The term (musical) ‘taste’ can be described as “The ability to discern what is of good quality or of a high aesthetic standard” (Stevenson, 2010) drawing back to the idea of individuals developing musical preferences. Still ‘taste’ itself often causes controversy not only regarding the clear definition of the terminology that tends to differ in different theories of musicologists and sociologists but also concerning the fundamental understanding of the clear definition of this terminology causes controversy between various theorists Not only does the definition of the word itself cause controversy but also the fundamental understanding of the factors needed to derive at a musical taste.
Firstly, an important theorist that is …show more content…
Based on their social class and their habitus individuals develop a musical taste that is linked to their social class. Whilst Bourdieu distinguishes between the ‘pure’ gaze as a sign for the high class, the “popular aesthetic” (Bourdieu, 1984, p.5) is a sign for the lower classes and a lower quality (Bourdieu, 1984). Peterson develops Bourdieu’s theory further. Whilst adopting between high class and lower class individuals, Peterson puts a greater focus on higher classes ability to open up to a greater amount of genres (1992). Overall his theory already proves that social hierarchy controlling the establishment of taste tends to weaken. This thesis is extended even further following Glevarec’s and Pinet’s theory based on the modern society and its interference with technology (Hargittai, Tepper, 2009) proving that the social hierarchy shifted into a rather openness towards multiple genres, overall only distinguishable by different ages and generations (2009) siehe …show more content…
(1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Frith S. (1987) ‘Towards an aesthetic of popular music’, in Leppert, R. and McClary, S. Music and society: the politics of composition, performance and reception. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 133–155
Glevarec, H. and Pinet, M. (2009) ‘La “tablature” des goûts musicaux: un modèle de structuration des préférences et des jugements’. Revue française de sociologie, vol.50/3, pp.599-640
Grossberg, L. (1992) ‘Is There a Fan in the House? The Affective Sensibility of Fandom’ in Lewis, L.A. The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media. London; New York: Routledge, pp.50-68
Hennion, A. (2004) ‘Pragmatics of Taste’, in Hanrahan, N. and Jacobs, M. The Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Culture. Oxford, Blackwell
Nowak, R. (2016) ‘Ch.4 Musical Taste as Assemblage’, in Consuming Music in the Digital Age: Technologies, Roles and Everyday Life. Palgrave Macmillan UK
Peterson, Richard A. (1992) ‘Understanding Audience Segmentation: From Elite and Popular to Omnivore and Univore’. Poetics vol.21, pp.243-258.
Stevenson, A. (2010) Oxford dictionary of English. 3rd edition. Oxford England; New York: Oxford University