Music, Ideology, and Emerging Political Elites: Musical Taste and Aesthetic Sensibilities Among Young Politicians in Norway
Music, Ideology, and Emerging Political Elites: Musical Taste and Aesthetic Sensibilities among Young Politicians in Norway Torgeir Nærland Whereas studies of the politics of music have overwhelmingly focused on how popular audiences, subcultures and social movements engage with music, only minimal attention has been given to how the relationship between music and politics manifests in political elites, and the degree to which these invest music with political significance. Based on a survey conducted among the members of the youth wings of five major political parties in Norway, this study demonstrates marked oppositions in musical taste and aesthetic sensibilities, which systematically follow the ideological left-right axis of Norwegian party politics. Starting from Bourdieu’s cultural sociology, the article further discusses the findings in the light of socio-economic background factors. The findings indicate that music and political orientation is considerably more tightly integrated into the lifestyles of the young politicians of the left than young politicians of the right. Keywords: Music, Taste, Politics, Political Parties, Elites, Aesthetical Sensibilities, Ideology, Lifestyle. Let’s do an anti-American dance There was sunset Make the embassy a Midsummer Eve bonfire There was laughter, there was singing Grab the hand of your chosen one There was summer vacation Burn the flag and shake your booty! There was the sea and there was magic Translated excerpt from Gatas Parlament’s “Anti-ameri- Translated excerpt from Postgirobygget’s
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