Music in Everyday Life [Hardcover]

This book shows how music is central to the construction and regulation of everyday life.The power of music in everyday life is widely recognised and this is reflected in social theory from Plato to Adorno that portrays music as an influence on character, social structure and action. This book uses a series of ethnographic studies and in-depth interviews to show how music is a constitutive feature of human agency. Drawing together concepts from psychology, sociology and socio-linguistics it develops a theory of music's active role in the construction of social life and highlights the aesthetic dimension of social order and organisation in modern societies.The power of music in everyday life is widely recognised and this is reflected in social theory from Plato to Adorno that portrays music as an influence on character, social structure and action. This book uses a series of ethnographic studies and in-depth interviews to show how music is a constitutive feature of human agency. Drawing together concepts from psychology, sociology and socio-linguistics it develops a theory of music's active role in the construction of social life and highlights the aesthetic dimension of social order and organisation in modern societies.The power of music in everyday life is widely recognized and this is reflected in social theory from Plato to Adorno that portrays music as an influence on character, social structure and action. This book uses a series of ethnographic studies and in-depth interviews to show how music is a constitutive feature of human agency. Drawing together concepts from psychology, sociology and sociolinguistics it develops a theory of music's active role in the construction of social life and highlights the aesthetic dimension of social order and organization in modern societies.1. Formulating questions - the music and society nexus; 2. Musical affect in practice; 3. Music as a technology of self; 4. Music and the body; 5. Music as a device of social ordering;lC!