Boundaries and Early Jazz

Defining a New Music

Bibliographic Data

ID2412187
AuthorsScott Appelrouth (0000-0003-4334-1932, California State University, Northridge, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume5
Issue2
Pages225-242
Publication date2011-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCultural Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1749-9755 • E-ISSN: 1749-9763
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1749975510378190
OpenAlexW2039279124
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited37

The diffusion of jazz into the musical mainstream during the 1920s served as a site for the struggle to define ongoing changes both in the arts and in the broader society. I analyze the discursive themes that framed the contention over the music by connecting the notion of boundary-work to fields of cultural production. In doing so, I demonstrate that the content of boundary-work is shaped by the field in which a speaker is positioned. 'High' and popular artists, civic and political leaders, and general cultural critics defined differently the alleged impact of jazz. These differences in content fueled the dynamism of the contention by giving expression to the different interests at stake, interests that reflect the specific authority to name the truth generated by a given field

Aesthetics · Art · Dynamism · Epistemology · Ideology · Improvisation · Jazz · Mainstream · Media studies · Musical · Political science · Politics · Sociology · The arts · Visual arts · Law · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics