A sociological exploration of music taste, cultural consumption and social class

Beethoven or Britney?A sociological exploration of music

taste, cultural consumption and socialclass

Alicia Dunning

Student Number 72813480

B(SocSc) Hons Sociology

40 Credit Dissertation

Supervisor – Dr. Lucy Gibson

Word Count = 12, 982

Abstract

This study examines one of the most debated topics in the

sociology of culture: Does music taste affirm one’s class? Using

Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of “habitus” and “cultural capital”

against Richard Peterson’s theory of the “cultural omnivore”, I

aim to investigate whether a difference can be identified in music

tastes and consumption between people from different social

classes. I build on the works of the Centre for Research on Socio-

Cultural Change (CRESC) and the data collected in their “Cultural

Capital and Social Exclusion project” (2003-2004). As much of the

debate in this area falls on the subjectivity of musical genres, I

conducted a study using music elicitation to build on the current

debates whilst incorporating the active listening experience. I

conducted two focus groups consisting of participants from either

a working class background or a middle class background and

compared the data collected from the two groups. The findings

suggest that music taste is heavily influenced by social

background and early socialisation and thus disputes Peterson’s

omnivore theory. They also indicate that these differences have

little influence on consumption levels.

72813480 II

Acknowledgements

I would firstly like to thank Professor Carol Smart for all of her

help and guidance as an academic advisor and lecturer over the

past three years; she has been a true inspiration. I would also

like to thank Professor Mike Savage for his correspondence during

the early stages of the study and helping me gain a better grasp

of the related body of literature. Furthermore I am very grateful

to Dr. Modesto Gayo-Cal who helped my understandings of omnivore

theory and the works of CRESC. I would like to thank him

particularly for his generosity and willingness to help despite no

longer living or researching in this country. As with all aspects

of my life I’d also like to thank my mum Debbie, and Boyfriend

Phil for their love and support. Finally, and mostly I would like

to thank Dr. Lucy Gibson. Her help and guidance as a supervisor72813480 III

has been more than I could have asked for. The support which she

provided has been remarkable and I feel I owe her a great deal for

helping me get through this final year at University.

Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………....Page 1

Literature Review…………………………………………………………….…….Page 3

72813480 IV

Research

Questions.........................................................

...............................Page 11

Methodology…………………………………………………...…………..…....….Page 12

Findings and

Discussion........................................................

.........................Page 20

Chapter One: Identifying Music Taste..………….……………....……….Page

22

Chapter Two: To what extent does music taste affirm one’s

class?.....Page 26

Chapter Three: Cultural Consumption.…..……………………………....Page 30

Chapter Four: Existing theory and everyday lives..……...

……………...Page 34

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….…….Page 37

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………...Page 39

Appendix…………………………………………………………………………....Page 45]

72813480 V

72813480 VI

Introduction

There is much debate surrounding culture within the discipline of

sociology, particularly when it influences social difference.

Social class is perhaps the most widely studied and documented of

all social differences and has some of the earliest sociological

origins (Marx 1848, Simmel 1859). The combination of study between

social class and culture is therefore not new territory, however,

new and contemporary debates (Bourdieu 1984, Peterson 1992,

Bennett et al 2010) in this field keep interest remaining high.

This study has focused specifically on music tastes as it has

regularly been documented as “the most divided, contentious

cultural field” (Bennett et al 2010:75) and particularly in

debates on social class. Bourdieu wrote in his 1984 publication

Distinction; “Nothing more clearly affirms one’s class, nothing more

infallibly classifies, than taste in music” (1984:16-18), this is

a key foundation of music taste and social class debates and one

which has heavily influenced this study. My personal interest in

the topic has led to the selection of literature and choice of

debate. I feel being an individual from a working class background

but living in a typically middle class situation, whilst at

university, has led to my interest in this study. I also wished to

explore some of the assumptions which I held before attending

university which have since been questioned regarding social class

difference.

This study will outline the key theoretical debates within the

field of music taste and social class, and put forth the three72813480 1

main contributors to contemporary debates. The first of these will

be the works of Bourdieu, particularly his theories on ‘habitus’

and ‘cultural capital’ and how this leads to different music

tastes between the working classes and the middle classes. The

second will be the works of Peterson and his theories of “cultural

omnivore”, an individual does not distinguish between highbrow and

lowbrow music, but instead listens to all genres of music without

prejudice. The third and most recent are those from the

sociologists at the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change

(CRESC), who conducted a contemporary British version of

Bourdieu’s study and found similar findings, thus dispute the

omnivore theory. CRESC found that much of the data on culture,

consisting of both music tastes and cultural consumption use

quantitative research methods, including the data collected by

Peterson. CRESC found this problematic as “many quantitative

studies use only a few indicators of music taste” (Bennett et al

2010:77) which therefore limits the data. Continuing from their

line of thought I decided to conduct a qualitative piece of

research which incorporated the use of music and the listening

experience, which is something which CRESC failed to do in their

data collection. This study will firstly outline the literary

background of this topic of study and the relevant debates which

informed the research questions. The research questions for this

study are as follows:

Can differences be identified in music tastes between

people from a working class background and those from an

upper/middle class background?

72813480 2

Do different social classes access/consume music

differently?

How do existing social theories and debates of the

relationship between music and social class relate to

the lives of the participants?

"Nothing more clearly affirms one's class, nothing more

infallibly classifies, than tastes in music" (Bourdieu,

1984, pp. 16-18). Is this quote still relevant today?

I will then outline the research methods used to conduct the

study, alongside their strengths and weaknesses. The findings and

discussion section of the study will be divided into four chapters

centred around the four main research questions and with reference

to the key literary topics. The study will also include findings

which do not necessarily fit within the chosen debates but are

relevant within the topic field and may indicate a point of

interest for further study. The study will be concluded alongside

a critical reflection and the answers which have been found to the

research questions.

72813480 3

Literature Review

The topic of social class is one which has been extensively

studied within the discipline of sociology; primarily through

theoretical assumptions of class based inequality. There is a

distinct limitation in the idea that class only exists as a way to

measure inequality. This study aims to explore social class with

no explanation of class exploitation, but as a concept which is

derived from a difference in lifestyles. Therefore the study has

been focused around selected literature which illustrates specific

debates within the field and focuses on certain elements of the

theory available. Music taste and consumption is the medium chosen

to explore such difference. The review on literature for this

topic will begin by acknowledging the classical origins of social

class and the introduction of culture studies, particularly music,

as a way to investigate class difference. It will then move on to

outline the three main arguments within current debates on music

taste and social class. The first of these arguments deriving from

the works of Bourdieu (1979); also offering critique of his theory

and some more recent studies which offer similar arguments.

Arguments towards the “death of class” will then be explored and

how this has impacted on modern theories of music taste. This

leads on to the second argument within the debate; omnivore

theory. Looking primarily at Peterson’s (1992, 1996 and 2005)

theories. Again offering critique both on the theory and the

methodological issues of his studies. The final argument within

72813480 4

the debate, and the most recent, is that by the centre of research

on socio-cultural change (CRESC). The main theorists of the centre

(Bennett, Gayo-Cal, Savage, Warde) conducted a large scale

investigation similar to that of Bourdieu but in contemporary

Britain. They offer critique and support of both Bourdieu and

aspects of omnivore theory as well as methodological insights into

the study of culture.

Classical Theory

Although there are many contemporary pieces of literature relating

to social class and music taste it is necessary to first

illustrate the classical pieces which influenced contemporary

thought. Veblen’s (1899) theory of “conspicuous consumption”,

Simmel’s (1859) theory of “sociological impressionism” and Weber’s

(1978) theory of “status” all illustrate early thoughts on social

class. Within classical theory, Karl Marx has provided the most

influential analysis of social class. Marx studied society as a

social construction created upon ideologies. He defined class and

class relations as “the name for a certain type of structural

social relation that is framed within the field of economy and the

relations of subordination that arise from it.” (Morrison,

2006:57). He studied social class only as a form of inequality

rather than as a concept used to illustrate social difference.

Marx’s work focused on industrial society which was based around

production. However, modern capitalist society is one of consumer

consumption; thus it could be argued the works of Marx are out

dated and potentially inapt.

The Frankfurt School, who were founded approximately 35 years

after the death of Karl Marx, have influenced social science

studies of culture. They adapted Marxist accounts and related them72813480 5

to consumerism. Adorno and Horkheimer paid particular attention to

popular culture and the “function” of music. They argued popular

culture creates a self which is “a monopoly commodity determined

by society” and is “falsely represented as natural” (1947:154).

Thus suggesting that there is no individuality amongst the masses.

Adorno defined a difference between “serious” music which the

bourgeoisie enjoyed and the popular music enjoyed by the masses.

Adrono (1991) claimed the bourgeoisie used music and culture to

dominate and oppress the lower classes. He maintained “serious”

music to the bourgeoisie was a form of art and had to be separated

from the masses to preserve it from becoming a meaningless form of

entertainment. Schoenberg demonstrated this when he stated “If it

is art, then it is not for all. And if it is for all, then it is

not art.” (1946:124).

The works of The Frankfurt School have been met with much

criticism. One critic is Longhurst et al (2005) who disputes

Adorno’s claims of standardization and meaningless entertainment

for the masses. He argues “Adorno’s analysis is a challenge to

those who seek to recognise some value in pop music” (2007:3). He

finds difficulty in the perception that the only function of

popular music is to create a sense of escapism; used to influence

the masses into accepting the status quo. He disputed arguments

which suggest the function of music is to affirm the norms and

values of mass society, and create a society of docile workers and

consumers; believing this removes the possibility of individual

agency. Martin (2006) furthers this critique suggesting Adorno and

Horkheimer’s studies illustrate their own elitism. He explores

their perception of the “degradation of consciousness brought

about by mass culture; a fate which only they are able to resist”

72813480 6

(2006:56). He further criticises Adorno’s critical theories for

being theoretically inadequate and empirically dubious.

