In and out of Control: the Consumption of Loudness in the Metal Community

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In and out of Control: the Consumption of Loudness in the Metal Community IN AND OUT OF CONTROL: THE CONSUMPTION OF LOUDNESS IN THE METAL COMMUNITY A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PHD IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION and DOCTEUR EN SCIENCES DE GESTION DE L’ECOLE DOCTORALE « ECONOMIE, MANAGEMENT, MATHEMATIQUES DE CERGY » ED 405 FROM ESSEC BUSINESS SCHOOL To be presented and defended publicly the 8th of July 2014 by Max CHAUVIN JURY Dominique BOUCHET Co-supervisor Professor, University of Southern Denmark (Odense, Denmark) Simon NYECK Co-supervisor Associate Professor, ESSEC Business School (Cergy, France) Bernard PRAS Examiner Professor, ESSEC Business School (Cergy, France) Denis DARPY Referee Professor, Université Paris Dauphine (Paris, France) Timothy HEATH Referee Professor, University of South Florida (Tampa, United-States) Acknowledgment I had thought about different ways to introduce these acknowledgements, but they all sounded cheesy. So, I will do it the metal way, as straight as a punch in the face! I first want to express my unfathomable gratitude to my doll, my muse, and partner; Anne-Laure, who gives me something to live for, and graces me with her love and affection every day. I thank my family, my parents and brothers, Nadine, Jean-Luc, Cédric, and Arnold, for their unfailing trust, love, and support. You have been both my groupies and roadies. I thank the members of my committee for their participation in this doctoral adventure; Professors Denis Darpy and Bernard Pras for their gracious flexibility; Professor Dominique Bouchet for his teachings, time, material support, and even more importantly, for his remarkable kindness and intellectual integrity; Professor Timothy Heath, for making me feel part of the family, and forcing social psychology into my thick skull; and, finally, Professor Simon Nyeck, who trusted me from the start and bore with the alea of my doctoral progress. I also thank Professor Pierre Desmet, for his clairvoyance as he advised me to visit Denmark during my first year, as well as Professor Amitava Chattopadhyay who welcomed me in his consumer psychology class at INSEAD, and gave me the keys to complete my theoretical section. I thank the members of the University of Southern Denmark marketing and management department, who introduced me to black bread, Mikkeler, treacherous 4pm after-work drinks, and provided most valuable feedback and support over these past six years. You opened your doors to me, and you cannot imagine how grateful I am for it. I issue a very special thanks to Professor Fuat Firat for his kindness, his deep and detailed comments on earlier drafts of this dissertation, and for giving me the little push I needed at a crucial time in my doctoral progress. 3 I thank the assistants at ESSEC Business School– Lina, Katy, Christelle, Nathalie, and Jocelyne – and the University of Southern Denmark – Birgitte, Karin, and Karina. Everybody knows nothing would get done without you. Horns up to the metalheads who participated in this study – Alex, Antoine, Baptiste, Dimitri, David, FX, Jean-Baptiste, John, Mech, Nico, Olivier, Sandrine, Sylvia, Thomas, as well as Christian, Hans, Kim, Pierre, Ratna, and Thibault. Your help did justice to the solidarity you take pride in. Finally, thanks to my fellow galley slaves, laborers of room N236, ghosts of the Nautilus, who still roam the school hallways long after everybody is gone. It has been a long ride, but in good company. Hell…I hope I did not forget anybody. 4 Table of contents Acknowledgment ........................................................................................................... 3 Soundtrack ..................................................................................................................... 8 Table of tables ............................................................................................................. 11 Table of figures ............................................................................................................ 11 Table of pictures .......................................................................................................... 11 Chapter I: Introduction ................................................................................................ 13 I. Hearing as matter of public health........................................................................ 15 II. At the crossroads: Conceptual situation of hearing health issues ....................... 18 A. Public health policies and consumer psychology ........................................... 18 B. Body culture studies: Between constructivism and phenomenology .............. 20 C. Sound studies: Definition and epistemological significance of loudness ....... 21 D. Semiotics: The meaning of loudness .............................................................. 23 III. Research site: Loudness and the metal community ........................................... 24 IV. Dissertation outline ............................................................................................ 27 Chapter II: Theoretical foundations – A critical review of consumer health psychology ..................................................................................................................................... 33 I. The body in consumer health psychology: Symbolic framing ............................. 37 A. A philosophical detour: The ambiguous status of the human body ................ 38 B. Alienating the body ......................................................................................... 40 C. From alienation to submission: Taming the body ........................................... 43 D. Beyond philanthropy ....................................................................................... 48 II. Consumer health psychology as a political project ............................................. 49 A. Consumer health psychology‘s relative objectivity ........................................ 50 B. The moral body ............................................................................................... 52 III. The cult of control ............................................................................................. 57 A. The performance logic .................................................................................... 58 B. The detachment logic ...................................................................................... 68 IV. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 79 Chapter III: Methodology ............................................................................................ 83 I. Our way of looking at familiar facts..................................................................... 84 A. The theory—field—method prism .................................................................. 85 B. Semiotics as an integrating framework ........................................................... 90 II. Collecting and interpreting manifestations ......................................................... 97 A. Field observations ........................................................................................... 98 B. Long interviews ............................................................................................. 109 5 C. The semiotic square ....................................................................................... 117 Chapter IV: Epistemic and self-transformative valorizations of loudness‘ destructive potential ..................................................................................................................... 132 I. Denial of power and responsibility ..................................................................... 134 A. Agonistic valorization ................................................................................... 135 B. Aleatory valorization ..................................................................................... 138 II. Damage control, damage acceptance ................................................................ 140 A. From agon to damage control ....................................................................... 141 B. Damage acceptance. ...................................................................................... 145 C. Tensions between valorizations. .................................................................... 146 III. Conclusion ................................ ...................................................................... 148 Chapter V: Loudness aesthetics ................................................................................. 155 I. Loudness‘ musicality: Power, clarity, quintessentiality ..................................... 158 II. Aesthetic alea and agon: Nurturing a taste for metal ........................................ 165 A. Learning metal aesthetics .............................................................................. 165 B. Ongoing agonistic and aleatory valorizations of loudness aesthetics ............ 169 III. Conclusion ................................ ...................................................................... 171 Chapter VI: Transgressing boundaries: Loudness as a sacred experience ................. 178 I. Limits, transgression, and sacrifice: A sounded definition of the sacred ........... 180 A. The sacred as transgression ........................................................................... 181 B. Loudness as spiritual control ........................................................................
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