Music and Society: 2.7 Does social position affect musical taste? An introduction to Bourdieu

This video is part of a Coursera course called Music & Society It is given by Prof. Dr. Marcel Cobussen and Hafez Ismaïli M'Hamdi from Leiden University and the University of the Arts in The Hague.

[djsaeg]

incredible how music afects we the people who probably will never own a house or pay college but we can dance god bless the opressed who created blues reggae jazz funk cumbia salsa and hiphop because there was no other way to releaf the pain and now we all can enjoy this art form from musicians who didnt need to pay music education

[shostycellist]

Music professor here - the problem I have with Bourdieu's ideas on art and music is they come quite close to a sort of cultural determinism. You mentioned it at the beginning when you said that we don't only choose music but music also chooses us and that our identities are shaped, at least partly so, by the forces of society. I think there is a danger in linking one's culture to taste in music in a deterministic way. Keep in mind that 'classical music' has, in the 20th and 21st centuries, broken out of western culture and is quite popular in Asian countries, including those that have been traditionally anti-western such as North Korea. It is also present in mid east societies. We currently have a grad student in our school of music from Iran. We just need to be careful to not tie so directly one's cultural upbringing with taste. All it takes is an open mind and a willingness to listen and learn. And this goes for us regarding music of non-western societies. Perhaps we should say what is needed is 'musical capital'.