Despite such criticism, there are recent studies who support and

offer findings similar to those of Adorno and Horkheimer (Subotnik

1991, Paddison 1993, Scott 2000, Middleton 1990). Scott who

explores the rise of “sociomusicologists” (2000:17); shows

interest in Adorno’s works and argues most study into research and

class look at how music adds to the dominant ideology, subordinate

social groups and subcultures who rebel. He shows agreement with

Adorno towards the manipulation of the masses through the culture

industry but also offers that “music’s social function may diverge

from the social meaning it embodies” (2000:120). Middleton (1990)

uses specific references within popular music to explore Adorno’s

findings. He argues how the use of John Lennon’s “imagine” for a

conservative party conference illustrates songs built upon the

same foundations can be manipulated to illustrate either bourgeois

‘individualism’ or working class ‘collectivism’. Such contemporary

studies illustrate the importance of classical theory and how it

still as relevance today. These classical theories have been used

within this study to lay the foundations of the debate which will

follow.

The modern debate – Cultural Consumption

Bourdieu is undoubtedly the single most important sociologist of

lifestyle. Although much of his work has been controversial, it is

internationally important and has produced many empirical studies.

The first of his influential theories is that of ‘habitus’ which

is the “product of the internalisation of the structures”

(Bourdieu 1989:18). It is essentially a set of embodied and

internalised habits which affect an individual’s way of behaving72813480 7

in the social world; it is deeply ingrained within the individual

and feels ‘natural’. This is a false feeling, similar to the

‘self’ perceived by Adorno (above) through the function of music

in popular culture. Bourdieu also introduced the more complex

theory of field which is;

“a structured system of social positions-occupied either by

individuals or institutions- the nature of which defines the

situation for their occupants. It is also a system of forces,

which exist between these positions; a field is structured

internally in terms of power relations. Positions stand in

relationship of domination, subordination and equivalence to each

other by virtue of the access they afford to the goods and

resources”. (Jenkins 1992: 85)

The “goods and resources” that Jenkins refers to are defined by

Bourdieu as “capital” (1984:80). Capital is the term used for

assets which an individual has at their disposal to use in their

competitive field. There are several forms of capital; economic,

social, symbolic and most relevant to this study, cultural.

Cultural capital represents the dispositions one has through

socialisation, for example one’s beliefs and opinions towards

music genres. It is also the factor which influences consumption

of cultural goods; Bourdieu argues capital is unequally

distributed and people in privileged positions are the ones who

inherit capital. Bourdieu argues that the combination of these

three factors is why different social classes experience and enjoy

music differently.

Many have criticised Bourdieu’s works as time and context

dependent (Calhoun 1993, Holt 1997). As a result more recent72813480 8

sociologists (Browning and Crossley 2001, Savage et al 1992,

Lamont 1992) have conducted research into this area. Through

Bourdieu’s multidimensional approach, such sociologists have been

able to incorporate many new methods; including mapping methods

such as “multiple correspondence analysis” and with this research

“music elicitation”. Wilensky (1964) also criticised Bourdieu for

inferring high status implies snobbery and an aversion to popular

culture; as he found nearly all highly educated people is the US

regularly enjoyed forms of popular culture and not just “high-

brow” culture. This is similar to the findings of Lamont (1992)

who argued highly educated people in the US have cultural

sophistication but also include mainstream culture, but in Europe

there is a preference to remain culturally exclusive; linking back

to the previous quote by Schoenberg (1946).

Although Bourdieu has come under a great deal of criticism; he has

also been highly praised for his work. Rather like Veblen,

Bourdieu emphasised the power of snobbery, though in pursuit of

its own Kantian cultural values, and not wealth. He argued the

cultivated have their own habitus which puts them at a privileged

position rather than following the scholastic perspective; which

sees those from a working class background as ‘simple’. He is also

praised for his links of modern cultural consumption and personal

social status (Van Eijck 2001 and 1997, De Graaf and De Graaf

1988). His theories illustrate how education and family background

are the best predictors of participation in the arts. Similar

studies (Di Maggio and Mahr 1985, Ganzemboom 1989) show how people

with higher educational and occupational status are most likely to

visit museums, the theatre and classical concerts. Thus

socialisation can be seen as a major predictor of cultural

consumption, and in this case taste in music. The works of72813480 9

Bourdieu have therefore been chosen in this study to represent one

side of the debate on music taste and social class, one which

argues music taste is determined by social class and the “capital”

inherited through early socialisation.

The death of class

Since the 1980’s, Thatcherism and sociologists (Pakulski and

Waters 1996, Beck 2007) have proclaimed a “death of class”. They

put forth that deindustrialisation has led to the decline of

“working class” communities and industries. Also that growing

visibility of identity politics has led to a more equal society;

particularly in the realms of ethnicity, class and sexuality etc.

These proclamations are problematic; they illustrate historical

short sightedness in the belief that there was a “collective

working class identity” which saw itself as a movement of the

working classes (Mckibbin 1984, Lawrence and Wishart 1979). They

also imply that class consciousness is diminished but class

inequality has not. Although this research is not exploring class

inequality as such these are relevant criticisms none the less.

Claims like those above suggest that the works of Bourdieu are no

longer applicable to society and centre on new theories of agency

rather than structure; for example the individualisation thesis

(Giddens 1992, Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 1995). This is an entirely

new debate but one which has been mentioned as it disputes the

importance of socialisation; which is the foundation of all

Bourdieu’s theories. The debates which will follow do not

necessarily follow this line of thought but do illustrate a

greater importance on individual agency as opposed to the power of

structure.

The rise of the omnivore72813480 10

A major new theory into this field is that of the omnivore,

introduced by Peterson (1992, 1996, 2005). It is an increasingly

influential argument which suggests that the educated middle

classes are moving away from Bourdieu’s “snobbish” high culture

and becoming cultural omnivores; where they embrace a variety of

high, middle and low brow tastes. It has become an important

argument as it resonates with claims about post-modernism and the

“death” of status and cultural capital. It also has a great deal

of methodological importance as it has been used to illustrate how

large scale survey methods can be used to investigate lifestyle.

Peterson and Simkus’ (1992) study found that people from higher

status groups tend to appreciate more musical genres than lower

status groups. Their music taste structure is completely different

to that created by Bourdieu as their study demonstrates a reverse

pyramid. “The wide base at the top represents the broad taste (the

relatively large number of genres appreciated) of members of

higher status groups, whereas the apex at the bottom represents

the restricted, univorous taste of the lower-status group” (Van

Eijck 2001:1165). In Peterson and Kern’s 1996 study they found

that only 3% of the participants out of 11,321 defined themselves

as highbrow; therefore liking only classical and operatic music

and defining one of these as their favourite. They generally found

that people who liked classical music also appreciated middlebrow

and lowbrow genres also.

One of the main criticisms faced by Peterson has been the

interpretation of his findings (Longhurst et al 2003). The

findings are interpreted on an individual level even though the

results were collected as a large scale sample. A further

criticism can be located by Bryson (1996) her study “anything but

heavy metal” focused on dislikes and found that there are some72813480 11

musical genres which those from a middle class background do not

venture into. She also found symbolic racism within this study

where stereotyping of ‘others’ involved distaste of their music

and rejection of their culture. Stereotyping of musical culture

is an area of study which has been scarcely explored and something

which will later be touched upon in this study. Robinson (1993)

also found that there were some genres of music which were

unflavoured by those of a higher status. He focused on those with

a higher educational status and found that although they were

willing to embrace many types of music they were not willing to

embrace country music. There has also been dispute over the term

“omnivore” (Warde et al 2007) as it has been argued to be vague in

definition as there can be many reasons for one to be omnivorous.

This theory has been used within this study as it offers an

alternative approach to that of Bourdieu. The omnivore theory

explores contemporary consumerism and the potential for a

classless society; this is something strongly opposed by the works

of Bourdieu and something which is extremely relevant to the

central debate for this study.

Bourdieu versus Peterson

Although it would appear that Bourdieu and Peterson stand opposed

to one another, there are particular aspects of each theory which

are linked. Van Eijck (2001:1166) explores opinions on how

“Peterson’s notion of passing knowledge is based on Bourdieu’s

homology thesis”. He continues to explain how genres are

representative of social situations or ‘fields’ and people

appreciate new types of music by socialising with people from

other fields and experiencing their associated genre of music, by

way of homology. Although this opinion has been greatly criticised

72813480 12

(Frith 2001) with suggestions that the passing of knowledge is

through the mass media; so familiarity with music genres is not

necessarily a result of a familiarity with the field from whence

they came. Thus “music taste cannot be explained as a consequence

of belonging or wanting to belong” (Van Eijck 2001:1166). In this

sense the two theories have become linked through criticism. This

is important as it illustrates that the two theories within the

debate are not completely opposed to one another and there are

areas of similarity. Thus highlighting a third theory within the

debate, that will now be explored in more detail.

New patterns of cultural consumption

The Centre of research on Socio – cultural change (CRESC) has

contributed greatly to the study of musical taste and social

difference. The key sociologists from this centre of research have

published numerous books, articles and papers (Bennett et al 2010,

Savage and Gayo-Cal 2009, Warde and Gayo-Cal 2009) on the debates

of musical taste and social class. The specific focus of much of

their research has been to test Bourdieu’s theory by “analysing

the social aspects of cultural practise in contemporary Britain as

extensively and systematically as possible” (Bennett et al

2010:1). All of the sources from CRESC in this section refer to

data collected in the “Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion

project” (2003-2004) which have been interpreted many times to

locate information about all areas of culture. The study was a

large scale study in Britain and created as a replica to that of

Bourdieu (1984), it included both quantitative surveys and

qualitative focus groups and household interviews. This piece of

research has been conducted based on much of the CRESC findings

and with the aim of adding to the findings qualitative results

72813480 13

based around the active listening experience and engaging with

pieces of music. Since their studies are the most recent they have

also had the opportunity to include omnivore debate within their

findings, making their research projects particularly important to

this study. Their studies show how the omnivore “has almost no

resonance amongst qualitative researchers in cultural sociology”

(Savage and Gayo-Cal 2009:3) and argue “that music taste thereby

remains highly socially loaded and differentiated” (Savage and

Gayo-Cal 2009:4). This illustrates how many of the findings from

the CRESC studies have a bourdieuian, approach which emphasise a

close relationship between cultural taste and social hierarchy.

