Role of musical communities in youth socialization

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Role of musical communities in youth socialization

Роль музичних спільнот у соціалізації молоді

Tkachenko K. V.,

postgraduate of philosophy sociology

and management of sociocultural activities department,

State Institution «South Ukrainian National

Pedagogical University named after K. D. Ushynsky»

(Odessa, Ukraine),

Ткаченко К. В.,

аспірантка кафедри філософської

соціології та управління соціокультурною

діяльністю, ДУ «Південноукраїнський

національний педагогічний університет ім. К. Д. Ушинського» (Одеса, Україна),

The article examines the concepts of «subculture», «society» and «community», and their correlation; the concept of «musical community» is determined as a means of youth socialization; the influence of such musical communities as a reggae, hip hop, rock, hipsters on the development of a young personality is analyzed.

Keywords: subculture, society, community, musical community, reggae, hip hop, rock, hipsters.

musical community socialization

Розглядаються поняття «субкультура», «суспільство» і «спільнота» і їх співвідношення; поняття «музичне співтовариство» визначається як засіб соціалізації молоді; аналізується вплив таких музичних спільнот як реггі, хіп-хоп рок, хіпстери на розвиток особистості.

Ключові слова: субкультура, суспільство, спільнота, музичне співтовариство, реггі, хіп-хоп рок, хіпстери.

Wherever music is studied, no matter what field of science it is, human is always a subject who comprehends it. Music forces us to get into symbolic images as signs of spiritual reality decoded in an individual inner experience. Music affects the collective consciousness of certain micro-society, development of personality, and serves as its accelerant of identification in the space of cultural meanings.

Youth movements, which are called «subcultures», are the prime example of visual «declassification» of commitment to certain musical genre. Musical component of youth subcultural activity, which has a variety of expressive means (by which information about interests is spotted), has a major influence on psychological and motivational-behavioral mechanisms of socialization of youth.

The objective of the study is to identify the features of self-expression of the young generation in musical communities as forms of socialization of young people through cognition of cultural values that are being developed in the modern music genres. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to clarify the concept of «subculture» in the context of social philosophy, to substantiate and explain theoretically the concepts of «community» and «society», to specify musical associations among them, to identify representatives of the youth subcultures according to their commitment to certain musical communities, to characterize musical genres and analyze philosophy of «reggae», «hip hop», «rock», «hipsters» subcultures.

An influence of music on personality was analyzed in detail by T. Adorno, A. N. Sokhor, V. N. Kholopova and T W. Cherednichenko. Music was explored in context of mass culture by D. Berger& H. Peterson, C. Wilenski, L. Lowenthal, D. Mcdonald, A. Houser. The research focus was moved to youth music and subcultures from the end of 1970s (M. Abrams, E. Brown, M. O'Donell, C. Pilkinton, P. Stewart, J. Fornas and co-writers D. Habidge, W. Handy). Under the influence of P. Bourdieu's social space theory music begins to be considered as a reflection of certain lifestyle and interpreted as a criterion of stratification. Musical preferences relate to one or another stratum of society or a subculture.

Youth subcultures had been perceived as a presence of «enemy element» of society. As D. Habdige points out, the process whereby objects are made to mean and mean again as `style' in subculture «...begins with a crime against the natural order, though in this case the deviation may seem slight indeed - the cultivation of a quiff, the acquisition of a scooter or a record or a certain type of suit. But it ends in the construction of a style, in a gesture of defiance or contempt, in a smile or a sneer. It signals a Refusal. I would like to think that this Refusal is worth making, that these gestures have a meaning, that the smiles and the sneers have some subversive value.» [12, p. 3]. There wasn't any idea how to study and whether there is a sense to study those «strangers», who were trying to find their place in the world in different, sometimes «strange» ways, til the end of 1980s. Their deviations are determined by variety of social, psychological and cultural reasons, because transformation from cultural phenomena of past centuries to youth subcultures is happening in last decade, which has lifestyle, ideology and music changed.

Youth subcultures are one of the most important kinds of subcultures and special parts of the society culture. The first signs of youth subcultures appear in early age, when young people feel so much power and energy, but can't find any kind of activity to materialize it. That is why youth is united by common problems and interests. These problems have their own «microworld», where there is no entry for adults. They, as a rule, deny «adult» culture. Members of subcultures are often guided by ideas of their subculture, rather than by adult advice and views. Therefore it is so important to study subculture's influence on youth today.

