This article reflects upon Do It Yourself (DIY) musical activities in an effort to open them up t... more This article reflects upon Do It Yourself (DIY) musical activities in an effort to open them up to critical academic inquiry. It begins with a discussion of what ‘DIY’ means in a musical context, which is embellished with a brief historical account of early DIY ‘musicking’ and its subsequent development and diversification. The second part of the article uses Howard Becker’s account of the importance of resources, conventions and networks to the doing of art to bring a sociological perspective to bear upon DIY musicking. Each of these three factors is important in relation to DIY musicking and a consideration of them both allows us to ask questions about it and suggests potentially fruitful lines of inquiry for future research.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology, Jul 30, 2022
ObjectivesResearch and policies in the United Kingdom have repeatedly highlighted the need to red... more ObjectivesResearch and policies in the United Kingdom have repeatedly highlighted the need to reduce ethnic disparities and improve engagement with mental health services among Black African and Caribbean people with psychosis. The aim of this study was to examine the role of social network characteristics and psychological factors in engagement with services in Black people with psychosis.MethodsA cross‐sectional study was conducted with 51 Black African and Caribbean adults with non‐affective psychosis and currently receiving care from mental health services in England. Measures were completed to examine relationships between social networks, illness perceptions, perceived racial or ethnic discrimination in services, internalized stigma, and current engagement with services from service user and staff perspectives.ResultsSocial network composition (ethnic homogeneity) moderately correlated with better service user and staff reported engagement. Greater perceived personal control over problems was associated with better staff reported engagement. Lower perceived ethnic or racial discrimination in services, and specific illness perceptions (higher perceived treatment control, greater self‐identification with psychosis symptoms, more concern and greater emotional response related to problems) were associated with better service user reported engagement. Internalized stigma was not associated with service engagement. Multivariate regression analyses suggested that a more ethnically homogenous social network was the strongest predictor of better service user and staff reported engagement.ConclusionsPsychosocial interventions that target social networks, perceived ethnic and racial discrimination in services, and illness perceptions may facilitate better engagement and improve outcomes. Further longitudinal studies are required to examine causal mechanisms.
a stage. Meanwhile, audiences and performers made connections between the music and the civil rig... more a stage. Meanwhile, audiences and performers made connections between the music and the civil rights movement. One chapter is devoted to what Fosler-Lussier calls the 'double-edged diplomacy of popular music ' (p. 143). For the officials in Washington, the problem with pop was that it was 'pure entertainment', and as such it could do 'nothing'. This concern was mitigated by the association that could be made between popular music and protest. This meant that the State Department favoured the blues -Junior Wells and Buddy Guy were presented to audiences in Africaand folk -The Phoenix singers visited Egypt. Rock music, too, featured towards the end of the programme. Blood, Sweat and Tears played gigs in Eastern Europewhich earned the band the ire of the Yippies. This response delighted the State Department who, because they were also getting criticised by the political right, could claim that BST represented the political centre ground. Meanwhile, the music itself served to excite audiences behind the Iron Curtain, where 'the West's popular music was both more commonly heard and more stringently forbidden than was its art music' (p. 170). The story told by this book is based on primary sources, and vividly captures the thinking of the government officials and diplomats in the countries that were visited. It also documents the experiences of the musicians and their audiences. For some who heard the music, this was their first ever encounter with an American; some of the musicians actively embraced their role as ambassadors. Fosler-Lussier argues that, while the USA's ambitions might look like top-down imperialism, 'if we look from the bottom up . . . we see an intensive process of negotiation and engagement' (p. 7). While there were imperial ambitions at work, there was also a developing globalisation. The book makes this case convincingly. In doing so, it has much to say about the values and meanings to be attributed to music, and about how its performance does things (both political and social) to the world in which it circulates, and how, in turn, music's involvement with government changes it. Fosler-Lussier talks, for example, of how the State Department's use of jazz facilitated its 'institutionalisation' and its inclusion in the canon (p. 100). She also notes that, while it might have been supposed that popular music evoked and inspired ideas of freedom, this was not what the State Department wanted or how it evaluated its programme's success. Rather, Washington was more interested in the music's acceptance. And towards the end, Fosler-Lussier wryly notes: 'The US embassy in Moscow routinely reported to Washington on the vicissitudes of Soviet musical judgements as if they corresponded to other political matters' (p. 185).