They dispute that social class is no longer relevant but agree

with arguments suggesting that the language of class has instead

been muted (Fairclough 2000, Steinberg and Lerner 2004). This is

problematic for studies into the area as it becomes an

uncomfortable topic for discussion. The CRESC data is particularly

relevant for this study as it looks at genres of music and how

subjective this is. Holt (1998) furthers this point as he suggests

it is not enough to simply ask about genres of music but also

about specific works and practises of consumption. This is

something which was followed up by the 2003-2004 projects as

Bennett et al argue:

“we cannot be sure that respondents have similar understandings of

what music is entitled in particular genres, and we probably don’t

know if people who don’t like genres genuinely don’t like them, or

have not heard them” (2010:78)

This is also something which was considered during this study and

so participants were asked to write down which genre they thought

a song belonged to whilst it was playing and then discussed each

72813480 14

other’s opinions later in the focus group session1. Generally the

findings from the CRESC projects demonstrate disagreements with

much of the omnivore theory and although remaining critical find

that Bourdieu’s theory of “cultural capital” is still present it

contemporary society. They also suggest social class is no longer

more significant than other social differences such as age.

Conclusion

The literature on the topic of music taste and social class until

the late 1980’s focused primarily around social inequality.

However, new debates illustrate an importance of social difference

which is not necessarily bound in class exploitation. The research

to follow will be conducted along the same pattern as the modern

literature but taking into consideration all of the concepts

explored above. Although Bourdieu’s theories centre on class

inequality, they will be explored as concepts which define social

class. It will not be explained how or why cultural capital and

habitus can be used for class exploitation, but whether it is

something which is still present in music taste today. The

literature above has informed the research questions which the

study will be developed upon and the themes from which the data

will be analysed. The research to follow will therefore be used to

explore the key debate outlined above, whether social class is

still prevalent in society and if this can be identified through

music taste. The research will explore the idea of music taste

based on socialisation and habitus; developing omnivore attitudes

and the importance of the diversity of music and the defining of

genres including their related fan bases.

1 Focus groups sessions are explored in greater detail in methodology section. 72813480 15

Research Questions

Following the review on literature concerning social class and

music taste, several research questions where identified. Overall,

this research aims to provide answers to the following key

research questions:

Can differences be identified in music tastes between

people from a working class background and those from an

upper/middle class background?

Do different social classes access/consume music

differently?

How do existing social theories and debates of the

relationship between music and social class relate to

the lives of the participants?

"Nothing more clearly affirms one's class, nothing more

infallibly classifies, than tastes in music" (Bourdieu,

1984, pp. 16-18). Is this quote still relevant today?

72813480 16

Methodology

Following the debate outlined by the literature of whether there

are social class differences in music (Adorno 1990, Bourdieu 1985,

CRESC 2009), or whether we have become a society of omnivores

(Peterson 2005, Peterson and Kern 1996), I decided to conduct an

investigation of my own; this had to be on a small scale due to

time and financial restraints. Luckily, there has been extensive

research into many aspects of culture over recent years by CRESC,

particularly relating to music taste. Their contemporary British

replica of Bourdieu’s study has generated both quantitative and

qualitative insights into the field and provided me with a

substantial base to build upon. I felt that the one feature which

their research lacked was the physical act of listening to music

and using this as an investigative tool. As a result of this I

decided the most effective way in which my research could add to

72813480 17

the debate would be to use the qualitative method, music

elicitation. By conducting my research in this way I was able to

add to the debate findings from the epistemological position of an

interpretivist, by which I mean I was able to provide an insight

and understanding into the topic through the interpretations of

those who experience it. I felt the best way to do this was to use

2 focus groups; one consisting of participants from a working

class background and the second consisting of participants from a

middle/upper class background. Each focus group had two females

and one male, all aged 18-21 and all white. The aim of this was to

remove other potential variables such as gender and race.

Sampling

I used snowball sampling to locate my participants. When using

this approach to sampling “the researcher makes initial contact

with a small group of people who are relevant to the research

topic and then uses these to establish contacts with others.”

(Bryman 2008:184). I used students from my course at University to

recommend their friends for my middle class focus group. I used

work colleagues from home to recommend their friends for my

working class focus group. I did not wish the participants to know

that they were being selected due to their class background and so

asked my contacts to simply recommend several friends who they

felt would be willing to participate. This was based on the

assumption that people form friendships based around commonalities

(Adams and Allan 1998) and so I hoped that as the person which I

contacted met the criteria for the sample that they would have

friends who did also. By conducting my sample in this way it was

“in no sense ‘random’” (Becker 1963:46) and as such is not72813480 18

representative of the whole population. However, I felt this was

the most appropriate way to find participants who would be

suitable for the study and that this limitation was not as

important as “external validity and the ability to generalize do

not loom as large within qualitative research” (Bryman 2008:185).

Determining Social Class

The main obstacle of choosing this form of data collection was

when specifying the sample. Social class is subjective and

definitions vary greatly between individuals. In order to overcome

this I requested all potential participants to complete a short

survey.2 The survey asked one direct question about the

participant’s social class and several questions about the

participant’s background. The participants were asked to answer

which social class they felt most suited to and were given

multiple choice options. The survey also asked open questions

about the participant’s occupation and living situation, as well

as the occupation of their parents. By using this survey I was

able to generate a sample not only consisting of participant’s who

believed they were working/middle class, but also who’s background

fitted the academic definitions of each social class. I used a

selection of studies conducted by Goldthorpe (1972, 1992, and

1997) as the source for academic definitions. I chose to use

Goldthorpe as his studies, much like my own “imply no theory of

class exploitation […] and from which the objective basis for a

‘critical’ economics and sociology can be directly obtained”

(1992:383). I also used “The ESRC Review of Government Social

Classifications” found via the office of National Statistics. I

2 Surveys are located in appendix.72813480 19

felt the combination of sociological definitions, official

government definitions and the participants own perception of

social class provided me with the most suitable participants for

comparison. However, I do recognise that even with these points of

reference the social classes assigned to the individuals could

still be disputed or rejected altogether by theorists who argue

there is no longer a social class divide. Such theorists would

include Holton and Turner who argued that “class idiom is

explicable more in terms of the metaphorical character than any

clear intellectual persuasiveness”(1989:196).

I did not wish to inform the participants that the focus groups

were divided into social class as I wanted to remove bias based on

stereotypes and pre-conceptions; this became a significant

limitation for the use of the surveys. I chose to not disclose the

true nature of the surveys to the participants, and informed them

that the surveys were simply to provide me with some background

knowledge. I had used non-relevant questions in the survey also so

that the nature of the study would not be apparent. Therefore

deception was a major ethical issue which occurred during my

research. Bulmer offers the argument that “it is unethical for

sociologists to deliberately misrepresent the character of the

research in which he is engaged” (1992:10). However, he also

questions this when arguing “the prime objective of sociology

should be the search for the truth” (1992:10). This is a dilemma

which I found myself in. I attempted to be as honest as possible

in my approach; I outlined to the participants what aspects of

music and culture I was interested in and that I was using two

comparative focus groups. However, I deceived my participants by

72813480 20

not informing them that they had been selected for their social

class. This is in some ways a breach of the ethical concerns of my

study. However, I felt this was the only way to remove bias from

the study, both from the participants and researcher bias as my

social class would then become a point of interest.

Focus Groups

I chose to use focus groups as a way of generating comparable

data. This seemed appropriate as they offer the opinions and

experiences of several people from the same background at the same

time. Bryman (2008:475) argues “the focus group has become a

popular method for researchers examining the ways in which people

in conjunction with one another construe the general topics in

which the researcher is interested.” This is precisely the reason

why I chose to use focus groups within my study. There are,

however, limitations when using focus groups. Such limitations

have been outlined by Bloor (2001:36) who suggests “ensuring

individuals attend the focus group is a particular problem for the

focus group researcher”. This is a problem which I came across

during my research; on several occasions I had to re-arrange the

focus group with little notice as one or more of the participants

had to cancel. Bloor’s solution to this is to recruit more

participants. I felt planning in advance and being as flexible as

possible helped me overcome this. Although in the focus group of

participants from a middle class background I did have to recruit

a new participant as one of the original participants had to drop

out of the study completely. Bloor also outlines how “participant

over-disclosure may be a problem in focus groups drawn from pre-

existing groups, compared to those drawn from strangers”72813480 21

(2001:91). Each of the focus groups in my study consisted of two

females who knew each other but not me and one male who was

unknown to both the females and me.

I felt that the relationships within the groups affected the

dynamics of the sessions. In both groups the females who had a

pre-existing relationship dominated much of the discussions and

often interrupted each other and spoke over each other, this can

be seen below from an extract from the first session with the

participants from a middle class background:

This may be a result of the pre-existing relationship and

illustrates how comfortable each of the females felt around each

other. It could also be seen as indicative of gender differences

as neither of the males challenged or attempted to speak over any

of the females at any point. I did find, however, that the pre-

existing relationships generated discussion points and references

deriving from their shared experiences, for example in the second

session with the focus group from a working class background:

In this example the participant is referring to her employer, as

Holly works with Fay she understands the reference and agrees and

72813480 22

“Bobby: Aw no I’ve not seen them, I would like

Emma: (interrupting) she would like tothough

“Fay: yeah it’s probably Clive of aweekend, just off out to shoot a fox andthen I’ll put the tea on

(Both Fay and Holly laugh)”

as a result the two share a private joke which alienates both the

male participant Karl, and me. Therefore, earlier criticisms made

by Bloor (2001) and some of the negative aspects of using

participants with a pre-existing relationship are illustrated. The

positives which were derived from this, however, I felt outweighed

the negatives as the relationship created a more lively

discussion, a warmer atmosphere and aided the flow of the

discussions.