The term «subculture» is perceived mostly with negative relation, despite it is a significant factor of personality development. Generally, society perceives prefix «sub» [lat. «sub» - «under»] as a sign of marginal identification (self-identification) in society. As D. Hebdige poignantly notes, «The word' subculture' is loaded down with mystery. It suggests secrecy, masonic oaths, an Underworld. It also invokes the larger and no less difficult concept `culture'» [12, p. 4]. Definition of «subculture», which was explicated by American sociologist David Riesman, describes a group of people, who choose intentionally values and style preferred by minority. Social majority uses stereotypical markings, cliches for those who like or represent «subcultural» music styles and genres, despite they have conscious and articulate (although it is often unwonted for academic ear) attitude. In fact, youth subcultures don't broadcast any programmed negative contents or meanings. But the way they «apply» for self-realization, for acceptance of their community, as a special socio-cultural unit, which goes beyond the usual set of registration indicators of random association of individuals, is unusual.

There is no single definition of «community». This term is still being explicated. Generally, community is a multitude of people who are in communicative interaction. The definition of «community», within sociology science, has been edited for over forty years. The term had been tightly bound with people's geographic location, before modern vehicles and telecommunication technologies appeared. The word «community» had been used to define people, who lived on common territory, until XVII century.

In modern sense, community is a union of people, who are connected by common interests and purposes [5, p. 445]. In the context of this research we can detect and fix existence of «union of people» connected with «common interests» - music through which cultural and social preferences are broadcasted, certain values are actualized.

Subculture is rather motley and blurry phenomenon, its influence, as a rule, is temporary (search for something new; change of teenagers' hobbies till complete abandonment of former cultural priorities are inherent at this age). For the purpose of analysis of self expression of young people in context of musical preferences, we used musical genres and directions, which have articulated visually and ideologically «applications» for defining this communities as sociocultural units.

1. Musical community of «reggae».

Reggae is a didactic music, filled with consciousness of high service. A reggae musician despises pop-music, where artists only earn money and entertain people. He preaches, «carries out the mission», «discovers the truth». Bob Marley sang «I've been instructing people all my life, opening their eyes for those, who didn't see the truth». The representatives of this musical community are following the truths, which are laid into lyrics of songs they listen to, they are concentrated on creativity as a spiritual catharsis of consciousness. For them, spiritual food is the opportunity to escape from body poverty and paranoiac consciousness caused by social rules and laws. «Rastafari movement is an emergence of creative personalities who transform the world among the authoritarian mass of people tied with traditions» [1, p. 47].

The origin of the Reggae community liesin the post-colonial experience of the black people of Jamaica and Great Britain. This African heritage is reflected in the kind of music these communities produced: «It [Reggae] is cast in a unique style, in a language of its own - Jamaican patois, that shadow-form, `stolen' from the Master and mysteriously inflected, `decomposed' and reassembled in the passage from Africa to the West Indies. It moves to more ponderous and moody rhythms. It `rocks steady' around a bassline which is both more prominent and more austere. Its rhetoric is more densely constructed, and less diverse in origin; emanating in large part from two related sources - a distinctively Jamaican oral culture and an equally distinctive appropriation of the Bible. There are strong elements of Jamaican pentecostal, of `possession by the Word', and the call and response pattern which binds the preacher to his congregation, is reproduced in reggae. Reggae addresses a community in transit through a series of retrospective frames, [..] which reverse the historical sequence of migrations (Africa-Jamaica-Great Britain). It is the living record of a people's journey - of the passage from slavery to servitude - and that journey can be mapped along the lines of reggae's unique structure» [12, p. 31].

The representatives of «rastafarian» musical community are completely safe for society. They have a negative attitude towards opiates, amphetamine and alcohol usage, which they call «dark» narcotics, as well as psychotropic substances, it distinguishes them from the «hippie» subculture. As a rule, they are religious personalities. External message, which they send to the society, is, generally, rather simple, but at the same time, very catchy - simple colourful T-shirts, hand-knitted caps or hoodies, dreadlocks. Colour spectrum in clothes, attributes and symbols include three colours: red, yellow and green. This combination of colours is widespread throughout the world. Most rastafarians wear long dreadlocks, emphasizing their relation to their community.

«The language of youth, who participate in this musical community, is full of cliches from reggae songs, sometimes it, more than a half, consists of quotes from reggae: an argument weighs more in disputes if it's been taken from the lyrics of Bob Marley. Socialization of youth in this musical community is conducted in the way of listening of reggae lyrics - and when a young man joins the community of people who share his interests, he already knows the language, the behaviour code, the rules and values of this community. They value not a performance skill, virtuosity or melodic perfection in reggae, but «the Message» [4, p. 10].

