Suchergebnisse

The article has the purpose of expanding the study of the relationship between music and populism in two directions. On a more theoretical level, the article aims at establishing further interconnections between political science, cultural sociology and media studies. On an empirical ground, a primary aim is that of presenting a distinctive case, able to offer an example of how populist discourses could emerge and circulate in relation with music phenomena; this empirical case is represented by the public controversy, anchored on populist references, emerged in Italy during the 2019 Sanremo festival, the most important musical event of the country. What emerges from the analysis is that the circulation of populist discourses in society requires a renewed theoretical sensibility, more able to intercept the role of aesthetic, cultural and symbolic phenomena, as well as a distinctive focus the role digital media technologies in reshaping the collective possibilities to articulate social and political identities.

This interview with Trevor Pinch, one of the most significant scholars in contemporary Science and Technology Studies (STS), reconstructs his career from the second half of the 1970s onwards, emphasizing the various points of contact and differences between social studies of science and technology, and several different approaches and authors in cultural sociology, cultural studies and culturalist approaches to the study of society. In doing so, the interview traces the evolution of debates in the sociological study of culture in relation to contemporaneous developments in the social study of science and technology. The interview moves on to explore one of the areas where Trevor Pinch has been active in recent years, namely the social and cultural study of music technologies. The interview ends with a reflection upon the political perspectives implicit in studies of science and technology generally, and in the work of Trevor Pinch particularly.

The article introduces and comments upon the themes developed in the interview with the sociologist of science and technology Trevor Pinch in this issue of Cultural Sociology. The paper outlines the trajectory of his work since the late 1970s, from the birth of Science and Technology Studies (STS), until his current interest in the relationship between music, technologies, and society. The paper focuses on the growth of the field of STS, pointing out the many interconnections between STS and the wide intellectual universe involving cultural studies, cultural sociology and symbolic interactionism. The paper also considers the leading role Trevor Pinch has played in the shaping of the field of 'sound studies', an interdisciplinary field focused on the study of the sonic dimensions of societies, tracing the initial development of this area and how it represents a new set of interconnections between STS and the sociological study of culture.

Grounded in more than a decade of field research, this book uses empirical examples, quantitative data, and qualitative interviews with young music consumers as well as music industry professionals to understand how the platforms behind music production, distribution and listening work in our digital society. Bringing together the perspectives from science and technology studies, media studies, and the political economy of digital platforms, the book outlines the process of mutual construction between music digital platforms and the cultural value of music in today's society, and also reflects on the complicated relationship between the power of platforms and the agency of listeners