Music elicitation

Allett (2010:2) argues that music elicitation can be involved in

“any research situation where music is played in an attempt to

gain thicker description and further data on a particular

theme/area or to fuel a discussion”. I therefore chose to use this

method within the focus group sessions rather than discuss the

music in an interview format. It provided a vital role in

generating a “conversation with a purpose” (Burgess, 1984:102).

The first session consisted of music chosen by the participants;

one piece which they felt best described their music taste and one

piece which had particular meaning to them. During the second

session eight pieces of music were played, there were four genres

of music used to generate discussion and two pieces of music used

to represent each genre.3 The music genres selected for session two

were selected in response to several works by CRESC (Bennett et al

2010, Savage and Gayo-Cal 2009, Gayo-Cal and Warde 2009) and

Lahire (2008). The CRESC “Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion

project” (2003-2004) had used music genres to question individuals

about their music taste and so I explored their descriptions of3 Lists of music played during focus group sessions can be found in the appendix.

72813480 23

genres and the musical pieces they assigned to each genre. Lahire

offered a sociological exploration and definition of music genres

and so I also used this as a reference point. I felt it was also

necessary to use references outside of the discipline of sociology

and so the pieces I chose for each genre were selected with

reference to music distributors such as iTunes, HMV and Play.com.

A major limitation of using music elicitation is that the

researcher becomes a mediator, rather than in an interview where

the researcher drives the study or in a survey where the

researcher specifies what they wish to know. To overcome this I

played the musical pieces in a particular order and created a list

of topics and questions which I wished to cover during the

sessions. I felt music elicitation was appropriate for my study as

it enhanced the interview procedure by providing a focus and a

starting point to the discussion. It also provided a quick access

route to the participant’s ability to compare and contrast music

tastes. Allett (2010:1) argues “music is an under explored

resource for social research” and is a “unique medium” due to the

revealing nature of the listening experience. I felt the positives

of gaining rich data with this approach outweighed the limitations

of holding less control over the course of the session. The part

of mediator also reduces researcher bias within this scenario as

it allowed me to gently guide discussions to cover my chosen

topics. By using this technique I was provided with a powerful

tool within the sessions for drawing out the participants true

feelings towards music.

72813480 24

Thematic analysis

The idea of thematic analysis “is to construct an index of central

themes and subthemes” which is “the product of thorough reading

and re-reading of the transcripts” (Bryman 2008:554). I devised

several themes from the literature and explored the transcripts

for these themes. These included:

Music taste - genre likes and dislikes

access/consumption of music

fan ‘credentials’ and genre associations

music in everyday life

class comparisons and assumptions

I also read the transcripts to investigate whether there were any

new themes which had developed which were not apparent in the

previous literature. I found that stereotyping of music fans was a

prominent theme throughout both focus groups and a theme which I

had not anticipated. In conducting the analysis in this way I

chose a deductive approach to view the relationship between the

theory and research. Therefore generating research conducted with

reference to the hypotheses and ideas inferred from the theory.

Fereday (2006:91) argues data found through identifying themes by

one person can be problematic. The process allows for consistency

within the method but fails to provide multiple perspectives from

a variety of people with differing expertise. To improve the

validity of the research the data could be devised using the

themes developed using discussions with many researchers, a panel

of experts and possibly the participants. Boyatzis further argues

72813480 25

the limitations of this approach as often researchers use thematic

analysis at the early stages of inquiry into a phenomenon.

Therefore “the researcher’s own bias will probably determine the

type of organisation sought but if thematic analysis is part of a

later stage, earlier research will have an impact on whether

conceptual or empirical clusters are used.” (1998: 137). I feel

that my research was conducted based on a body of research which

was already available4 and therefore the thematic analysis used is

part of the later stage of inquiry into this phenomenon.

There are general limitations to the use of any qualitative

methods; these tend to be centred on reliability and validity.

Guba and Lincoln (1994) argue that the criteria for this form of

critique refer mainly to quantitative research, where they were

developed. Mason (1996) also argues that the criteria to assess

qualitative study should differ from that of quantitative. She

argues testing qualitative research for reliability is problematic

as it relies upon small samples which cannot be generalised across

all social settings. As such she puts more importance on internal

validity and “whether you are observing, identifying or

‘measuring’ what you say you are” (1996:24). In this case I feel I

have met the criteria of internal validity within my research,

particularly through the use of thematic analysis.

Ethical concerns

As with all research there were ethical issues which had to be

taken into consideration. As previously mentioned deception is one

4 See literature review.72813480 26

issue which I encountered. I also recorded all focus group

sessions and so gained full consent from all participants before

recording began5. I informed all participants that they had the

right to withdraw at any point and the right to refuse to

contribute to any discussions which they felt uncomfortable with.

It was also made known that the participants would remain

anonymous and that pseudo names would be provided to ensure this.

I used the British Sociological Association (BSA) ethical

guidelines to ensure i complied with the recommended procedures.

Conclusion

My research design was used primarily as a way to add to recent

debates and build on the current body of literature surrounding

music taste and social class. As a relatively untouched research

method music elicitation allowed me to contribute findings

regarding music taste, which included the active experience of

listening to music, which has yet to be done in this field of

study. The following discussion will therefore illustrate how my

findings relate to the body of literature already discussed by

exploring the key themes which I used to analyse my data in

relation to the research questions designed for the study.

5 Example consent form can be found in the appendix. 72813480 27

72813480 28

Findings and Discussion

In this section I will aim to answer the previously stated

research questions. I will use examples and extracts taken from

the focus group sessions for both sets of participants as evidence

of my findings. I will also be relating my findings to the body of

literature outlined in the literature review. The names of all

participants have been changed. Within this study I do not aim to

generalise to the wider population all statements only directly

refer to my sample frame.

The first focus group consisted of participants from a working

class background, they were:

Fay = 21 year old female, works full time on a butchers in Widnes

Market and lives at home with parents. Her highest qualifications

are school level GCSE’s. Her mother works on the same butchers and

her father works in a chemical factory.

Holly = 20 year old female, works full time on a Butchers in

Widnes Market and lives with her partner, who’s occupation is as

an electrician. Her highest qualifications are school level

GCSE’s. Her mother works in a call centre and her father is

currently out of work.

Karl = 21 year old male, currently in his final year as an

apprentice for bricklaying and lives at home with his parents and

partner. His highest qualifications will be in bricklaying when he

completes his training, in 2011, he also has GCSE’s. His mother

works is a cleaner and his father is a ‘bin man’/ waste management

worker, his partner works full time in a call centre.

72813480 29

The second focus group consisted of participants from a middle

class background, they were:

Bobby = 21 year old female, full time undergraduate student living

with friends at university. Her highest qualifications will be a

university degree. Her mother is a cardiac research nurse and a

University lecturer, her father is a general practitioner.

Emma = 21 year old female, full time undergraduate student living

with friends at university. Her highest qualifications will be a

university degree. Her mother is a sexual health nurse and her

father is a manager of transport and logistics.

Tom = 20 year old male, full time undergraduate student living

with friends at university. His highest qualifications will be a

university degree. His mother is a counsellor and his father is a

project engineer.

72813480 30

Chapter One – Identifying Music Taste

The first research question asks whether a difference can be

identified in music taste between those from a working class

background and those from a middle class background. This is

essentially the key debate within this area of cultural sociology.

The first part of the debate which will be addressed is that of

Peterson (1992, 1996, 2005) and omnivore theory. This suggests

that in contemporary consumer Britain there is no distinction

between highbrow and lowbrow music, that particularly those from a

middleclass background are blurring the boundaries of musical

prestige and listening to all forms of musical genres. Peterson

states “the elaborated musical taste code of the omnivore member

72813480 31

of the elite can acclaim classical music and yet, in the proper

context, show passing knowledge of a wide range of musical forms.”

(1992:255). If Peterson’s theory were to be true the findings of

this study would indicate that not only did the focus groups with

participants from a middle class background “know” and “like” all

genres of music but they would “dislike” none. This was not found

during the study. Instead the findings indicate that those from a

middle class background have low estimations of popular music and

often dislike it. The song “flying without wings” by Westlife was

played during the second focus group session. This created an

interesting finding as none of the participant recognised the

song, despite entering the music charts in the UK at number 1 and

remaining in the charts for 31 weeks. When they were told who the

band was all three participants said they disliked the band, Emma

in particular stated:

“aw yeah I hate Westlife with an absolute passion, I really really hate them, they all dress

the same, there’s nothing good about them”.

The discussion continued onto the wider and more general topic of

popular music and it is clear that the participants were not

favourable towards this genre:

“Emma: I can remember dancing to pop music like Spice Girls when I was in primary

school but to be honest I’ve never really been that into it; I’m not a fan really.

Bobby: I think I’d agree, I suppose if it came on during a night out then I’d probably dance

along to it but I’d never sit and listen to it, I’d feel . . .

Emma: (interrupting) yeah I think I’d feel a bit silly; it’s not very good at all really is it?

