Issues of Taste, Identity and Sociability in Digitality
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Finding Meaning in the Masses: Issues of Taste, Identity and Sociability in Digitality Melissa K. Avdeeff PhD Musicology The University of Edinburgh 2011 MK AVDEEFF DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis, submitted in candidature for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, and the research contained herein is of my own composition, except where explicitly stated in the text, and was not previously submitted for the award of any other degree or professional qualification at this or any other university. ______________________________________________ Melissa K. Avdeeff, 17 April 2011 i MK AVDEEFF ii MK AVDEEFF ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on the development of sociability within digitality, through an examination of three primary relationships: people and music, people and the Web 2.0 and people and each other. Mobile digital devices, such as the iPod, represent the convergence of musical taste and the internet. Both are inherently social, and, while critics have accused mobile digital devices as being socially isolating, the youth in this study have demonstrated an environment in which this technology is used as a means of communication. For these digital youth, such technologies are seen as a gateway to communication and the sharing of experiences. Having grown up fully immersed in digitality, these youth are negotiating new relationships with technology and each other, through the perceived invisibility of the technology. An important aspect of this research is the formation of identity and taste in digitality. Music is an integral facet of identity, a means to relate to others and form judgments on those we meet – but how is this affected by digitality? The internet encourages a loss of genre distinction, and a culture of eclecticism, whereby people can listen to a multitude of genres, often without knowing what exactly they are listening to, and without aligning their identities with specific genres or subgenres. Based on empirical data, it is demonstrated that this fragmentation of taste matches an intensified fragmentation of identity through social networking sites. iii MK AVDEEFF iv MK AVDEEFF ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has been quite a journey. To begin, I would like to thank my supervisor, Simon Frith, for his wisdom and encouragement. Thanks to Peter Nelson, my second supervisor, for helping to make my thesis more streamlined. For their interest and excellent comments on my research, thanks to my examiners, Nick Prior and Tia DeNora. Throughout the past four years I’ve had incredible support from friends, family, and colleagues in Edinburgh and abroad. I thank you all, wholeheartedly. This thesis would not be possible without the massive amount of people who filled out my survey and took part in the interviews. The way in which respondents talked about their emotional connections with music was particularly inspiring. A special thank you goes out to Grete Steen-Henriksen, the best editor and mom anyone could hope for. <3 v MK AVDEEFF vi MK AVDEEFF TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables & Figures……………………………………………………………ix Introduction……………………………………………………...…………………..1 PART I: Music and Everyday Life: Issues of Taste and Identity 1.1: Taste and Everyday Life.................................................................................…...5 1.2: Music and Everyday Life…………………...……………………..……………47 1.3: What Are People Listening To?……………...…..…………………………......79 1.4: Musical Taste and Identity: A Culture of Eclecticism………...……………....101 PART II: Internet: Communication and Identity 2.1: The Internet and Everyday Life……………………………...……….……….143 2.2: The Online Disinhibition Effect…………….………………….……….…….173 2.3: iDentity…………………………………………………………..……………185 PART III: iPod Culture and Concepts of Sociability 3.1: Where Meaning and User Cross Lines……...………………………………...201 3.2: iPod Culture and Idiosociability…………..……………………….………….233 Conclusion…………………………………..…………………………………….263 Works Cited…………………………………...…………………………………..269 Appendix I: Methodologies………...…………………..……..………………….281 Appendix II: Survey……………………………………………………………...289 Appendix III: Online Interview…...…………..……………………………..…297 vii MK AVDEEFF viii MK AVDEEFF LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES Table 1: Demographic Information of Survey Respondents: Country………………7 Figure 1: Demographic Information of Survey Respondents: Age/Year……………8 Table 2: Demographic Information of Survey Respondents: Age/Decade…….……9 Table 3: Demographic Information of Survey Respondents: Highest Level of Education Completed………………………………………………………..10 Table 4: Demographic Information of Survey Respondents: Current Occupational Status…………………………………..