Musical Sociology: A Sociology That Is Inspired By Music

According to literature about music and sociology, the Sociology of Music is defined as the sociological analysis of Music, that is, the study of musical behavior and its role in society. Musical Sociology is defined as the Sociology inspired by the art of the muses, that is, music. To our knowledge, this is the first work that presents and differentiates Musical Sociology from the Sociology of Music. For this work, we have developed an extensive literature review that includes the reading and commenting of works of both Sociology of Music and Musical Sociology in public gatherings and debates since 1995. As a result, it has been seen that the Sociology of Music includes excellent works that explore music's role in society and even social changes, including the analyses of Verdi’s influence in the Italian unification or music’s role in fostering social cohesion, among other topics. However, it also englobes works that show a remarkable ignorance about music and have perpetuated social inequalities.

An example is ‘The Distinction’ by Bourdieu, where, besides the elementary mistake of confusing correlation with a causal relationship, he denotes his musical ignorance in the examples he exposes of musical works that show distinction among social classes. He depicts the ‘Well-Tempered Clavier’ by Bach as a music oeuvre unknown by popular classes, ignoring that such music is so popular among citizens that it even appears in Hollywood movies. On the other hand, Musical Sociology is exemplified by the Dialogic Society theory, inspired by the nine muses, which guide the orientations to achieve a sociology that citizens like and use. It also overcomes social inequalities by giving people the right to access and enjoy music, leaving behind cultural elitism, as in the case of Dialogic Music Gatherings.