Music History and Culture

Music history and culture examines how musical practices, genres, and industries both reflect and actively shape social life — tracing how communities form around sound, how genres like rap become vehicles for identity and political expression, and how ideas of authenticity get negotiated between artists, audiences, and commerce. Scholars draw on sociology, ethnomusicology, and cultural theory to understand why certain music resonates with particular groups, especially youth navigating questions of belonging and self-definition within subcultures. As streaming platforms and globalization accelerate the circulation of music across borders, researchers are actively debating whether these forces homogenize local scenes or create new hybrid forms of cultural expression. Central open questions include how authenticity survives commodification, and what happens to subcultural identity when the underground goes mainstream.

Works

142,483

Total citations

493,528

Keywords

MusicCultureYouthIdentitySubculturesAuthenticity