The Lived Experience of the Popular Music Festival-Goer
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THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF THE POPULAR MUSIC FESTIVAL-GOER CAROLINE JACKSON A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Bournemouth University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy JULY 2014 BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY Copyright Statement This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and due acknowledgement must always be made of the use of any of the material contained in, or derived from, this thesis. ABSTRACT The lived experience of the popular music festival-goer Caroline Jackson This study provides an in-depth understanding of the lived experience of people that attended a popular music festival in the UK. The research is grounded in the philosophical roots of both experience and descriptive phenomenology. Phenomenological research is about “going back to people’s specific experiences and letting the concepts come from there” (Todres and Holloway 2010, p183). The research used Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method (1985, 2009). Giorgi’s method is based on the early twentieth century philosopher Husserl’s scientific approach to developing phenomenology. Giorgi (2009) offers a robust process for analysing situated experiences that gives a clear insight into a phenomenon. Ten interviews with festival-goers who went to the Isle of Wight Festival in June 2011 were conducted. Using Giorgi’s method, the participants’ words were transformed into meaning units, which then underwent a process of descriptive analysis. This involved scientific phenomenological reduction using free imaginative variation. The constituent parts of the experience were identified and used to set out, what Husserl (1982 [1925]) defines as the morphological essence of the experience. This was achieved by formulating an invariant structure that eidetically captured the phenomenon of the popular music festival experience. The constituents discovered to form the structure of the phenomenon, that is the lived popular music festival experience, can be drawn as polar opposites. However the nature of the experience is more about the mixed valence of emotions rather than the bipolar explanation of concepts such as reversal theory. This resonates with the critical theories of leisure, especially that of freedom and constraint and the need to accept negative as well as positive emotions in a holistic view of the experience. Stebbins (2006, 2011) may refer to leisure studies as the 'happy science', but the research not only identified the highs experienced by the participants but also their depths of despair. The social aspect was found to be important, as festival-goers experienced both a sense of communitas and of personal angst and enmity in relation to others. Finally, whilst hedonistic behaviour led to a sense of heightened excitement and euphoria, it also engendered shock and concern over the extent of some deviant behaviour. LIST OF CONTENTS List of figures vi List of tables vi Acknowledgements vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Introduction 1 1.2. Background 1 1.2.1. Academic context 1 1.2.2. Popular music festival context 4 1.2.3. Epistemological context 11 1.3. Rationale 13 1.3.1. Personal interests 13 1.3.2. Relevance for practice 14 1.3.3. Contribution to knowledge 17 1.4. Aims and objectives 19 1.5. The structure of this study 19 1.5.1. Giorgi’s essential factors for conducting research 19 1.5.2. Research interest – researchable problem 20 1.5.3. Life-world situation – research situation 20 1.5.4. Research context – data and method chosen 20 1.5.5. Horizon for research findings – communication 21 CHAPTER 2: FESTIVALS 2.1 Introduction 22 2.2 What is a festival? 24 2.2.1 Theoretical conceptualisation of ‘festival’ 24 2.2.2 Festivalisation 26 2.2.3 Festivalscape 27 2.2.4 Festivity 29 2.3 Popular music festivals 30 2.3.1 Background 30 2.3.2 Characteristics of popular music festivals 32 2.3.3 Music festival consumption 34 2.4 Conclusion 36 CHAPTER 3: EXPERIENCE 3.1 Introduction 38 3.2 The conceptualisation of the event experience 39 3.3 The philosophy of experience 41 3.3.1 Background 41 3.3.2 Lived experience (Erlebnis) 42 3.3.3 Self and subjectivity 43 3.3.4 Memory and consciousness 43 3.3.5 Meaning 46 3.4 Conclusion 47 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY 4.1 Introduction 49 4.2 Descriptive and interpretive phenomenology 49 4.2.1 Background to phenomenology 49 4.2.2 Descriptive phenomenology 52 4.2.2.1 Life-world (Erleibenwald) 53 4.2.2.2 Irreal 53 4.2.2.3 Morphological essence 54 4.2.2.4 Intentionality 54 4.2.2.5 Bracketing 55 4.2.2.6 Reduction and intuition 56 4.3 Critique of phenomenology and descriptive phenomenology 