preview

Music Taste And Its Effect On Your Own Image

Decent Essays

As humans we are often categorized into certain social or economic groups, for example high class or low class or simply the nerdy or the “cool”. In an attempt to jump social circles one can employ musical taste to fit in with different groups. By simply claiming you hate one band, and love another you can completely shift the way people characterize you. As Bourdieu and Wilson lay out in this chapter, taste is a way to “fight for power and status” with your peers. It allows one to “condemn those beneath you”. Musical taste is a tool to categorize people and also shift the way you are personally characterized. If you are in tune with current musical trends and opinions of those around you, this can give you back control to help shape your own image. Music taste can be employed as a device to make friends, to jump social circles or to remain in one. Bourdieu claims that “taste is a subconscious mechanism through which we fight for power and status” (101). I would argue that currently, taste is more of a conscious effort when used to distinguish oneself. Today, there are so many new platforms to share opinions, such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. These platforms allow individuals to construct their own image, therefore while using these platforms to share tastes, music tastes specifically, people are conscious of what they are sharing and stating. In that case, when an individual is trying to engage with the mainstream through social media, they would most likely tweet,

Get Access