72813480 32

Bobby: No I don’t think, actually yeah I said I haven’t got any favourites or least favourites

but I don’t think I like pop music actually”

There were many conversations throughout the two sessions which

had similar connotations to this. They indicated dislikes of

particular genres of music, including heavy metal, but mainly

centring on popular music. It is interesting to see how none of

the participants recognised the song or band even though Westlife

have won over 80 awards for their music both in the UK and

internationally; especially as 25 of these awards are for their

contribution towards popular music (Thefilans.net, 2011). The

suggestion that listening to popular music alone would be “silly”

gives the impression that popular music is looked down upon and

still considered low brow. These findings are also supported by

those of Savage and Gayo-Cal as they argued the “systematic

analysis of dislikes and avoidances” (2009:6) provide a more

thorough investigation into music taste and disprove omnivore

theory. It is also problematic that Peterson only argues that the

shift is from “snobbishness to omnivorousness” (1996:904); as this

would appear to be creating another form of class division. It may

suggest that the middle classes no longer distinguish between

highbrow and lowbrow music but it also suggests that the middle

classes are therefore more liberal in their views and the working

classes are close-minded.

The other side of the debate favours Bourdieu’s theories, he puts

forth that there are differences in music taste between the social

classes. He argues the middle and upper classes have a snobbish

72813480 33

culture which excludes the working classes. Wilson (2007) explores

Bourdieu’s interpretation of taste as a ‘strategic tool’. He

argues working class tastes were a default which was used to

express solidarity between the working classes but for the middle

classes, taste was a product of educational and economic

background and part of their elite social status. In light of this

the study would produce findings which suggested the participants

from a middle class back ground would “like” highbrow music, such

as classical music, whereas the participants from a working class

background would “dislike” this. To test this theory classical

music was chosen as one of the genres played in session two of

each focus group. The study showed support for Bourdieu’s theory.

When classical music was played during the session with the

participants from a working class background, they became bored

very quickly and began a discussion whilst the pieces where

playing, which they had not done during any of the other songs

during either session. They failed to take the genre seriously and

when asked about their thoughts on the genre they offered strong

opinions:

“Fay: I can’t stand classical; it’s dead boring there’s no lyrics.

Holly: No, I don’t like it at all it’s for posh people

Karl: I thought that second song6 was dead frantic it was like in Tom and Jerry7 when the

cat’s trying to catch the mouse, you know ‘gotta get it, gotta get it’ (laughs)

Fay: (laughs) it was, no honestly I don’t know anyone who likes that kind of thing”

6 Second song for classical genre was ‘flight of the bumble bee’ by Korsakov. 7 Children’s animated cartoon TV programme about a never ending rivalry between a cat and a mouse.

72813480 34

This is a completely different response to the participants from a

middle class background who appreciated the genre and spoke about

how they use the genre during certain activities to aid

concentration. Unlike the participants from a working class

background, the participants knew both of the pieces played

including one of the composers.

“Bobby: I thought the second one was ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’ and I think Korakov.

Tom: I had ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’ as well.

Emma: me too, I like classical. To be honest I prefer to listen to violins rather than a big

production

Tom: Yeah big orchestras aren’t my favourite either I much prefer pianos or string

quartets.

Bobby: I completely agree. I’d much prefer a piano concerto and obviously8 clarinet

concertos. I like new age type classical for when I’m working because it’s chilled and quite

repetitive and you can have it on in the background and you won’t get distracted by it.”

This therefore shows a complete contrast between the two focus

groups, it would appear to favour Bourdieu’s theory as the

participants are favouring highbrow music. The frivolous responses

by the participants from a working class background indicate their

lack of connection and interest in this genre of music. This

supports Bourdieu’s belief that “aversion to different life-styles

if perhaps one of the strongest barriers between the classes”

(1984:56). The above evidence highlights a significant difference

in attitude towards a particular genre of music which has created

8 Bobby had previously mentioned that she plays the clarinet.72813480 35

a clear division between those from a middle class background and

those from a working class background. This is also something that

is apparent to the participants as Fay illustrates:

“It’s not that I wouldn’t be friends with someone who listens to classical music it’s just that

none of my friends do. Well saying that, we’ve just said that we think people who listen to

classical music are rich, stuck up, old people who spend their time fox hunting. (laughs)

Like we’d never be anywhere where we’re with that type of people so it’s not like we’d have

the chance to make friends with people like that is it really?”

Although the participant is clearly stereotyping, her perceived

difference in lifestyle simply as a result of their choice of

music is valid. She identifies with Bourdieu’s theory of ‘habitus’

and the idea that she would never mix with someone who enjoys

highbrow music because all other aspects of their lives would also

be contrasting.

In light of this evidence it can be argued that a difference in

music taste can certainly be identified between those from a

middle class background and those from a working class background.

The evidence, similar to that found by CRESC, disputes omnivore

theory finding key indicators being the “liking/disliking” of

popular music and classical music. This therefore would suggest

the study sides more with Bourdieu’s theories in the debate, this

will be further examined in the next chapter when exploring to

what extent music taste does define social class.

72813480 36

Chapter Two – To what extent does Music taste

affirm one’s class?

Bourdieu quoted “nothing more clearly affirms one’s class, nothing

more infallibly classifies, than tastes in music” (1984:16-18).

This quote defined one of the research questions for the study;

the question asked whether this quote was still relevant today?

From the evidence in chapter one it is apparent that music taste

does indeed affirm one’s social class, so the question now becomes

“to what extent?” Chapter one, illustrated a clear difference in

music tastes between those from a middle class background and

those from a working class background. Therefore this shows how

the social class of each participant was confirmed by their taste

in music. The debate now puts in to question Bourdieu’s key

theories of ‘habitus’ and ‘cultural capital’ to explore how much

one’s music taste is developed through early socialisation as thus

an indicator of social class.

First it is necessary to look at ‘habitus’ which Bourdieu

describes as the “product of the internalisation of the

structures’ (1989:18). In this scenario, this would mean that the

music taste of the participants has been internalised through

early socialisation, specifically parents and siblings as this is

how habitus is passed on through generations. During both

interviews there was a topic list which was to be covered, if the

participants did not raise the topic in their own discussions then

72813480 37

they would be brought up as probing questions. Musical influences

were one was such topic, it was important to find out why the

participants felt they listened to the music which they did and

where they felt their music taste originated. Both focus groups

supported the theory of ‘habitus’ as can be seen by the discussion

of the participants from a middle class background on the topic of

indie9 and rock music:

“Emma: well yeah my dad’s very into rock, I think he fancies himself as a bit of a geriatric

(laughs) he’s got millions of like guitars and stuff and he’s got his room where he just sits

with it all and listens to music. I suppose I get a lot of my music from him. I think my mum

and my sister are very alike and then me and my dad are very alike. My brother used to

like the same stuff as me but now he likes really weird stuff like dub step10 and like really

hard core rock. He used to be a grunger11, which I think my dad liked but now he’s got

different friends and a bit more like a house12 guy.

Bobby: Oh my god, my brother was exactly the same! I don’t know where I got my music

taste from, I suppose it was probably from my dad too actually, he loves his classical

music, nothing better than some classic fm13 (laughs). Now we differ slightly, he prefers

the trumpet concertos and stuff but I prefer pianos more.”

Both participants in this instance acknowledge that their parents,

particularly their fathers have heavily influences their musical

taste, this is also true of the participants from the first focus

9 Initially a name for bands that were independent of large record labels but now referred mostly to a sub-genre of alternative rock music. 10 Genre of electronic dance music which originated in South London. 11 A fan of grunge music – a subgenre of alternative rock music which originatedin Seattle America. 12 Genre of electronic dance music originating in Chicago America. 13 National radio station which plays only classical music.

72813480 38

group. Karl illustrates this when he discusses why he likes 80’s

rock bands such as “the Addicts”:

“I love the guitar in it; it’s like a catchy song about a catchy song. They do some good stuff,

most of it is from like the mid-80’s like but it’s good, my dad used to always have them on

in the house and the car so it’s like I’ve just always listened to them”

This clear acknowledgement from all participants signifies that

parents and siblings play a vital role in the development of music

taste, it seems that the participants are aware of this and can

easily reference the music which they feel has been passed on.

Although this simplicity is questioned by some such as Bennett et

al (2010) who argue Bourdieu overstates the coherence of

lifestyle.

Bourdieu’s second theory in this field refers to ‘cultural

capital’. This is the distribution of cultural dispositions which

aid an individual socially. Bourdieu argues that these are

distributed unevenly, with the middle classes passing on aspects

of culture which the working classes are excluded from. One such

‘capital’ is musical knowledge and training. Studies have shown

that people from higher status groups, including higher

educational levels and occupational status engage more with

highbrow culture (Di Maggio and Mahr 1985, Ganzemboom 1989).

Therefore another of the conversation topics for the focus groups

was the ability to play musical instruments. It has already been

established that the participants from a middle class background

hold wider musical knowledge, specifically related to highbrow

72813480 39

music, so it is necessary to test how this is translated into

lifestyle.

None of the participants from a working class background played

any musical instruments or had been musically trained. Karl,

stated that he had “tried” to learn base guitar in his early teens as

he wanted to play in a rock band. Unfortunately, due to financial

difficulties, he had to stop lessons. Alternatively all three of

the participants from a middle class background had been trained

to play a musical instrument. During the second session whilst

discussing the complexities of classical music and being

classically trained Bobby began a discussion on playing musical

instruments:

“Bobby: I have a good background in music so I know quite a lot, I studied music at A

level, I was very classical about it, I used to and half still do play the clarinet so I do have a

classical influence on things. Some of my favourite pieces are classical especially the

piano, I used to play that as well, I had lessons for years when I was younger but I

stopped, well not stopped I just don’t get to play as much anymore.

