Classical Sociologists on Music and Society

Music is a social phenomenon and a product of social life. There is no culture in which there would be no music. Throughout history, people have created and reproduced music, at the same time making it an important aspect of artistic, aesthetic and social life.  Sociological reflection on music and society is as old as sociology as a science, and has much to offer contemporary sociologists. More or less systematic assumptions about the musical life can be found in the reflection of such great classics of sociology, as Herbert Spencer, Georg Simmel, Max Weber, Alfred Schutz, Pitirim Sorokin, Norbert Elias, etc.  

Despite the rich theoretical base and a long tradition of social thought on musical life, the sociology of music (as a part of the sociology of arts) is probably one of the most theoretically and methodologically neglected social science sub-discipline. The problem of its theoretical backwardness was stressed out by Alphons Silbermann (1962) many years ago. Its interdisciplinary character causes many theoretical problems, such as incoherence and lack of consistent conceptual grid.  There is also poor debate on the role and significance of classical sociology reflection on music and society in the contemporary sociology.

The main goal of the paper is to consider the theoretical tradition of social thought on music and society in the classical sociology, especially in such aspects as: musical practices of societies, rationalization of music (Weber), musical identity of groups (Simmel), musical roles (Elias) or musical interactions (Schutz). The leitmotiv of the presentation is to show how theoretical assumptions of classical sociologists on music and society can be useful for contemporary sociology of music.