Reggae, perhaps, is the most authentic musical community, which have been keeping its «covenants» till today. Although, reggae was displaced in 80s by new musical community - more vivid and ironic genre of «hip hop».

2. Musical community of «hip-hop».

«I love beats and rhymes, and I love the fact that you can express yourself in a rhyme and lay it down and it can be therapeutic, and you've got it off your chest, and then you could go on to the next thing», - the most controversial representative of this musical community said, known to many as a «white rapper» - Eminem [8]. Some kind of a credo of hiphop community sounds in these words. «Freedom of speech» is the main appeal of theirs. The main factor of their vital activity, the guarantor of strength and tenacious positions of this genre is its masculine connotation, which is expressed in performance and quality of music and lyrics. Performers of this musical genre are mostly men, as well as the fan audience of this community.

Boys, as a rule, are more often exposed to youth deviation in youth environment. Lyrics meaning of hip-hop helps to reduce aggression and crime level, sense of songs propose an alternative in embodiment of activity in artistic and social self-realization. Generally, these are social lyrics or self-centered ballads, where an artist is positioning himself as an important and active chain of the society, and, without his songs, listener's existence would be exposed to immoral acts from the artist himself and his audience. All in all, young people, members of this community, often try themselves in this genre and thereby shape their personalities as a creative, not a marginal one.

Hip-hop communities are widespread all over the world and the main part of their ideology is antiracism. Hip-hop is a positive alternative to drug addiction and gangsterism. Ideology of the hip-hop community is based on the ideas of equality of all nations and religions.

«This culture has become the onethat represents life of urban most completely and reminds about the roots which unite every man on the planet. It is expressed in the belief in one God, in different interpretations, from belief in Elohim in Ancient Egypt to belief in Allah and Jah. Notion of ideology is considered as the fifth element of hip-hop» [7].

Hip-hop became the factor stimulating the formation of positive ideological attitudes and ideological modes of modern youth.

One of the most stable musical communities is rock which proposes its provocative style of music, songs and clothes to the world.

3. Musical community of «rock».

«Imagine an alien landed outside and you have to tell him that the earth is a nice place to be. What would you say?»«If you listen to some rock you will hear, to me, the height of creative expression. So I'd give them a couple of albums and say go and listen to those and take them to your own world», - it's a quote from an interview with Roger Glover, a member of «Deep Purple».

Musical community of rock is remarkable in its «underground pathos» for a reason. I. S. Kon wrote, that rock is a nonconformist movement, declaring its opposition to entertaining, commercial music and «well-fed» lifestyle, denial of everything, especially all of the canons. Rock, as an art form, is a kind of version of a special act, combining music, theater, people's feast etc. This is a particular kind of direct connection between the artist and the audience [2, p. 165].

Rock contains in its basis countercultural perception, which is being received by society as a protest against morals. This kind of attitude to this community is due to the fact that self-expression of rock-music representatives still carries heat of riot and opposition to society. The subjects of this community, same way as the «artists», perceive social and cultural environment as a danger, which is determined by unstable social and cultural and economic situation. Members of the rock community choose this position for a reason. Frequently, in the eyes of others, the representatives of this movement are introverted, inactive youth.

Rocker's attributes, behaviour, riot spirit have strengthened the stereotype in people's minds about their danger and asociality.

In our opinion, countercultural basis makes rock a special kind of moral protest, the fact of opposition in which causes the phenomenon of rock reproduction. Rock music is on the border of confrontation between artistic aspirations and standardization requirements. British researcher, sociologist S. Frith expresses his point of view on problems of rock music. The difference between popularity of rock and popularity of pop music lies in the choice of audience itself and their activity. It is this feature of rock music that distinguishes rock from the mass commercial genres of «pop» [3, p. 35].

Researcher of musical influence on youth consciousness Adrian North said after the experiment he conducted: «One of the most surprising things is the similarities between fans of classical music and heavy metal. Metal fans, like classical listeners, tend to be creative, gentle people, at ease with themselves». The research also showed that fans of classical and rock music had the highest intelligence level [6].

Rock music has a specific function to form the values, patterns of behaviour through symbols on clothes, way of talking, confirming special lifestyle of certain group of youth. Lifestyle is a certain pattern of everyday life, which characterizes an individual as an intellectually developed personality.

4. Musical community of «hipsters».

The youth subculture of «hipsters» is not strictly musical. It is also based on specific lifestyle and views, no matter what music you listen to. This subculture is the one which does not require members to listen to certain music. Hipsters are a complex subculture which has taken many parts of its system from other subcultures. But there are some musical genres which are considered as music from and for hipsters and, at least for a decade, serve as an «entrance door» to this subculture.