Emma: I always wanted to be good on the piano but I just don’t think I’m gifted musically,

my mum and dad tried me with loads of different instruments and I just couldn’t pick

them up. I think they give up on me in the end (laughs)

Tom: erm, yeah I tried learning to play piano as well actually, it was sort of that young

phase when your about 10 or 12 and your parents encourage you to do these things and

then you get a bit older and get some independence and realise you don’t have to if you

don’t want to (laughs)”

72813480 40

This further supports Bourdieu’s theories of ‘cultural capital’ as

it highlights how each of the parents of the participants

encouraged them to learn a musical instrument, even if they didn’t

continue through to their adult life they were all encouraged to

as youngsters. This is particularly relevant when combined with

the earlier findings relating to socialisation. This would

indicate that the parents of the participants from a middle class

background where encouraging their children to do this as a way of

passing on their ‘cultural capital’ and they did this whilst they

were young, as well as passing on their music tastes and knowledge

so that highbrow culture became part of their habitus. This is not

to say that the participants from a working class background where

not also passed on a habitus, but that they developed one which

excluded highbrow culture. This also does not indicate that one

habitus is preferred over another but simply that the above

findings support Bourdieu’s quotation and highlight the extent to

which class is affirmed by ones music taste. The next chapter of

the findings will explore the impact which habitus and lifestyle

has on the participants, specifically whether it influences their

consumption habits.

72813480 41

Chapter Three: Cultural Consumption

Previous chapters have established that there is a difference

between the music tastes of those from a middle class background

and those from a working class background, and has established

that these differences are created during early socialisation via

the inheritance of cultural capital. This chapter will now see how

these differences correspond in the participant’s everyday lives

and whether they result in a difference of consumption habits.

This is also part of the wider debate discussed in chapter one, as

Bourdieu believed habitus affects one’s consumption of music.

Peterson, on the other hand, disagrees and puts forth that the

advancement in technologies has led to easier access of music and

72813480 42

the ability to swap between genres by making the boundaries

between genres more blurred.

Bourdieu argues that habitus is “constituted in practice and

always orientated towards practical functions” (1990:52). Simply

put, practice means action; not objectively determined action but

one which we have no control over, it is the way in which we

behave as a result of the relationship between habitus and field.

This has links to the classical theories of Simmel (1859),

particularly those regarding “inner freedom” as ‘Individual

actions strike us ‘free’ and mass actions impress us as if they

were determined by natural laws’ (Wolff, 1950:26). In this

instance it would suggest that the middle classes would consume

music differently to the working classes. For example, the middle

classes would pay to attend the opera or a classical concert but

the working classes would not. Although Bourdieu mainly argued in

favour of a difference in consumption based on habitus and field,

he also stated “people are no fools” (Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992:

131) by which he means one has the free will to contest their own

habitus.

The study found that there were no differences in the way that the

participants from the two focus groups accessed and consumed

music. Both focus groups mentioned attending festivals to be able

to experience the excitement of seeing many of their favourite

artists at a live performance. This goes against previous research

(De Graaf and De Graaf 1988, Van Eijck 1997) which argued that

higher educational and occupational status resulted in a greater

72813480 43

interest in participation in the arts. Such research follows

Bourdieu’s theories suggesting socialisation is a major predictor

of cultural consumption. The findings here prove otherwise as can

be seen by some of the responses of the participants of a working

class background when asked about where they find out about new

music:

“Karl: friends and family I think, and quite often festivals. Like when you go to a festival

and you think no-one’s one so you go see some random band on a stage and think “oh

yeah they’re good” then when you get home you start downloading their stuff and

listening to it.

Fay: oh yeah I’ve done that a few times when I’ve seed bands at Leeds Festival, some of

them have become like my favourite bands so now I go back just to see them (laughs)”

This would suggest that not only do the participants actively

participate in their musical tastes but they use this as a way to

access new music. These findings where prevalent in both focus

groups suggesting that the apparent cultural divide is not present

during participation activities. Although with the vast majority

of festival participants being under the age of 30 (Cheng et al

2007) it may be that these findings are age specific and

consumption patterns could be drastically different for those over

the age of 30.

While there are many theories relating to changing technologies

within the field of music (Theberge 2001, Frith 1987, Goodwin

2006) including the introduction of Laptop jams and MP3 players,

it is rather interesting to note that all of the participants put

a great deal of importance on purchasing CD’s. Both sets of72813480 44

participants discussed the ways in which they physically access

music and both groups used a mixture of internet downloads and

purchasing CD’s. They felt even within this particular era of

technology that they preferred “the actual CD, where you can physically touch it

instead of just looking at it on your Ipod” (Karl, participant from focus group

with working class background). However, both sets of participants

argued that the act of purchasing a CD is reserved for ones which

have particular significance. During the first session with the

focus group from a middle class background Emma stated:

“I do prefer CD’s. Often if I like a particular song I’ll download it or listen to it on spotify14

but if there’s a particular artist that I like, for example Muse, then I’ll go out and buy the

album because I know it’ll be worth the money and it’s so much more satisfying to have a

hard copy.”

Both of her fellow participants agreed, as did the participants

from the other focus group:

“Karl: I buy a lot of CD’s, and I get bought a lot, like every Christmas I create a list of about

30 CD’s I want and hand them out to family members and my girlfriend. I’d rather get

CD’s that I want then presents I don’t.

Fay: They’re expensive like but if it’s a band you like then they’re worth it coz you’ve got it

forever then.

Holly: yeah there’s something quite nice about being able to actually see all your music

stacked up together not just scrolling past it on a screen.”

14 A service/ software providing streaming of music from a range of record labels, can be downloaded for free or charged for the extended version of the product.

72813480 45

This illustrates and agreement with Peterson, that “people can

pick and choose among the goods on offer to construct an

‘authentic’ expression of themselves” (2004:325). This would

suggest that the increase in technology has led to the ability to

mix genres of music together, for example in an MP3 playlists, and

therefore makes people consume music in a more omnivorous fashion.

All of the participants owned MP3 players, mostly an ‘Apple Ipod’,

and during both focus groups the use of “shuffle” was mentioned

several times. This is the ability to mix all of the songs on the

device and the songs are then played by random selection. In this

way, depending what genres of music are already stored on the

device it is possible to listen to one song which is classical, a

second which is rap, a third which is heavy metal and so on. This

would suggest that although the participants were not all

completely omnivorous they are showing favourable tendencies, from

both class backgrounds.

So far the study’s findings have identified the differences

between the music tastes of those from a middle class background

and those from a working class background. The findings have also

indicated the extent to which these differences occur and how

these are represented within cultural consumption. The latter of

these, indicated that although there maybe differences in

preferences of musical genres and dislikes of genres the way in

which music is accessed and consumed has not been influenced by

such differences. This has particular importance when considering

this is one aspect of the debate so far which has shown support

for omnivore theory, as well as the one aspect of the debate not72813480 46

yet covered by CRESC. This could therefore indicate an area of

further study, particularly relating to experiences such as

festivals as although social class does not appear to be a

determinant, the variable of age may prove otherwise. The next

chapter of this study will explore how other theories connected

but not necessarily key to the debate of music taste and social

class also relate to the lives of the participants.

72813480 47

Chapter Four: Existing theory and everyday lives

So far the findings have explored not only whether a difference in

music taste exists but to what extent and how it impacts upon

cultural consumption. This chapter will attempt to explore other

existing theories surrounding the topic of music taste and social

class. These theories do not necessarily reflect those previously

mentioned. This chapter has been built upon a different kind of

thematic analysis to those used in previous chapters. This chapter

will be exploring the key themes which arose during the analysis

process and which had not been anticipated and required further

literary study. Consequently, findings can be found which identify

with how the lives of the participants relate to other existing

theories in the study of music taste and social class.

The first unanticipated theme identified is that of the ‘new

omnivore’. This study along with the works of CRESC has

discredited many aspects of Peterson’s original omnivore theory;

however there were certain aspects of the theory which were

repeatedly detected. All of the participants initially declared

they “liked all sorts of music” (Emma, participant from middle class

background) or they “like everything” (Holly, participant from working

class background). This indicates a desire to be omnivorous and be

appreciative of all genres of music, it was only when questioned

on specific genres that the participants became aware of their own

‘dislikes’. This led to further study which resulted in the theory

of the ‘new omnivore’ (Tampubolon 2008, Van Eijck 2001, Lopez-72813480 48

Sintas 2008). Tampubolon (2008) identifies two types of the ‘new

omnivore’ the first is the popular music omnivore, who enjoys all

genres relating to popular music, including rock, r ‘n’ b and

heavy metal. The second is the ‘light classical’ omnivore,

enjoying other similar genres such as musicals, classical music

and folk music. However, as with any sociological theory there is

dispute over the social implications. Tampubolon found that age

was the key factor in the division of these two omnivorous states,

where as Lopez-Sintas (2008) argues ethnicity is the main

contributor. In this study however, the division appears to be as

a result of social class. The participants from a middle class

background all enjoyed what they referred to as “new age classical”

which by definition appears to be the same as ‘light classical’.

They also enjoyed many related forms of musical genres such as

folk music, indie music and light rock music. It was the

participant’s dislike of heavy metal music and popular music which

disputed Peterson’s omnivore theory. Similarly in the focus group

with participants from a working class background the participants

identified with one of the ‘new omnivore’ categories, in this case

the popular music omnivore. They enjoyed popular music, indie

music, rock music and punk music. They disliked classical music

and aspects of heavy metal music, which again is seen as a dispute

of the original omnivore theory. This would therefore suggest that

the participants do indeed have omnivorous tenancies but not to

the degree outlined by Peterson. Studies by CRESC, such as

Bennett et al (2009) argue there is a rising tension between those

who wish to engage with everything and those who wish to remove

cultural engagement. They offer these new forms of omnivore as a

solution as it combined both of these aspects. It allows

individuals to both like and dislike different genres of music and

72813480 49

bring about a new form of musical taste, rather than allowing

people to think that individuals predisposed to more genres of

music are more tolerant.

