Topics

The details for the course, Studies in Social Problems (SOCY2058), apply to all of the following topics. Specific descriptions for Syllabus and Proposed Assessment that apply to each topic are detailed below.

The Sociology of Popular Music

Syllabus

For most people in Australian society, there would rarely be a day when they do not encounter popular music in some form, whether through voluntarily choosing music to listen to on an iPod or car stereo, going to gigs, or being exposed to it in shops, movies, television shows and commercials. This course aims to provide a theoretical basis for understanding this music sociologically. The course will cover the beginnings of popular music in order to provide a historical background for the music of today and the theories that have been used to ‘explain' it. It will then use case studies of forms of popular music such as punk, rap, heavy metal and ‘pop' to explore the connections between music and society. Music's relationship with youth cultures, moral panics, tastes and social hierarchies will be examined in order to develop an understanding of how and why particular musical forms arise at particular points in time, and why they receive the responses they do. Music's emotional and embodied affects in our everyday lives will also be explored.

Indicative Assessment

To be advised.

The information published on the Study at ANU 2010 website applies to the 2010 academic year only. All information provided on this website replaces the information contained in the Study at ANU 2009 website.