Subculture of «hipsters» throws back to the 1930s-1940s jazz audience, where they were «existentialists, living a life surrounded by death - annihilated by atomic war or strangled by social conformity - and electing instead to «divorce oneself from society, to exist without roots, to set out on that uncharted journey into the rebellious imperatives of the self» [9; 10]. Nowadays, considering different political situation, hipsters have different views but with some echoes from the middle of 20th century.

Contemporary hipsters appeared in the early 1990s-2000s, and this word «was reborn...to describe a generation of middle-class youths interested in an alternative art and music scene. But instead of creating a culture of their own, hipsters proved content to borrow from trends long past» [9]. Under the influence of MTV and new age of Internet, those people realized all the diversity of alternative music groups and genres which are very different from all those pop-stars from TV. This idea of alternative and non-conformism became the basis of hipsters' community ideology.

Hipsters today are not a subculture in accustomed sense. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, the term «hipsters» is not the endonym for them. «Ask a person matching these descriptions if they are hipster, and they will likely deny the label. It has become a term of stigmatization, used by those outside the subgroup» [11, p. 31]. «Hipster» is quite an offensive word, meaning «poser», «trend-hunter», someone, who shares their views because it is trendy. Secondly, which depends on the first, hipsters don't have a self-name at all, so they don't identify themselves as a unified subculture. It distinguishes this community from other musical communities - hipsters don't emphasize the «unity» of community members, like rap or reggae communities do. Every hipster is an independent personality who has the same views as other hipsters have, but they are not pushed to be a cohesive community. This approach stimulates creativity, which is reflected in their startups, hand-crafting business, art etc.

Indie, rock, pop, any independent music, are considered by society as hipsters' music. Generally, it isn't far from truth. As far as their ideology is based on the idea of non-conformism and alternative views, most of hipsters listen to independent, little-known artists who present another look on music which is not dictated by music labels or old and rare artists. And if they are the only ones who know this artist - it is the reason to be proud of themselves, because it is so alternative.

Although such kind of approach is a pretentious way to feed an ego, it is also a way of broadening horizons, cognition of different music, literature, movies, a way of cultural enrichment.

An ambition to find something rare and exclusive in music leads to new online and offline communities of hipsters where you can become a new member. Important role of music in vitality and expansion of this community makes «hipsters» one of the most popular musical subcultures of 2000-2010s.

Alternate views of hipsters appear in other distinctive features of their subculture: behaviour standards, lifestyle, clothes. A stereotypical hipster wears a rare sweatshirt or T-shirt with post-modern print, skinny jeans and old-styled sneakers, and full beard, for boys. Such kind of style is rather neutral, although it contains hipsters' message, universal and accessible for every person who wants to be a member of the community.

This youth community connects passion to rareness and modernity surprisingly. While in art hipsters prefer rareness (music sound from 60s, movies from 50s), in their everyday life they are really modern. They support veganism, environmental protection, globalism, eco-transport, liberal values, etc.

Alternative independent music, specific meeting places, progressive and useful for society behaviour and habits are pretentious, from the point of view of society, but at that time very beneficial for it. Thus, the subculture of hipsters is completely beneficial in youth personality development. New members of this community, under its influence, become culturally more aware, more tolerant and less dangerous for environment. Despite hipsters differ from other musical community, they are probably the most helpful for modern social affairs.

Analyzing the problem of youth socialization in context of subcultures, which is expressed in the lack of ways of interiorization of social norms by the subjects of informal youth movements (which have specific external features, ideology and musical preferences, different from conventional ones), we have emphasized the musical communities (the most significant and famous in subcultural formations, as reggae, hiphop, rock, hipsters). Potentially, music contains socializing opportunities because of specific concentration and transmission of emotionality, especially those genresthat are closer to youth emotionally and stylistically; music performs communicative and group forming functions, intended to unite and rally people. A socializing function of music consists in meeting the basic social needs of a modern young man: communication with peers, looking for like- minded people, self-identification with their own kind, looking for new ideals and values, compensation of social uncertainty about their position in society: «... the styles with which they [subcultures] are identified cannot be adequately or usefully described as `art of high degree'. Rather they manifest culture in the broader sense, as systems of communication, forms of expression and representation. They conform to the structural anthropologists' definition of culture as `coded exchanges of reciprocal messages'. In the same way, subcultural styles do indeed qualify as art but as art in (and out of) particular contexts; not as timeless objects, judged by the immutable criteria of traditional aesthetics, but as appropriations', `thefts', subversive transformations, as movement» [12, p. 129].

