Music and Social Movements Mobilizing Traditions in the Twentieth Century

This highly readable book is among the first to link social movement and cultural theory. Building on previous studies, the authors examine the mobilization of cultural traditions and the formation of new collective identities through the music of activism. Specific chapters examine American folk and country music, black music, music of the sixties, and the transfer of the American experience to Europe.

Building on their studies of sixties culture and theory of cognitive praxis, Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison examine the mobilization of cultural traditions and formulation of new collective identities through the music of activism. They combine a sophisticated theoretical argument with historical-empirical studies of nineteenth-century populists and twentieth-century labour and ethnic movements, focusing on the interrelations between music and social movements in the United States and the transfer of those experiences to Europe. Specific chapters examine folk and country music, black music, music of the 1960s movements, and music of the Swedish progressive movement. This highly readable book is among the first to link the political sociology of social movements to cultural theory.

Introduction; 1. On social movements and culture; 2. Taking traditions seriously; 3. Making an alternative popular culture: from populism to the popular front; 4. The movements of black music: from the New Negro to civil rights; 5. Politics and music in the 1960s; 6. From the sixties to the nineties: the case of Sweden; 7. Structures of feeling and cognitive praxis.

In their groundbreaking new study of the music of activism, Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison examine the mobilization of cultural traditions and the formation of collective identities through music and song. Chapters consider folk and country music, black music, and music of sixties social movements.