A second finding occurred during the study which was not

anticipated, this became apparent during discussions of genre

association. It became apparent that the participants all

associated harsh stereotypes towards fans of particular musical

genres, which ultimately led to discrimination. Similarly, to the

some of the findings by Bryson in “anything but heavy metal”

(1996), I found that the music genre’s most discriminated against

where those who’s fans where stereotypically from a low socio-

economic background and had little if any educational achievement.

Unlike Bryson, whose work is primarily focused on symbolic racism15

and investigating music fans who were rejected by the supposed

musically tolerant, my study did not aim to find these

discriminatory patterns, they have been a theme which has become

apparent after the study was conducted. Both of the focus groups

talked predominantly about “Chav’s”16, and associated them with a

very fast tempo form of dance music known as “Happy Hardcore”,

although only one of the participants named the music genre

specifically. Both focus groups vividly described the chavs and

used lots of derogatory terms. The participants from a working

class background spoke about Chav’s and provided the following

descriptions:

15 set of beliefs in which the subject views a certain race as an abstract grouprather than as specific individuals (Whitley & Kite, 2010)16 Defined by the Oxford English dictionary as a young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour and the wearing of (real or imitation) designer clothes.

72813480 50

“Holly: (laughs) yeah an they’re all pill poppers, stand there with their bottle of water

popping pills17 in their lacoste tracky an chavvy trainers.

Karl: (laughs) to be honest everyone hate’s chav’s, well except other chav’s and sometimes

they even hate each other (laughs)”

During the focus group with the participant from a middle class

background, they discussed similar opinions of Chav’s but began to

speak about Chav culture and attitudes also.

“Bobby: Yeah there’s a girl, like where I keep my horse and she used to keep a horse nextto me and we used to be friends and she’s from a very kind of well to do family and, erm,

she’s absolutely lovely but she’s decided that she’s going to be a chav and she hasn’t reallygot the potential credentials to be one. Yet she’s decided that she’s just going to be a chav.And it’s really odd and you wouldn’t expect it if you met her mum and her dad and the rest

of her family.”

When asked what “Chav credentials” are, the response was “councilestate kids, probably with a few kids of their own before they’re 18, not going anywhere inlife, who just drive around in their cars and have a ‘yeah whatever’ attitude.”

These findings were particularly unanticipated and a veryinteresting finding. There are lots of studies and debates intofan discrimination (Bryson 1996, North and Hargreaves 1999)particularly amongst the young, which findings such as these couldcontribute to. This is possibly something which would be worthfuture investigation.

17 Methylenedioxymethamphetamine more commonly known as MDMA or ecstasy tablets.72813480 51

Conclusions

Overall the study produced some interesting findings, form those

which answered the research questions designed to those which were

not anticipated. Due to the extensive amounts of literature in

cultural sociology it was necessary to be selective of the debates

and topics covered. I feel the literature chosen was successful in

creating an interesting debate and one which this study could add

to. The research methods chosen built upon the large body of

research, which had already been conducted by CRESC, but offered a

qualitative method which they had not incorporated. The use of

music elicitation, a more contemporary method, produced thought-

provoking findings both literarily and methodologically. The

ability to incorporate music and the listening experience within

the study led to a more natural form of data collection. The

participants where relaxed and comfortable and easily created

discussions centred on the musical pieces played. This therefore

led to less involvement from the researcher removing potential

bias but enabled the participants to remain centred around the

topics of interest. The findings in some cases were expected and

in others were rather shocking. Agreement with Bourdieu and CRESC

was to an extent expected as the investigations by CRESC were

extensive and contemporary. I feel the inclusion of consumption

incorporated a new aspect to the theory which resulted in

particularly interesting findings as for the first time in the

study there were clear disagreements with Bourdieu and elements of72813480 52

an omnivore lifestyle. Mostly I found the final chapter of the

findings intriguing, I had not begun the study with issues of

stereotyping and discrimination in mind but it appears to be

something which is prevalent within musical genres. There where

aspects of stereotyping amongst many genres but none more so than

the ‘Chav’, which envisaged strong opinions from all of the

participants including harsh judgements and even ‘hatred’. These

where unexpected findings but something which I am extremely

intrigued by and feel if I were to conduct further enquiry this

would be the topic of choice.

The study did produce findings which answered the research

questions, and produced relevant conclusions into the wider

debate. Overall there was an agreement with Bourdieu and CRESC

regarding music taste. The study concluded that there is in fact a

difference in music taste between those from a working class

background and those from a middle class background. In addition

to this it provided further support for Bourdieu and confirmed

that music taste does affirm one’s class. However, unlike Bourdieu

and CRESC I found that these ideals do not correspond in the act

of consumption and found disagreement with the views of many (De

Graaf and De Graaf 1988, Van Eijck 1997) that only the middle

class participate in musical activities.

If I were to reflect critically upon the study I feel that there

where aspects which could be improved upon. Sampling and issues of

arranging a suitable time to conduct the focus groups was a major

issue during the study. Defining social class was also problematic

72813480 53

and is still questionable as the term is so subjective. I feel if

I were to conduct the study again, I would still use music

elicitation as it is a valid research method which deserves more

recognition for its ability to create a natural but informative

discussion. I would however use different groups of participants,

instead of two groups from different social classes I would

perhaps use several groups, each representing a different genre of

music fan.

72813480 54

Bibliography

Adams, R. G, Allan, G. (1998) Placing friendship in context: Structural analysis

in the social sciences 15 Cambridge: University Press.

Adorno, T. W (1990) [1941] “on popular music” in frith, S. and

Goodwin, A. On Record, London: Routledge

Adorno, T. W. (1991) ‘Culture Industry Reconsidered’, in The Culture

Industry (ed. J. M. Bernstein. London: Routledge.

Adorno T. W. and Horkhiemer, M. (1979) [1944] ‘The Culture

Industry: enlightenment as mass deception’, in Dialectic of

Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments, Verso.

Allett, N. (2010) “using music elicitation to research people’s

relationship with music” Realities Toolkit Number 07, January 2010

Anad, N. and Peterson, R (2004) ‘The production of culture

perspectives’ Annual review of sociology, 30, 311-334

Bagnall, G. Longhurst, B and Savage, M. (2005) Globalisation and

belonging, London: Sage

Beck, U. (2007) ‘Beyond class and nation: reframing social

inequalities in a globalizing world’ The British Journal of Sociology 2007

58:4, 679 – 705

72813480 55

Becker, H .S (1963) Outsiders: studies in the sociology of deviance New York:

Free Press

Becker, H. S (1986) writing for social scientists: how to start and finish your thesis,

book or article. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Bellavance (2008) “who’s high? Who’s low? What’s new?

Classification and stratification inside cultural ‘repertoires’”,

Poetics, 36, 189-216

Bennett, T. Savage, M. Silva, E.B. Warde, A. Gayo-Cal, m. Wright,

D. (2009) Culture, Class, Distinction, London: Routledge.

Bloor, M. Frankland, J. Thomas, M. and Robson, K. (2001) Focus

groups in social research: Introducing qualitative methods London: Sage

Bourdieu, P. (1985) Distinction, London: Routledge.

Bourdieu, P. (1989) ‘Social Space and Symbolic Power’ Sociological

thought, 7, 14-25

Bourdieu, P. and Wacquant, L. J. D. (1992) An invitation to reflexive

sociology Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Boyatzis, R. E (1998) Transforming qualitative information: thematic analysis and

code development. London: Sage.

Browning, M and Crossley, T (2001) ‘The life cycle of consumption

and saving’ Journal of economic perspectives, 15, 3, 3-22

Breen, R. and Goldthorpe, J. H (1997) ‘Explaining educational

differentials: towards a formal rational action theory’, Rationality

and Society 1997 9: 275

Bryman, A (2008) Social Research methods 3rd edition New York: Oxford

University Press72813480 56

Bryson, B (1996) “anything but heavy metal: symbolic exclusion and

musical dislikes”, American Journal of Sociology, 102, 3, 884-899.

Bulmer, M. (1982) Social Research ethics, London and Basingstoke: The

Macmillian Press Ltd.

Burgess, R.G. (1984) In the field: an introduction to field research London :

Allen & Unwin.

Calhoun, J. C, Hemphill, W. E, Wilson, C. N. (1993) The papers of John

C. Calhoun. South Carolina: University of South Carolina

Chan, T.W and Goldthorpe, J.H (2007b) “social stratification and

cultural consumption: the case of music”, European Sociological review,

23, 1, 1-19.

Cheng, C. K, Kim, H. and O’Leary, J. T (2007) ‘Understanding

participation patterns and trends in tourism cultural attractions’

Tourism Management 28, 5, 1366-1371

Crossley, N. (2008) ‘Pretty Connected: The Social Network of the

Early UK Punk Movement’, in Theory, Culture and Society, vol. 25, no.6,

pp89-116

De Graaf, N. D, De Graaf, P and Kraaykamp, G. (2000) Parental

Cultural Capital and Educational Attainment in the Netherlands: A

Refinement of the Cultural Capital Perspective Sociology of Education,

73, 2, 92-111

DiMaggio, P. (1987) ‘Classification in Art’, American Sociological

Review, 52, 4, 440-455

72813480 57

Fairclough, N. (2000) New Labour, New Language? London: Routledge

Fereday, J. and Muir-Cochrane, E. (2006) ‘Demonstrating Rigor

Using Thematic Analysis: A Hybrid Approach of Inductive and

Deductive Coding and Theme Development’, International Journal of

Qualitative Methods 5(1): 80-92.

Frith, S. (2001) ‘The popular music industry’, in Frith, S. Straw,

W. and Street, J. The Cambridge Companion to Rock and Pop, Cambridge

University Press.

Frith, S. (1988) ‘The industrialisation of music’ in Music for

Pleasure.

Frith S. (1987) ‘The making of the British record industry’ in J.

Curran et al. Impacts and Influences.

