Rock'n'Roll: The Sounds of Rebellion?

The fifties were the scene of a 'virtual revolution' in popular music. Around 1954 rock'n'roll surfaced and took America by surprise; the young were excited and the adults shocked. The paper deals with two questions. First, how could rock'n'roll develop into an autonomous popular music style? This means that the music became more than notes and sounds. Second , how did the signification as being rebellious come about? The answer is that music does not have meaning of its own but acquires meaning through interactions between artists, record producers, media, and audiences. The paper shows how America's postwar transformations shaped the conditions for rock'n'roll's emergence and how it was socially constructed into an autonomous music style which acquired the meaning of rebelliousness

Narcisme, populisme en politiek

Politiek narcisme is in de moderne mediamaatschappij vrijwel onontkoombaar. De typisch narcistische excentriciteitsspiraal verandert hierbij onder invloed van de media in een zichzelf versterkend maatschappelijk proces. Daar komt nog bij dat er een soort ‘natuurlijke’ verwant-schap bestaat tussen politiek narcisme en populisme, waardoor narcistische politici geneigd zijn zich op populistische bewegingen te richten. Doordat deze tenderen naar het extreme, is politieke radicalisering een voor de hand liggend gevolg. Summary in English: In modern societies narcissists regularly enter the political arena to make their dreams of success and power come true. The dynamics of narcissism tend to propel these politicians into extreme behavior and radicalism - a process that is further intensified by the way the media operate. Moreover, a kind of ‘natural’ affinity exists between political narcissism and populism. Narcissistic politicians, therefore, try to organise electoral support with a populist platform and seek support in populist movements. As the latter are invariably radical, this strengthens those politicians’ radicalism even further. The article analyzes the dynamics of political narcissism, its relation to populism and the conditions that deter-mine the success or failure of narcissistic politicians

The Abominable Traffic: The Abolition Movement and Emotions

It is obvious that emotions play an important role in social movement campaigns. Strangely enough, however, studies of social movements do not pay much attention to emotions nor do they give them an appropriate place in social movement theory. As Hunt and Benford contend, this overly rationalistic theory urgently needs a 'dramaturgical infusion'. In this paper we follow their lead. In it we explore historical studies of the first public campaign of the eighteenth-century abolition movement in Great Britain to shed light on the role of emotions in movement discourses. Following Hochschild we assume that each society and each culture has its unique emotional dictionary, which defines what is and isn't, and its emotional bible, which defines what one should and should not feel in a given context." In social movement campaigns, actors employ the emotional repertoires of their society in order to express their indignation, to evoke emotional feelings in the audiences they address and thus put pressure on authorities to change their policies. The analysis of the first public campaign of the British abolition movement shows that the feelings about the abolition of the slave trade often ran high. Both the abolitionists and their opponents used a great variety of emotion signs as means to communicate with the world of politics and with society at large. The analysis reveals that four variables determined the degree of emotionality in the abolition discourse. First, the nature of the cause, i.e., abolition of the slave trade. Particularly, the degree of inequality involved in slavery determined the level of moral indignation that fueled the abolition campaign. Second, the strategic-instrumental choices of the leading movement actors when to use emotional arguments and when to revert to more 'business-like' pleas. Third, the cultural climate in which a campaign takes place. In this case the cultural climate of the late eighteenth century contributed much to the emotionality of the abolition discourse. Fourth, the emotional tone of the discourses in extant critical communities, i.e., in the debates initiated by critical thinkers about a topic. In the case of abolition, the pre-dominantly emotional debate that took place within religious, particularly Evangelical, circles did much to make the abolition discourse a heated one. The analysis shows that emotions are essential to get a movement started and to keep it going. They therefore deserve scholarly attention in their own right and must not be taken granted as folklore of movement campaigns

Between Old and New: Social Movements and Cultural Change

Social movements challenge authorities on behalf of people whose needs and interests are not catered for in society. To do this, they have to accomplish a contradictory task, i.e., frame the cause of the excluded in interpre-tive packages that are contrary to the dominant views in society while at same time struggle to make these contrary views part of the dominant culture. Therefore, SMOs initiate public discourses on these interests out of which cultural changes may proceed, and if they succeed, they act as producers of new meanings. At the same time, however, the interpretive packages have to resonate with extant cultural views in order to be convincing for movement participants as well as authorities and publics. In other words, these packages have to be contrary to and correspon-ding with dominant views. How do movement actors succeed in this seemingly impossible task? Our review of cultural studies of social movements points to two strategies: (1) linking controversial topics like abortion with generally accepted and valued notions like basic rights; (2) associating their interpretive packa-ge, such as protecting the ecology, with an existing theme, such as harmony with nature, that as an alternative cultural context may legitimate their package. We use a case study, the movement against the slave trade in Great Britain, to test these propositions. The case material confirms their utility, but also reveals a third strategy: relating the package to cultural themes that are on their way to dominance. The material points to the importance of this strategy and of the role the - changing - cultural context plays in producing new meanings. The findings lead to a discussion about the role of movement actors, the cultural context, and the changes therein in the production of meaning

The riddles of rock and roll

Rock and roll has often been equated with rebellion. The genre, though, is just a form of popular music and many of the important players in the game of promoting it were, like the saying goes, only in it for the money. As a rule, music like that will be supportive of the social order rather than inciting resistance against it. So, how did rock and roll acquire its rebellious image? Investigating this question from a sociological perspective, Leo D'Anjou here retells the story of the early beginnings of rock music

Citizenship and social justice

Discussions on the problems of the welfare state are increasingly framed in terms of citizenship rather than social justice. The popularity of the concept of citizenship raises the question of its implications for social justice theory and research. In this article it is argued that whereas the dominant approach in social justice is essentially individualistic, the concept of citizenship focuses rather on individuals as members of a societal community, from which both rights and obligations are derived. This focus on communal membership suggests three important topics for social justice theory and research: (i) the need to distinguish between a civic and a justice motive for human behavior, (ii) the need to specify the frame of reference respondents should use when they make their justice judgments, and (iii) the need to recognize the fact that justice judgments may result from both adhering to criteria of justice and considering the consequences of their application

Rock-'n-roll: de sociale constructie van een muziekstijl

The rise of an autonomous youth culture is one of the most remarkable events of the fifties not in the least because of the noisy advent of its music: rock-'n-roll. This music shocked society and has been associated with rebellion and protest ever since. Rock-'n-roll acquired a meaning that went beyond music itself and the intentions of its producers because of its social construction. This article analyses the construction of rock-'n-roll, particularly the way it was shaped in the social and musical context of postwar America characterized by rapid social changes. It shows that a musical style like rock-'n-roll is not the sole creation of gifted artists or shrewd entrepreneurs but far more the unintended outcome of intricate processes in which many different actors are involved and in which cultural boundary crossings play an important role

Social position, ideology, and distributive justice

This paper addresses two important questions regarding distributive justice. First we ask whether people use standards or principles of distributive justice regarding the allocation of income. The study confirms our expectation that there are at least two principles, viz., the merit and the need principle. Our data show that there is no generally held consensus about the applicability of these two principles. Second, we looked for explanations to explain variations in adherence to these principles. The literature suggests five different theses: 1. self-interest; 2. ideology; 3. enlightenment; 4. historical shift; and 5. gender. Results provide qualified support for the Theses 1, 2 and 4. Class, ideology, and age affect the preferences for the principles of justice. Further elaboration suggests the data point to a specific version of the self-interest thesis, viz., the underdog thesis. Theses 3 and 5 are not confirmed. Implications of these findings are discussed