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The Role of Popular Music in the Construction of Alternative Spiritual Identities and Ideologies

Lynch, Gordon (2006) The Role of Popular Music in the Construction of Alternative Spiritual Identities and Ideologies. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45 (4). pp. 481-488. ISSN 0021-8294. (doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2006.00322.x) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:42396)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2006.00322.x

Abstract

Setting its discussion in the wider context of the decline of institutional religion among young adults, the rise of alternative spiritualities, and the mediatization of religion, the article explores the significance of popular music in the development of alternative spiritual identities and ideologies. A summary is given of leading research conducted in this field by Christopher Partridge and Graham St. John. It is argued that they demonstrate the encoding of alternative spiritual symbols and ideologies into certain forms of popular music, they fail to give an adequate account of how audiences actively make use of this music to construct alternative spiritual identities or frameworks of meaning. The article concludes that researchers in the field of religion and popular music need to draw more on theories and methods developed in ethno-musicology and the sociology of music, and suggests that the work of Tia De Nora on music in everyday life raises important questions about the qualities and context of the act of listening to music that could generate more nuanced accounts of how popular music shapes alternative spiritual identities and ideologies.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2006.00322.x
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Neshen Isaeva
Date Deposited: 18 Aug 2014 10:34 UTC
Last Modified: 05 Nov 2024 10:26 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/42396 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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