The production and consumption of the commodity community: Playing, working and making it in the local music scene Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Burkhardt, Paul Edward Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 04/10/2021 03:24:52 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288991 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfihn master. UMI films the text directty from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter &ce, v«Me others may be from any ^pe of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howdl Iiifi)niiation ConqiaiQr 300 North Zed> Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 THE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF THE COMMODITY COMMUNITY: PLAYING, WORKING AND MAKING IT IN THE LOCAL MUSIC SCENE by Paul Edward Buikhardt Copyright €) Paul Edward Burkhardt 1999 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the GRADUATE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM IN COMPARATIVE CULTURAL AND LITERARY STUDIES In Partial FuLGllment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1999 UMJ Number: 9927529 Copyrigh.t 1999 by Btirkhardt, Paul Edward All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9927529 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA « GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee* we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Paul Edward Burkhardt entitled The Production and Consumption of the Commodity Community: Playing, Working and Making it in the Local Music Scene and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 26 • iii- ^ Jarbara-Babcock , "«iteDate ^ 2^ MAg?? ., , £/ Date 'Eileen Meehan , Ana Alonso. Wall^n^trrt H |[ Date ^Nl guuuL^Ji V.— "Slzu J <H9 \J \ DaH ? James Griffith Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Dissertation Director Date Barbara Babcock 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fiilfiUment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I ectend heartfelt thanks to the members of n^ dissertation committee - Barbara Babcock, Ana Aionso, Eileen Meehan, Melanie Wallendorf and ^ GrifiGth - for the time and energy they have generously invested in my education generally, but particularly in the dissertation process. Indeed, their insightfiil suggestions for supplemental reading, re-thinking and revision have fundamoitally affected both the content and structure of this narrative. In particular, Aionso pointed out a recent book by Gottdeiner (I99S) that fiirther develops his postmodern semiotics. Further, she commented that I might have employed the concepts of "play" and roles developed in the line of thought following the work of Erving GoflBnan (1959,1967,1974) and Victor Turner (1975, 1977, 1982). EUeen Meehan made a brirf comment that I "might consider these activities [of expressive consumption, performance and self-marketing] as work" - a brief comment that has proved most productive indeed. In a later conversation, Meehan noted similarities between my evolving approach to my fieldwork and the woric of Thorstein Vdilen (1973) and "the everyday life stuflP* - stuff which I had not yet read. And Barbara Babcock, nay dissertation director, suggested that I should include a ch^er in my dissertation on the development and uses of the concept "community." I must also point out Melanie Wallendorf s suggestion that I consider Appadurai's (1986) jqjproach to commodification qua process as well as her generous guidance through the highlights of critical marketing work, both in general and as it might be relevant to my particular project. And my sense of indebtedness to Jim GrifBth - with whom I have had the pleasure to work and leam in a variety of personal and professional contexts - just plain defies descriptioiL SufiBce to say that I have learned both the importance and power of respect and honor fi'om his ecample. His approaches to relationships both in and out of the field are still compatible with critical, postmodern academic work. In short, I have benefited greatly fi-om these comments made by my collaborators in the academic community and this dissertation is a direct result of the readings and reconceptualizations stemming fi'om the help of all of my committee members. Thanks! 5 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my immediate and extended family - a true community that has provided support, inspiration and gentle prodding throughout my education. Thanks to all, but particularly to Grandma Olson who has nurtured a value for education in all the generations she has influenced whether in the classroom or in our homes. She passed away the morning after n^ defense of this dissertation. This dissertation is also dedicated to all the musicians with whom Fve shared the various stages of my life. Deep thanks particularly to Mary Sarvak - for everything (poke!). Thanks also to John Baldridge, Bob Steigert, John Lamont, T. Gregg Squires, and the other members of Dirty Pool, Hipster Dogma and Mary's Attic for the wonderful communal (and at times frustrating) «q)eriences of work and play informing this dissertation. These musicians have been not only close friends, but also collaborators in my efforts to make sense of our ecperiences as a band trying to "make it." While the dissertation committee and the disciplines they represent are cleaiiy my primary audience, I have tried to write a narrative that is also coherent, meaningful and useful for my collaborators in the field. For this reason, I often explain or quote - in some detail - concepts and currents of academic thought which are traditionally referenced with brief gestures. Thanks also to Maja-Lisa von Sneidem as well as to Myron and Tammy Burnett for generously opening their lives and their homes to me during the writing of this dissertation. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 8 1. INTRODUCTION 10 LI Ten Years ofRocfc, Eight Years of Cultural Theory 12 1^ A Cognitive Map of the Contexts of Community and Consumption 23 13 Structure and Sjmopsis of the Thesis 30 2. HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE COMMUNITIES STUDIED 38 2.1 Modernization: From Community to Society the Hard Way 40 2.2 Community Lost? Community Found? 49 23 SystemsofSymbolsandCommunityHierarchy 58 2.4 ABriefHistoryofTimeintheField 66 3. THE CONSUMPTION OF IDENTITY 83 3.1 A Quick Gaze at Advertising and Mass Consumption 85 3.2 Consuming Playful Roles: Remembering the Ecstasy* Harmony and Discord 94 33 From the Subcultures of Chicago 105 3.4 Through the Mass Culture of Frankfurt 109 3.5 To the Subcultures of Cultural Studies at Birmingham 113 4. THE PRODUCTION OF HIERARCHY 121 4.1 A Re-Presentation of Community 123 4.2 Community Imagined, Community Performed 132 43 A Metaphoric Detour through the Prisonhouse of Gramsci's Articulations 138 4.4 From Backstage to Front: "Taking on the Audience" for "Personal Retribution" 154 5. CONSUMING SUBSYSTEMS OF SELF-PRODUCTION 165 5.1 It's Just Everyday Life in the Modem World 167 5.2 Changing Technologies and Services of Production Consumed 174 53 De Certeau's Metaphors: The Valor of Resistant Speech 196 5.4 Self-Production: Valorization through Meaningful Speech and Self-Sampling 204 5.5 Everyday IMe And Beyond 217 5.6 A More Postmodern Semiotics? 223 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Contumed 6. CONSUMPTIVE LABOR: ON THE PRODUCTION OF LEISURE WORK, SELF-EXPRESSION AND COMMODITIES 234 6.1 A Look at the Blindspot in Western Marxism 236 6J. Fun Labor and Expensive Work 241 6.3 Frankfurt versus Chicago? What about Illinois? 255 6.4 The Difficult Production of Consumption 264 7. EXCHANGING THE COMMODITY COMMUNITY 282 7.1 Towards the Commodity Communis 284 7.2 Interactive Leisure: Simultaneity, Value and Commodities 302 8.