57 4.3.1 Introduction 57 4.3.2 Scientific basis of descriptive phenomenology 59 4.3.3 Philosophical basis of descriptive phenomenology 61 4.3.4 Criticisms of bracketing 63 4.3.5 Conclusion 64 4.4 Reasons for adopting descriptive phenomenology 66 4.5 Giorgi’s steps of descriptive phenomenology 68 4.5.1 Background to Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenology 68 4.5.2 Step 1. Concrete descriptions 71 4.5.2.1 Step 1 introduction 71 4.5.2.2 The phenomenological interview 72 4.5.2.3 The participants 73 4.5.3 Step 2. Sense of the whole 76 4.5.4 Step 3. Meaning units 78 4.5.5 Step 4. Transformation 79 4.5.6 Step 5. Structure 82 4.5.6.1 Step 5 introduction 82 4.5.6.2 Constituents 83 4.5.6.3 Essential structure 86 4.6 Ethical and risk considerations 88 4.7 Judging qualitative research 90 4.7.1 Credibility 90 4.7.2 Generality 91 4.7.3 Confirmability 91 4.8 Limitations 92 4.8.1 Method 92 4.8.2 Participants 92 4.8.3 Richness of data 93 4.8.4 Time 93 4.9 Conclusion 93 CHAPTER 5: THE POPULAR MUSIC FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE 5.1 Introduction 96 5.2 Visualising the structure 98 5.3 Freedom and Constraint 101 5.3.1 Introduction 101 5.3.2 Free will and restraint 102 5.3.2.1 Free will 102 5.3.2.2 Restraint 108 5.3.3 Independence and anxiety 111 5.3.3.1 Independence 111 5.3.3.2 Anxiety 114 5.3.4 The mundane 118 5.4 Camaraderie and Hostility 119 5.4.1 Introduction 119 5.4.2 Comradeship and antagonism 120 5.4.2.1 Comradeship 120 5.4.2.2 Antagonism 125 5.4.3 Intimacy and enmity 128 5.4.3.1 Intimacy 128 5.4.3.2 Enmity 130 5.4.4 Solitude 133 5.5 Euphoria and Despair 134 5.5.1 Introduction 134 5.5.2 Euphoria 134 5.5.3 Despair 137 5.5.4 Indifference 142 5.6 Conclusion 143 CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION 6.1 Introduction 145 6.2 State of Being 147 6.2.1 Introduction 147 6.2.2 State of mind 149 6.2.2.1 Introduction 149 6.2.2.2 Escape 150 6.2.2.3 Choice 152 6.2.2.4 Novelty 155 6.2.2.5 Paradox of freedom 155 6.2.3 Embodiment 157 6.2.3.1 Introduction 157 6.2.3.2 Performativity 157 6.2.3.3 Carnivalesque 159 6.2.3.4 Hedonism 160 6.2.3.5 Utilitarian behaviour 161 6.2.3.6 Edgy behaviour 162 6.2.3.7 Liminoid 163 6.3 Being with Others 164 6.3.1 Introduction 164 6.3.2 Intersubjectivity 165 6.3.3 Intimacy 167 6.3.3.1 Introduction 167 6.3.3.2 Intimate interaction 168 6.3.3.3 Intimate relationships 171 6.3.3.4 Dysfunctional intimacy 172 6.3.4 Sociality 173 6.3.4.1 Introduction 173 6.3.4.2 Socialisation 175 6.3.4.3 Communitas 178 6.3.4.4 Negative Sociality 181 6.4 States of emotion 182 6.4.1 Introduction 182 6.4.2 Emotional states 183 6.4.3 States of arousal 189 6.4.3.1 State of optimal arousal 189 6.4.3.2 State of despair 191 6.4.3.3 Bi-polarity of emotional states 193 6.4.3.4 Coping mechanisms 195 6.4.4 The sublime 198 6.5 Conclusion 199 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 7.1 Introduction 201 7.2 Thesis conclusions 201 7.2.1 Objective one 201 7.2.2 Objective two 203 7.2.3 Objective three 207 7.2.4 Objective four 207 7.3 Research implications 213 7.3.1 Contribution to knowledge 213 7.3.2 Implications for practice 216 7.3.3 Further research 219 7.4 Reflections 223 REFERENCES 227 APPENDICES Appendix 1 Taxonomy of popular music festivals 264 Appendix 2 Characteristics of popular music festivals 265 Appendix 3 Ritchie and Hudson’s 6 streams of tourism experience 266 Appendix 4 Phenomenological applications to event-related fields 267 Appendix 5 Informed consent form 268 Appendix 6 Units of meaning of Participant 2 269 Appendix 7 The transformation of the meaning units of Participant 4 277 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Giorgi’s essential factors for conducting research 19 Figure 4.1 A sample of transcript broken into meaning units 79 Figure 4.2 A sample of transcript meaning units transformed 81 Figure 4.3 Colour-coding used to identiy the constituents of the structure 85 Figure 4.4 An example of a highlighted transformed meaning unit 86 Figure 5.1 The essential structure of the popular music festival experience 99 Figure 5.2 The narrative structure of the popular music festival experience 144 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Developmental eras of the popular music festival 7 Table 3.1 Features of the study of event-related experience 40 Table 4.1 Steps taken for phenomenological reduction 70 Table 4.2 Profile of participants 75 Table 5.1 Key to colours and constituents 100 Table 6.1 Social consumption of particular genre of music 176 Table 6.2 Basic emotions 183 Table 6.3 Epistemological field of emotional study 186 Table 6.4 Four ways of experiencing arousal 194 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to sincerely thank my two supervisors, Professor Roger Vaughan and Dr Lorraine Brown, for their unstinting support, guidance and patience.