Material Culture and Embodied Action

Sociological Notes on the Examination of Musical Instruments in Jazz Improvisation

Bibliographic Data

ID8043541
AuthorsWill Gibson (0000-0001-9874-5390, University of London, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume54
Issue1
Pages171-187
Publication date2006-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-954x.2006.00607.x
OpenAlexW1546664302
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited22

This paper argues that the examination of technologies and their social contexts, which form the basis of the material culture perspective, can be strengthened through an increased awareness of the intersubjective and embodied features of social action. With reference to the ways in which jazz musicians improvise with instruments through embodied praxological skills ( Sudnow, 1978 ) and intersubjective art world knowledge ( Becker, 1982 ), the paper demonstrates the empirical value of these basic sociological concepts. It shows that the ‘affordances’ of usage ( Gibson, 1979 ) that result from social actors' application of objects through orientation to normative procedure become visible through an understanding of embodied habituated social practice, and it is exactly such affordances that constitute the contextual relevance of materiality for social action

Affordance · Improvisation · Jazz · Materiality · Social practice · Sociology of culture · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Music History and Culture · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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