Relationship Between Music and Social Movements

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Introduction

Music plays an important tool in the propagation of a culture as it helps in passing cultural values from one generation to another. However, music tends to be different across cultures, but there are common similarities in that it is used to celebrate cultural traditions, help individuals to identify, connect with other people, and helps in learning the language of the community-associated. Based on this, music is a very big part of every culture and is very diverse. At its basic nature, music is used as a communication tool, through which members of a community uses to share information, ideas, and feelings. Social movements play a great role in supporting social and political goals and thus may be used to carry out, resist, or undo a social or political change. Since music helps in sharing information, ideas, and feelings, it is a crucial component in social movements as it helps establish and maintain collective identity, take advantage of the free space provided by political opportunities, leads to vitalizing of emotions, and help in the establishment and maintenance of social movement culture. 

Summary of the Article:

The article, “Music and Social Movements” by William Danaher evaluates the significance of music in social movements. According to the author, music is a key component of social movements. Based on this, the article goes on to highlight the relationship between music and social movements through various lenses including collective identity, emotions, free space, and social movement culture. Collective identity is developed when groups emerge to seek social change, thus sharing a common ideology, culture, and normative goals. Rituals are used to bolsters social solidarity as they help in creating and maintaining a group’s boundaries. Music plays a crucial role in that it is often part of the ritual interaction that leads to prescribed goals. Music can provide individuals with an alternative framing of an issue and also help in suggesting the course of outcome. Singing helps in bringing people together, thus fostering shared identity.

According to the author, emotions help in establishing collective identity. Emotions are part of all social protests, they have rational and goal-oriented components, and are formed or reformed through participation in collective action. Emotions can help in bringing people together as they aid in developing both in- and out-group boundaries. In the concept of emotions, music plays a crucial role in eliciting emotions from participants of a social movement. For example, the participation of social groups in musical performances and the rhythm of the music have an effect of bringing out emotional reactions among the participants, and also leads to the development of group identity. In addition, the speed and repetition of the rhythm contribute to more intense interactions, and this helps to increase the bonding among the participants of a social movement. Increased bonding means a high emotional connection among the participants.

In regard to free space, the author notes that social movements tend to take advantage of the free spaces developed by political opportunities, allowing the groups to vie for recognition and also fight for social change. The article defines free space as an opening within the society’s framework where people are allowed to criticize the dominant culture within the specified limits. Free space is closely associated with music, as it helps establish performance boundaries, and thus helps groups maintain these boundaries between the dominant and subordinate groups, creating a staging area in which the subordinate groups may criticize or present themselves to sympathetic members of the dominant group. Alternative frames that are presented through music within the free spaces can help the subordinate groups define their identity.

Social movement culture and music are also interrelated in that music helps in promoting the culture of social movements. The author defines social movement culture as the norms and values that define a specific social movement. Social movement culture includes the actors in social movements that are involved in pushing for social change based on certain rules that are meaning-making activities to the group. Music is a cultural resource and is also an important component of social movements. Music acts as a catalyst in creating and enhancing elements of the social movement culture. Lyrics in music are a reflection of the feelings that underly a certain social movement culture beyond individual-level framing important issues, and this makes the lyrics politically important and leads to collective identity. Research on music and social movement can be enhanced by addressing technology ad popular culture.

Rhetorical Appeals Used in the Article

Ethos refers to the establishment of an authority to speak on the subject and therefore seeks to address the credibility of the author. The article provides a brief biographical analysis that can be used to illustrate why the author – William F. Danaher is a credible author. The article presents Danaher as a credible author due to his authority in writing from the subject of the relationship between music and social movement. Danaher is a Professor of Sociology at the College of Charleston. He has won several awards in his career including the best article award from the American Sociological Association’s Sociology of Culture in 2002 for the article “Radio and mobilization of textile workers in the US south, 1929-1934. Danaher has also authored several articles in the field of sociology including “The Voice of Southern Labor: Radio, Music, and Textile Strikes.” Danaher has also authored and published articles in the American Sociological Review, Poetics, American Behavioral Scientist, Sociological Focus, Sociological Spectrum, and the National Science Foundation. Currently, Danaher researches occupational subcultures, work and musicians, and the historical changes in allies between social movements. Danaher holds a BA, MS, and Ph.D. in Sociology from North Carolina State University, and all these make him a credible figure in writing on sociological topics including music and social movements articulated in this article. His sociological articles are targeted sociology students and scholars as well as other people who may be interested in such topics.

Pathos refers to the appeal to emotions, and therefore, it involves persuading the audience by appealing to their emotions. Danaher has used pathos to illustrate the importance of social movements and developing collective identity. According to the article, music can bring about vitalizing emotions to the participants of a social movement. For example, the participation in musical performance and rhythm of the music can result in emotional reactions among the participant, and this leads to the development of group identity. The author states that participants in musical performance engage in intense interactions that employ body movements, gaze direction, and speech as part of the rituals associated with protests. Also, the speed and repetition of the rhythm contribute to intense interactions and this increases bonding among the participants. Based on this, the author gets to persuade the audience that music is good for the soul as it helps in developing emotional attachments and collective meanings.

Logos refer to the appeal to logic, which means developing an argument that appeals to the audience’s sense of logic. There are various instances in the article that Danaher has used logos to persuade the audience on the importance of music in social movements. For example, in the concept of collective identity, the author explains the development of social solidarity (collective identity) which results from the creation and maintaining of group boundaries. According to Danaher, collective identity is formed when groups seeking social change share common ideological, normative, and cultural goals. Also, it arises from ritual events where music can create new meanings or maintain old ones. Apart from providing logical explanations, Danaher provides valid examples to help support his claims in a logical manner. For example, the Civil Rights Movement used the song, “We Shall Overcome,” to help achieve the goals of their movement by giving the movement new meaning. The song proposed overcoming racism and segregation, instilled hope, and maintained solidarity during the active and collective protests. By using logical explanations and examples, the author has achieved appealing to the logic of his audience, illustrating how music was used to give new meanings to social movements.

In conclusion, music has a close relationship with social movements as vehicles for social change as it has been depicted by the four key concepts including collective identity, free space, emotion, and social movement culture. Out of the four key elements, I found collective identity to be the most important evidence. Social movements can be described as groups of people with specific goals to advance in society. Music has been identified as a tool not only for communicating ideas but also has been used by social movements to bolster social solidarity. According to the article, music acts as a ritual that helps create and maintain group boundaries, as it instills specific behaviors that are essential to the achievement of the specified goal. Other than providing specified behaviors, music as part of ritual interaction also provides the social movement with an alternative framing of an issue and also, suggests the course of action. Music gives groups meanings depending on what their social course is, giving them a shared identity because singing can bring people together. For example, in the Course of the Civil Rights Movement, the group used songs such as, “We Shall Overcome,” to advance the course of quality in the United States. Music has remained to be relevant in modern social movements in that punk, rap, and other forms of popular music reflect the disenchantment of a new generation, with musicians inspiring emotions, people expressing themselves such as the LGBTQ, and promoting collective identity including gay, transgender, and bisexual social movement cultures.

References

Danaher, W. F. (2010). Music and social movements. Sociology Compass, 4(9), 811-823.