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How popular music reshaped high school status networks
One side effect of the rise of popular musicians to media stars, and the displacement of couples dancing by musical performance-watching, was to make music concerts into an alternative gathering place to the arenas dominated by the traditional school elites, the jocks and popular party-goers and stars of the dating market. As popular music consumption became the central identifying point of youth cultures, it also came to support greater pluralism in student status hierarchies, punk and other alternative culture groups acquired their own venues where they could generate their own collective effervescence, dominating in their own emotional attention spaces. Moshers became the leading edge of punk culture, the attention-getters within their chief cultural rituals and gathering places. Not surprisingly, there is strong antagonism between moshers and jocks, their chief counterparts in the use of controlled violence in the conventional youth culture.
That is from Randall Collins, Violence: A Micro-sociological Theory. Here is my previous post on the book. By the way, if you find questions like this interesting, it is yet another reason to watch the TV show Friday Night Lights.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on November 7, 2007 at 11:21 AM in Education | Permalink
Comments
I am glad you are promoting Friday Night Lights. It is an outstanding show. I love your blog, btw!
Posted by: Mario at Nov 7, 2007 11:54:31 AM
Tyler, if you like the TV show (I agree--it's fantastic), you'll love the book that it is based on. The book is actually the true story of the 1988 (not sure if I got that year right) Permian Panthers, written by journalist Buzz Bissinger. It perfectly captures the politics, economics, and social attitudes of west Texas oil country (the setting is Odessa, Texas). It's one of my top three favorite books. And no, you don't have to like or know anything about football to appreciate it.
Posted by: dave at Nov 7, 2007 1:02:52 PM
Odessa, Texas? That's where Claire Bennett is from! Save the cheerleader save the world!
Posted by: jason voorhees at Nov 7, 2007 1:40:27 PM
One of the good ideas expressed in the book Friday Night Lights, is that the Presidential candidate who can look the most comfortable at a high school football game is the one who wins.
It explains Reagan and Clinton perfectly.
Posted by: superdestroyer at Nov 7, 2007 3:54:05 PM
At a Clash concert I attended in 1982, an entire high school football team showed up (or at least all the white players) and wrecked the mosh pit by flattening everybody around them.
The unwritten rule of moshing, at least in LA (where it probably originated, replacing the earlier vertical pogo dancing) circa 1979-1982, was impersonality. Random Brownian motion was the ideal, not picking a victim to slam into, and not taking offense when you got accidentally hit too hard. And, if anybody fell down, you had to stop immediately and help them back up.
Of course, has often been pointed out, moshing was popular among upper middle class white kids whose normal lives were very much under control. Black ghetto kids, whose home lives were uncomfortably like a mosh pit, had zero interest in acting out of control when they were out having fun. They liked to act cool and in control.
Posted by: Steve Sailer at Nov 7, 2007 4:41:50 PM
I think I will have to buy this book.
Posted by: sa at Nov 7, 2007 4:51:50 PM
I can't help it. The term "collective effervescence" makes my eyes roll. It may refer to something real, but the sheer sociology-ness of the phrase makes me want to dismiss it.
Posted by: JasonL at Nov 7, 2007 5:17:27 PM
the punk rockers quickly replicated the social hierarchy of the football/cheerleading axis of evil, you've rarely seen a set that cared so much about minor status identifier (did you buy your DMs/creepers from whomever in london via that paper catalog, or get them too late at nordstrom's, etc.).
as for the mosh pit, little difference between your stereotypical thug skinhead and stereotypical meathead football jock type.
Posted by: dj superflat at Nov 7, 2007 7:34:20 PM
one other thing: this is all about nirvana. pre-nirvana, kids got teased/beat up (depending on where you were in the country) for having funny hair, earings, etc. once nirvana exploded, every frat boy got a tat and an earring, dyed hair, etc. alternative became the norm (you can see this in alt radio which just became the status quo).
just like some bands in the 60s led millions to grow their hair, so too with nirvana leading the masses to be alternative (yes, an inherent contradiction, hence kurt's despair).
so colour me skeptical, says the maroon who hasn't read the book yet.
Posted by: dj superflat at Nov 7, 2007 7:37:50 PM
For those Friday Night Lights fans.
In the first 5 minutes of episode 3..season 2
The short order cook who says "Here's your order Coach, I know that you were in a hurry to get it"
is my former secretary... I am so proud of her...
Posted by: Geoffrey Brand at Nov 7, 2007 10:47:53 PM
For more on the growing heterogeneity of high school cliques, see Grant McCracken, The Politics of Plenitude, 1998.
"In the late 20th century, there has been a quickening "speciation" among social groups. Teens, for example, were once understood in terms of those who were cool and those who weren't. But in a guided tour of mall life a few years ago, I had 15 types of teen lifestyle pointed out to me, including heavy-metal rockers, surfer-skaters, b-girls, goths, and punks. Each of these groups sported their own fashion and listened to their own music. The day of the universally known Top 40 list is gone."
Posted by: Omar Wasow at Nov 8, 2007 3:31:50 AM
Interesting that you would link to Amazon when Friday Night Lights is available for free at nbc.com. Can we assume your commissions on Amazon sales are deviating you from the best interest of your loyal costumers? Should we take that into account on your next must have book recommendation?
Posted by: Phoebe at Nov 8, 2007 8:12:48 AM
As a young person, only a year and half removed from high school, I can definitely see how popular music is used to identify social cliques among teenagers. Kids often hang out with other kids who have similar tastes in music. It’s not something new either. Like mentioned previously, the premise has been around for a long time. There are the popular kids and jocks that are identified by the popular top 40 hit type music, the loners and goth kids who are associated with the hard rock and alternative music, and also those identified with hip hop and rap music, as well as country music. There are other smaller groups as well, and it is not uncommon for several kids go back and forth between groups.
What makes this situation worth looking at is how much it is used to classify groups of people. The media often uses music cliques to segment their teenage audience. They market certain TV shows and movies to certain music related groups. Retail businesses also use this technique to advertise to certain market segments. There are even certain stores in the mall you may associate with certain music cliques – like how the store Hot Topic is often associated with alternative music. Businesses also use high profile musicians in advertisements to get the attention of their fans.
While doing this may be beneficial, businesses could also be missing out. By gearing their movie or clothing to a certain music clique, they could be alienating others, and as a result suffering a loss.
Personally, I don’t think music is the best thing for the media or businesses to use to identify teenagers. While it may be easy, it’s not always cut and dry, and for young people, their music and everything associated with it may ruffle some feathers among the different cliques.
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