Ganzeboom, H. B.G. and Luijkx, R and Treiman, D. J. (1989)

‘Intergenerational class mobility in comparative perspective’.

Research in social stratification and mobility, 8 , 3-79.

Giddens, A (1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in

Modern Societies London: Diane Pub Co.

Goldthorpe, J.H. (1980) ‘Class Mobility in Modern Britain: A Reply

to Crompton’, Sociology 1980 14: 121

Goldthorpe, J. H. and Hope, K. (1972) ‘Occupational grading and

occupational prestige’, Social Science Information 1972 11: 17

72813480 58

Goldthorpe, J. H. and Marshall, G. (1992) ‘The Promising Future of

Class Analysis: A Response to Recent Critiques’, Sociology 1992 26:

381

Goodwin, A. (2006) ‘Rationalisation and democratization in the new

technologies of popular music’, in Bennett, A. Shank, B. and

Toynbee J. (eds) The Popular Music Studies Reader, London and New York:

Routledge

Guba E. G. and lincoln Y.S. (1994) “competing paradigms in

qualitative research” in N.K Denzin and Y.S Lincoln (eds) Handbook

of qualitative research Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage

Hargreaves, D. J. and North A. C. (1999) ‘Music and Adolescent

Identity’ Music Education Research, 1, 1, 75-92

Holt, D. (1998) ‘Does cultural capital structure American

consumption?’, Journal of Consumer Research, 25.

Holton, R. J and Turner, B. S (1989) ‘Has class analysis a future?

Max Weber and the Challenge of Liberalism to Gemeinschaftlich

accounts of class’, in Holton, R. J. and Turner, B. S. Max Weber on

economy and society. London : Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Jenkins, R. (1992) Pierre Bourdieu, London: Routledge. Pp128-151 –

‘Culture, Status and Distinction’.

Kite, M. and Whitley, B. E. (2009) The psychology of prejudice and

Discrimination Cengage Learning

Lahire, B (2008) “the individual and the mixing of genres:

cultural dissonance and self-distinction”, Poetics, 36, 166-188.

72813480 59

Lamont, M. (1992) Money, Morals and Manners, Princeton: University of

Princeton

Longhurst, B. Ray, K. Savage, M. Tampubolon, G. Warde, A. (2003)

‘Trends in Social Capital: A membership of association in Great

Britain 1991-98’ British Journal of Political Science, 33, 515-525

Lopez-Sintas, J., Garcia-Alvarez, M., Filimon, N. (2008) ‘Scale

and periodicities of recorded music consumption: reconciling

Bourdieu’s theory of taste with facts’, Sociological Review, 56, 1, 78–

101

Martin, P. J. (2006) Music and the Sociological Gaze: Art Worlds and Cultural

Production, Manchester University Press. Chapter Two – ‘Music and

the sociological gaze’

Marx, K. and Engles, F. ([1845] 1956) The holy family, or critique of critical

criticism. Moscow: Progress publishers.

Marx, K. ([1847]1982) The poverty of Philosophy. New York: International

publishers.

Mason, J. (1996) Qualitative researching London: Sage.

Morrison, K. (2006) Marx, Durkheim, Weber: formations of modern thought.

Second Edition. London: Sage.

Paddison, M. (1993) Adorno’s aesthetics of music, Cambridge University

Press.

Pakulski, J. and Waters, M (1996) The death of class London: Sage

Peterson, R. A and Sinkus, A. (1992) “how musical tastes mark

occupational status groups” in Lamont, M. and Fournier, M.

72813480 60

Cultivating differences: symbolic boundaries and the making of inequality. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press.

Peterson, R. A and Kern, R. (1996) “changing highbrow taste: from

snob to omnivore”. American Sociological Review, 61, 900-909.

Peterson, R. A. (2005) “Problems in comparative research: the case

of omnivorousness” Poetics, 33, 257-282.

Rose, D and O’Reilly, K. (1998) ‘The ESRC Review of Government

Social Classifications’, ESRC Research Centre on Micro-social Change Institute

for Social and Economic Research University of Essex. London: Office of National

Statistics and Swindon: Economic and Social research Council.

Savage, M. and Gayo-Cal, M. (2009) “against the omnivore:

assemblages of contemporary musical taste in the United Kingdom”

CRESC Working Paper Number 72, November 2009, 1-28.

Schoenberg. A. (1946) ‘New Music, Outmoded Music, Style and Idea’

(1946), in Schoenberg. A, Stein, L (eds) and Black, L (translator)

Style and Idea (1975)

London: Faber

Scott, J. (2000) Stratification and Power, London:Routledge

Simmel, G. (1859) Georg Simmel – a Collection of Essays with Translations and

Bibliography Translated and Edited by Wolff, K., H. (1959) USA,

Columbus: The Ohio State University Press.

Steinberg, L. and Lerner, M. (2004) Handbook of Adolescent Psychology

John Wiley and sons

72813480 61

Subotnik, R. (1991) Developing variations: Style and ideology in Western music.

Minnesota: University of Minnesota press.

Tampubolon, G. (2008) ‘Revisiting omnivores in America circa

1990s: The exclusiveness of omnivores?’ Poetics, 36, 2-3, 243-264

Van Eijck, K. (2001) “social differentiation in musical taste

patterns”, Social Forces, 79, 3, 1163-1184.

Van Eijck, K., and Lievens, J. (2008) ‘cultural omnivorousness as

a combination between highbrow, pop, and folk elements: The

relation between taste patterns and attitudes concerning social

integration’, Poetics, 36, 217–242.

Veblen, T and Banta, M. (2007) The theory of the leisure class. Oxford’s world

classics. Oxford: Oxford University press.

Warde, A., Wright, D., Gayo-Cal, M. (2007) ‘Understanding Cultural

Omnivorousness: Or, the Myth of the Cultural Omnivore’, Cultural

Sociology, 1, 2, 143–164.

Warde, A. Wright, D. and Gayo-Cal, M. (2009) “the omnivorous

orientation in the UK” Poetics, 36, 2-3, 148-165.

Wilson, C. (2007) Let’s talk about Love: a Journey to the end of taste. New York:

Continuum

Wolff, K., H. (1950) The Sociology of Georg Simmel Glencoe, Illinois:

The free Press.

Weber, M. (1978) Economy and society: volumes 1&2, Roth, G. and Wittich,

C.(eds) Berkeley: University of California Press.

Appendix

72813480 62

Interviewee Survey

What is your gender? Male / Female How old are you? 18 / 19 / 20 / 21

Do you have any children? Yes / No If ‘yes’ how many?

What is your current living situation?

What is your occupation?

How far did you go in the education system?

School (GCSE) / college (AS / A level) / university (degree)

Are you considering further education from this point? Yes / No

If yes please explain . . . .

What is your mother’s occupation?

What level did your mother achieve in the education system?

None / School (GCSE) / college (AS / A level) / university (degree)

What is your father’s occupation?

What level did your father achieve in the education system?

None / School (GCSE) / college (AS / A level) / university (degree)

Do your mother and father still live together? Yes / No

How many siblings do you have?

What is the living situation of your siblings?

What is your ethnicity?

Do you have a partner?

What is your partner’s occupation?

What is your partner’s ethnicity?72813480 63

Do you believe that there are different social classes in Britain today?Yes / No

If ‘yes’, which social class do you believe that you belong to?

Under Class/ Working class / Middle class / Upper class / other

If ‘other’ please specify . . . .

Why do you believe that you belong to this social class?

Are there any specific features that you believe are specific to your social class?

Are there any specific features that you believe are specific to other social classes?

Do you drive? Yes/ No

What do you drive?

72813480 64

Music Played during sessions

Session OneParticipants from a working class background:

Fay’s choices – Kings of Leon ‘the bucket’

Pink ‘who knew’

Holly’s choices - Adele ‘make you feel my love’

Kandi Staton ‘you’ve got the love’

Karl’s choices - The Addicts ‘spank me baby’

The stranglers ‘always the sun’

Participants from a middle class background

Bobby’s choices – Air Traffic ‘shooting star’

Kings of Leon ‘sex on fire’

Emma’s choices - muse ‘feeling good’

Rihanna ‘man down’

Tom’s choices - Chris Lake ‘tromba’

Pharcyde ‘running’

72813480 65

Session TwoHip Hop - Wu Tang Clan ‘protect ya neck’

Public enemy ‘don’t believe the hype’

Heavy Metal – Black Sabbath ‘sweet leaf’

Megadeath ‘peace sells’

Classical - Shostakovich ‘festive overture’

Korsakov ‘flight of the bumble bee’

Popular Music – Britney Spears ‘Hit me baby one more time’

Westlife ‘flying without wings’

Consent Form

The procedures of the session are as follows:

3 participants and 1 researcher recorded discussion. Aim to discuss music tastes, music likes and dislikes and other music related topics. The session will be recorded and transcribed at a later date. During the session several pieces of music will be played and each of you will be asked to make notes of your views, thoughts and opinions, which can be referred to later during the discussion part of the session. The music played in session 1 willbe the pieces which all participants chose in advance and emailed to me. The music played in session 2 will be the pieces which I have selected in advance to represent different musical genres.

The reason for this focus group is to explore different music tastes. I will be using 2 focus groups one consisting of participants from my home town Widnes and the second will be students from university in Manchester. I will be comparing the results of both your focus groups to develop a picture of modern day music tastes.

Ethical guidelines; you all have the right to with draw at any time, the right to not answer any questions which is asked or to

72813480 66

not voice any opinions if you do not wish to. The session can be ended at any time if any of you wish it to, simply say ‘stop’ and I will stop the recording and the session will end at that point. All participants will remain anonymous and will be given pseudo names in the analysis and write up of the sessions.

Does everyone understand this? Do you wish to Continue with the focus groups sessions?

Yes / No

Signed ..........................................................

72813480 67