Affect and Taste: Bourdieu, Traditional Music, and the Performance of Possibilities

Abstract

In his famous Distinction, Bourdieu set forth musical and artistic taste as reflections of class positions developed early in life. With classical music as an explanatory tool, Bourdieu argued that cultural capital becomes deeply embodied and difficult to change. In temperance of Bourdieu's use of class, we suggest an affective theory of taste through the case of traditional music, based on a performance of possibilities inspired by our experiences in two pubs, one English and one Irish.Commonly played in pubs, traditional music can draw on rural lore to share its message with singing patrons of mixed class backgrounds. We use traditional music to argue that place shapes diverse social ties at all levels of economics, education, and age. We do not dispute that class powerfully shapes taste. But through what we term the joy of transcendence-formed through distinct and relative experiences, bonds, and friendships, enacted through place-participants can find pleasure in opening the cages of class and connecting across difference. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 2 Bourdieu at Tig CoiliWe were, would you say, a little tipsy. We had been in and out of pubs all afternoon, spending our Sunday in our own religious way. Bourdieu had been busy too, writing manuscripts, dissecting classes, and unearthing dominations. At long last, he had a free moment to walk with us down the streets of Galway.As we walked, Bourdieu fit in a few lessons. An elderly lad with rumpled clothes wavered unsteadily on Shop Street. We knew Pat, and often he looked dishevelled. Today he was muttering, staring downward, shuffling his feet as he wandered along. Nearby, a neatly dressed man in a pinstriped suit passed him out at a brisk pace, not very leisurely for a Sunday. Bourdieu noted the passing humanity and remarked, Style is thus foregrounded, and the most typically bourgeois deportment can be recognized by a certain breadth of gesture, posture and gait, which manifests by the amount of physical space that is occupied, the place occupied in social space; and above all by a restrained measured, self-assured tempo. This slow pace, contrasting with working-class haste or petit-bourgeois eagerness, also characterizes bourgeois speech, where it similarly asserts awareness of the right to take one's time -and other people's (1984: 218).But who was Bourdieu describing, we puzzled? Pat's walk certainly was not restrained, nor self-assured, but it was indeed slow. The tidily dressed man commanded the social space of the sidewalk, but his pace was quick. Bourdieu had few other details to share, but we did. When we first started frequenting our now favourite pub Tig Coili during the height of the "Celtic Tiger" period of Ireland's economy, we inquired about the wandering man. Galway was then the fastest growing city of its size in Europe, and Pat, we learned, owned a nearby farm valued at over €2 million. Pat had much to celebrate, apparently, for he chose to drink often, sleeping mostly on the streets, while pub Page 2 of 34 S...

Rap and Mizoued Music: Claiming a Space for Dissent and Protest in Post-Arab Spring Tunisia

“…While not entirely discrediting Bourdieu’s theory of taste as tied to social class, Ashwood and Bell (2016) argue that taste is attached to affection and that ‘transcendence’ can overcome class differences, hence opening Bourdieu’s cages of class and habitus. Feelings of transcendence when listening to Mizoued may translate into a sense of nostalgia; one of Foroudi’s (2019) informants said, when asked why the Mizoued genre is back on the music chart, that ‘[The music] makes us think of our grandparents, the old neighborhoods, weddings, the smells of these places’ (para.…”

O feeling do rock: A Formação do Gosto nas Relações Organizadas de Vínculo entre músicos amadores e rock music

“…Por outro lado, críticas são feitas à abordagem do autor, destacando que esta acaba por atribuir o gosto a questões sociais (Hennion & Muecke, 2016), de forma a desconsiderar aspectos como questões afetivas que também tomam parte em sua formação (Ashwood & Bell, 2017). Na abordagem bourdieusiana, o gosto pela música, por exemplo, seria tido como uma afirmação de classe, desconsiderando afetividades que muitas vezes atravessam classes sociais (Ashwood & Bell, 2017).…”

"This is music!”

“…Although the argument that economic inequality has increased in the world in recent decades remains valid, a new dynamic has emerged. Not only have elites ceased to necessarily exhibit a taste for classical music, but classical music is also increasingly appreciated by those outside of high society (Ashwood & Bell, 2017). Queiroz (2004) highlights that there are several musical universes in Brazil that characterize a cultural/musical context full of different meanings, uses and functions, marking the identity diversity of Brazilian culture.…”