riences (see Peterson 2005). This bridging isnot new, however. Despite early commercialclassication and segregation of race and hill-billy music, many black and white musicians ofthe time, even in the South, knew each other,learned from each other, and sang each otherssongs (Roscigno & Danaher 2004; Roy 2002,2010). Musicians, academics, and others cre-ated the genre of folk music in opposition tothose commercial classications and as part ofa project to trace various national musics tothe primordial past; race was especially salientgiven debates over whether the true Americanfolk music was in, say, the English balladsof the mountaineers or the hybrid spiritualssung by slaves (Roy 2002, 2010). Followingthe convoluted history of folk music, by the1960s, educated urbanites in the United States

valorized folk music precisely because it is themusic of common folk, both black and white.The more marginal, humble, and unsophisti-cated the makers of the music, the better forthese enthusiasts (Roy 2002, 2010).We see herean alignment that stands the class system on itshead, with the advantaged identifying with thedisadvantaged.

This past bridging of folk enthusiasts pre-saged a recent trend of bridging that is notablyunfolding in multiple nations. Among thoseDutch with high educational attainment andoccupational prestige, one segment displays anotable fondness for classical music; however,another segment is marked by its passing fa-miliarity with a wide range of musical genresliked by less privileged groups (van Eijck 2001).The latter segments omnivorous tastes compli-cate stratication because, for a socially advan-taged group of listeners, the alignment betweensocial and symbolic boundaries is more het-erologous than Bourdieus argument suggests(Garca-Alvarez et al. 2007). Even in France,recent survey results radically eliminate any at-tempt to map the distribution of musical tastein terms of . . .homology: highbrow is no moremusic of the upper-class than pop music themusic of the lower class (Coulangeon&Lemel2007, pp. 9899). However, these omnivoroustastes in musical genres do not mark the endof stratication by any means. Instead, they ap-pear to represent a new form of currency thatthe advantaged can deploy in highly individ-ualized ways (see Ollivier 2008, Savage 2006,Warde et al. 2008).

Because the groups that are bounded andbridged by music are rarely socially equal, mu-sic plays an important role in sustaining and re-conguring stratication. Not surprisingly, therelationship of music to inequality has been thefocus of some of the theoretically richest andmost widely discussed work in the sociology ofmusic. This work should be of interest, then,to students of stratication because it revealsthe role of what may seem innocuousmusicaltastes and preferencesin helping to create andmark such socially consequential distinctions asrace, gender, and class.


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CONCLUSIONThe sociology of music illuminates how sociol-ogists examine various dimensions of social lifemore generally. From the microsociologicalconcerns of how precognitive interactionshapes the way we relate to each other tothe macrosociological concerns of how socialdistinctions are constituted and reinforced, thesociology of music offers important lessons.Although we can do little more than baldlymake a claim, we would argue that the mostprofound lessons for nonmusic sociology arefound in the distinctive qualities of music.

While musics nonunique qualities are stud-ied by other specializations in sociology (e.g.,its organizational and interactional aspects),probing its unique qualities highlight the taken-for-granted qualities of nonmusical interaction.For example, Bourdieu (1984) explains howit is musics abstract, content-less quality thatmakes it appropriate for cultural capital. Thisinsight has transformed the study of strati-cation to include the ineffable as well as thecountable. Similarly, it was the attribution ofmusic to slaves that abolitionists used to assert

their humanity. Although theChristian contentof spirituals might have boosted the sympathythat white audiences felt for the enslaved, it wasthe act of making music that mitigated the im-age of savagery. Cruz (1999) has described howthe use of music to humanize American slavespresaged a new kind of relationship betweendominant and subordinate groups that he callsethnosympathy: a simultaneous embracing ofand distancing from a group seen as culturallydifferent. Thus, the study of straticationand ethnic relations has benetted from thesociology of music, not when music is treatedlike another form of signication or a vehiclefor lyrical expression, but when it is treated as aspecial kind of activity that people do. Indeed,by answering the four questions listed at theoutset of the paper, we hope to have shown theimport of music for all kinds of sociologists.

We as a discipline are just beginning to de-velop the conceptual and methodological toolsto capture fully the social dynamics of music,but as we make further progress, it will benetthe discipline and the store of human knowl-edge as a whole.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

The authors are not aware of any afliations, memberships, funding, or nancial holdings thatmight be perceived as affecting the objectivity of this review.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This paper benetted greatly from the insightful and helpful comments of others. We thus thankthe following individuals for helping us revise and rene this paper: Ron Aminzade, ClaudioBenzecry, Rogers Brubaker, Tia DeNora, David Grazian, Jenn Lena, Gabriel Rossman, MarcoSantoro, Vaughn Schmutz, Tracy Scott, Tony Seeger, Marc Verboord, and the UCLA Seminaron Theory and Research in Comparative Social Analysis.

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