Connecting Sounds

Crossley argues that music is a form of social interaction, interwoven in the fabric of society and in constant interplay with its other threads. They can be forms of identity work, for both individuals and collectives, contributing to the reproduction or bridging of social divisions. Musical interactions are often also economic interactions, for example, and sometimes political interactions.

The result is a grand sociological vision of music which captures not only music's context but 'the music itself'. Successive chapters of the book track and explore these interplays, in each case combining a critical consideration of existing literature with the development of an original, 'relational' approach to music sociology. The book will appeal to social scientists, musicologists and cultural scholars more