The features of the ways of musical socialization are their emotional coloring and colorfulness, feeling of unity during musical interactions which correspond to psycho-age features of youth age and determine efficiency of applying the musical resources in the process of youth socialization.

References

1. Bowen, W., 1971. `Ras Tafarism and the New Society', Savacou: Kingston, June №5, р.47.

2. Кон, ИС., 1989. `Психология ранней юности: Кн. Для учителя', Москва, с.165.

3. Кнабе, ГС., 2006. `Рок-музыка и рок-среда как формы контркультуры. Избранные труды. Теория и история культуры', Москва; СПб.

4. Сосновский, Н., 2016. `Культура растафари', Москва, с.195.

5. `Словарь русского языка: В 4-х т.', 1999, РАН, Ин-т лингвистич. исследований; Под ред. А. П. Евгеньевой, 4-е изд., стер., М.: Рус. яз.; Полиграфресурсы, T.IV. Статья, 797 с.

6. `Рок полезен для ума.'. [online] Доступно: http://www. pravda.ru/science/planet/humanbeing/11-07-2012/1121597-rock_ popsa-0/.

7. `Zulu Nation - идеология хип-хопа'. [online] Доступно: http://ibboy.ru/bboywiki/interesting/item/150-zulu-nation- ideologiya-hip-hop.html.

8. Eminem. Zane Lowe. Part 2. [online] Available at: https:// youtu.be/tK9jX91XuT8?t=199

9. `Hipsters'. [online] Available at: http://content.time.com/ time/arts/article/0,8599,1913220,00.html

10. `The White Negro (Fall 1957): Norman Mailer's inflammatory 1957 essay on the original «hipsters»'. [online] Available at: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/the-white-negro- fall-1957

11. Lauren, M., 2010. `The Search For Authenticity: `How Hipsters Transformed From A Local Subculture To A Global Consumption Collective', Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University: Washington DC. [online]

Available at: https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/ handle/10822/552895/alfreyLauren.pdf?sequence

12. Hebdige, Dick, 1979. `Subculture: The Meaning of Style',

London: Routledge.

References (transliteration)

1. Bowen, W., 1971. `Ras Tafarism and the New Society',

Savacou: Kingston, June №5, p.47.

2. Kon, IS., 1989. `Psihologija rannej junosti: Kn. Dlja uchitelja (Psychology of early adolescence: Textbook: For teacher)', Moskva, s.165.

3. Knabe, GS., 2006. `Rok-muzyka i rok-sreda kak formy kontrkul'tury. Izbrannye trudy. Teorija i istorija kul'tury (Rock music and rock environment as a form of counterculture. Selected works.Theory and history of culture)', Moskva; SPb.

4. Sosnovskij, N., 2016. `Kul'tura rastafari (Rastafarian culture)', Moskva, s.195.

5. `Slovar' russkogo jazyka (Russian dictionary): V 4-h t.',

1999, RAN, In-t lingvistich. issledovanij; Pod red. A. P. Evgen'evoj,

4-e izd., ster., M.: Rus. jaz.; Poligrafresursy, T.IV. Stat'ja, 797 s.

6. `Rok polezen dlja uma_ (Rock is good for the mind)'.

[online] Dostupno:http://www.pravda.ru/science/planet/

humanbeing/11-07-2012/1121597-rock_popsa-0/.

7. `Zulu Nation - ideologija hip-hopa (Zulu Nation - the ideology of hip-hop)'. [online] Dostupno: http://ibboy.ru/bboywiki/ interesting/item/150-zulu-nation-ideologiya-hip-hop.html.

8. Eminem. Zane Lowe. Part 2. [online] Available at: https:// youtu.be/tK9jX91XuT8?t=199

9. `Hipsters'. [online] Available at: http://content.time.com/ time/arts/article/0,8599,1913220,00.html

10. `The White Negro (Fall 1957): Norman Mailer's inflammatory 1957 essay on the original «hipsters»'. [online] Available at: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/the-white-negro- fall-1957

11. Lauren, M., 2010. `The Search For Authenticity: `How Hipsters Transformed From A Local Subculture To A Global Consumption Collective', Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University: Washington DC. [online]

Available at: https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/ handle/10822/552895/alfreyLauren.pdf?sequence

12. Hebdige, Dick, 1979. `Subculture: The Meaning of Style', London: Routledge.

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