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How Does Music Influence The Social Movement

Good Essays

Charles Keller
English 101
Dr. Thom Young
July 24,2015
How Music Influences Social Change and Shapes Social Movements Have you ever stopped and thought about the music that serves as a back drop for major cultural movements in society. It has been a part of every major movement that has happened throughout history. Those in charge or lead these movements know that music can add additional power and emotion to help the cause. When you watch a documentary about the civil rights movement or the vietnam war there is always music in the background and as your listening to the narrarator its subconciously affecting you and adding an emotional edge to whats going on. It makes you feel like a part of the protest, and makes you want to get invested …show more content…

Wikipedia describes a social movement as, "Social movents are a type of group action. They are large, sometimes informal, groupings of individuals or organizations which focus on specific political or social issues. In other words, they carry out, resist or undo a social change". Looking at this definition it is easy to see how music plays a part in this action. If there is one thing that most people have in common or you could say a common ground it is music, most poeple listen to and enjoy music. There are few things that cross race, religion, politics, culture as effectively as music does. With the advent of modern technology and social networking sites, music will continue to play an important role for future generations in social …show more content…

Culture and music are woven together you cant seperate them. You can use music itself as a tool to organize rally's and to get a movement going and keep it from stagnating. It allows you to find people who share the same views and there is power in numbers. It is a starting point to how to get people to gather in large numbers like a rally cry. You almost instinctively know that if there is an event that is promoting a band or music you like, you know there is going to be people there with the same political, social and ideals that you share. Would you want to go to listen to people preach a subject or would you rather go to a concert with bands that share the same outlook and views to hear a message. While attending an event with music everyone would feel emotionally tied together. Once you have many people in one area you could collect money, get people to commint to giving their time for grassroots activism and refine your message more. Music at this point becomes a shared part of the movement. This allows for further gains and bigger events. At some point with enough momentum and support people start to take notice of the cause or movement. At times this allows for signifigant changes in history of a particular era to cause change for years to come. For movements to get momentum and standout you need something extra and music provides this

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