…………………………………….10 Table 5: Demographic Information of Survey Respondents: Current Marital Status (total)……………………...…………………………………………………11 Table 6: Demographic Information of Survey Respondents: Current marital status (divided)………………..……………………………………………………11 Table 7: Survey Reponses: General Activities (total)………………………………21 Table 8: Highest Level of Education Completed (total)……………..……………..23 Table 9: Pearson Correlation Test: General Activities / Educational Levels…...….24 Figure 2: Means Plot: Read for Pleasure Mean Frequencies / Education Levels…..25 Figure 3: Means Plot: Play Video Games / Education Levels………………..…….26 Table 10: ANOVA Results: General Activities / Educational Level Groups…..…..27 Figure 4: Means Plot: Visit Museums / Educational Level Groups………….…….28 Table 11: Means: Visit Museums / Educational Level Groups……….……………28 Figure 5: Means Plot: Visit Art Galleries / Educational Level Groups….…………29 Table 12: Means: Visit Art Galleries / Educational Level Groups……..…………..29 Figure 6: Means Plot: Visit Historical Sites / Educational Level Groups…….……30 Table 13: Means: Visit Historical Sites / Educational Level Groups…….………...30 Table 14: ANOVA Results: General Activities / Occupational Status Groups…….31 Table 15: Means Charts: Statistically Significant General Activities / Occupational Status……………………………………………………..………………….33 ix MK AVDEEFF Table 16: Means Charts: General Activities / Marital Status…………………...….35 Table 17: ANOVA Results: General Activities / Gender ……………...…………..37 Table 18: Linear Regression Results: General Activities / Age……………………39 Table 19: ANOVA Results: General Activities / Age by Decade……….…………40 Table 20: Means: Decades / General Activities………………...…………………..41 Table 21: Pearson Correlation Coefficient: General Activities / Genres (selected)…………………………………………………………………….44 Table 22: Mean Frequencies: Musical Activities (total)………..………………….57 Table 23: ANOVA Results: Gender and Musical Activities (total) ……………….61 Table 24: ANOVA Results: Gender and Musical Activities, Split by Generation………………………………………………………………...…62 Table 25: Survey Responses: Genres (total) ……………...………………………..87 Table 26: Survey Reponses: Number 1 Favourite Genre Selections……….………91 Table 27: Pearson Correlation Coefficient: Educational Levels / Musical Genre...108 Figure 7: Means Plot: Educational Level / Folk……………………..……………109 Table 28: ANOVA Results: Education Levels / Genres…..………………………110 Figure 8:Means Plot: Educational Levels / Classical Music…………..………….111 Figure 9: Means Plot: Educational Levels / Death Metal………...……………….112 Figure 10: Means Plot: Educational Levels / Rock Music………..………………113 Table 29: Mean Frequencies: Factors Influencing Musical Tastes……………….114 Table 30: ANOVA Results: Generation / Musical Genres (Sig = >0.01)…….…..123 Table 31: Survey Responses: Internet Activities…………....……………………161 Table 32: Survey Responses: Generations / Internet Activities ………….…...….162 Table 33: ANOVA Results: Internet Activities (in favour of older generation)….164 Table 34: ANOVA Results: Internet Activities (in favour of younger generation)………………………………………………………………....166 x MK AVDEEFF Table 35: Mean Frequencies: Using social networking sites (divided by age)…...197 Table 36: MP3 Player Ownership: Split by Generation……………..……………221 Table 37: MP3 Player Ownership: Split by Decade…………...………………….222 Table 38: MP3 Player Activities: Mean Frequency of Participation (total)………223 Table 39: ANOVA Results: Gender and MP3 Player Activities………………….225 Table 40: ANOVA Results: Generation / MP3 Player Activities………………....226 xi MK AVDEEFF xii MK AVDEEFF INTRODUCTION At its most basic level, this thesis is about relationships. More specifically, it is about how we organise social relationships within our current cultural environment, which is defined by, and is defining digitality. Technology and media, two processes essential to digitality, are explored as to how they are impacting the creation of taste, identity, and sociability. As humans, our identity is complex and multifaceted, but through our tastes we show others aspects of who we are. The ways in which we form relationships with media, technology, and each other, is interrelated and in constant flux. This thesis explores these relationships, with a special focus on the media that is music, something which has not yet been explored within the concept of digitality. I came to this topic primarily through an interest in music. Academically, and personally, I have always been interested in why people listen to music, what they are listening to, and how they go about sharing the listening experience with others. As well, new media technologies have always caught my attention, so this project allowed me to combine these interests into a large-scale research project, which looked at the role of technology in social relationships and musical taste. The project originally started with a focus on the iPod, as a