1. Introduction 2. The Mental Health Field 3. Power, Strain and Social Movement 4. Mental Hygiene... more 1. Introduction 2. The Mental Health Field 3. Power, Strain and Social Movement 4. Mental Hygiene and Mental Health Politics in the 1950s 5. Anti-Psychiatry and Civil Rights 6. Patients and Survivors 7. Panic, Backlash and Counter-Backlash 8. Power and Resistance
This research explained new economic models in the digital music industry in view of cultural, te... more This research explained new economic models in the digital music industry in view of cultural, technological, and sociological aspects. The importance of local entrepreneurship, as well as global markets, were accessed. There have been many developments in digital music in the past two decades. These developments have affected relations between the digital economy and music technology. The study is mainly focused on the Turkish music market. Why the subscription and bundling models are on the rise? How does an economic merger between telecommunication companies and digital music services work? What are the effects of the recent developments in technology, in particular smartphones on music industry? The partnership of Turkcell, the largest GSM operator in Turkey, and one of the top 5 in Europe and Turkish digital music service Fizy was exemplified. Thus, the significance of local markets in the digital era, expectations of the audiences, the applicability of streaming, and bundling economic models in Turkey have been examined.
Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 2018
Translocal music worlds are often defined as networks of local music worlds. However, their netwo... more Translocal music worlds are often defined as networks of local music worlds. However, their networked character and more especially their network structure is generally assumed rather than concretely mapped and explored. Formal social network analysis (SNA) is beginning to attract interest in music sociology but it has not previously been used to explore a translocal music world. In this paper, drawing upon a survey of the participation of 474 enthusiasts in 148 live music events, spread across 6 localities, we use SNA to explore a significant “slice” of the network structure of the U.K.'s translocal underground heavy metal world. Translocality is generated in a number of ways, we suggest, but one way, the way we focus upon, involves audiences traveling between localities to attend gigs and festivals. Our analysis of this network uncovers a core‐periphery structure which, we further find, maps onto locality. Not all live events enjoy equal standing in our music world and some lo...
In this article we explore the revival of rave music in the UK, reporting original research findi... more In this article we explore the revival of rave music in the UK, reporting original research findings and focusing, in particular, upon two emergent themes: (1) the lived experience of the ageing raver, and its embodied and collective nature; and (2) the changing role of the DJ. The article draws upon 15 in-depth interviews with both music professionals and ordinary participants who were part of the rave scene in the 1990s and who are now either returning to rave, after a period away from it, or who, having decreased their involvement, are now stepping it up again in the context of the revival. We explore how rave’s revival constitutes a form of heritage which is crucial to the UK’s creative economy and we illustrate how heritage rave events provide a collective space for ageing ravers to relive times, music and dances of old. However, we find that heritage rave is also a space of contention between advocates of ‘authentic’ and ‘commercialised’ forms of rave respectively. A further f...
The concept of “relations” is fundamental to relational sociology. Definitions vary, however, and... more The concept of “relations” is fundamental to relational sociology. Definitions vary, however, and there is a division in the literature between two in particular. On one side, in symbolic interactionism, social network analysis (SNA), and figurational sociology, “relations” are conceived as concrete ties between social actors. On the other, in the work of Bourdieu, relations are defined as juxtapositions in a “social space” constituted by the distribution of important social resources (forms of “capital”). My own work has tended to prioritize the former but both are important and reconciling them is a key task for relational sociology.
The Palgrave Handbook of Relational Sociology, 2018
As this book shows, there are many varieties of relational sociology. In this chapter I outline t... more As this book shows, there are many varieties of relational sociology. In this chapter I outline the approach that I have been cultivating in recent years [Crossley, N., Towards Relational Sociology. Routledge, 2011; Crossley, N., Interactions and Juxtapositions: Conceptualising ‘Relations’ in Relational Sociology. In Relational Sociology: From Project to Paradigm. Palgrave, 2014; Crossley, N., Cultural Sociology 9 (4): 471–492, 2015b; Crossley, N., Social Networks and Relational Sociology. In Handbook of Contemporary Social Theory. Springer, 2016], briefly sketching certain of the central claims of that approach whilst also developing a few new strands. Specifically I want to: (1) further open up the philosophical underpinnings of my approach; (2) consider some of the mediations which extend social interactions and relations through time and space; (3) stress the need for relational theory to be complemented by relational methodologies (and empirical research); and (4) consider briefly what this might entail. The chapter tackles each of these aims in turn. I begin, however, with a summary of the central claims of my approach.
This article reflects upon Do It Yourself (DIY) musical activities in an effort to open them up t... more This article reflects upon Do It Yourself (DIY) musical activities in an effort to open them up to critical academic inquiry. It begins with a discussion of what ‘DIY’ means in a musical context, which is embellished with a brief historical account of early DIY ‘musicking’ and its subsequent development and diversification. The second part of the article uses Howard Becker’s account of the importance of resources, conventions and networks to the doing of art to bring a sociological perspective to bear upon DIY musicking. Each of these three factors is important in relation to DIY musicking and a consideration of them both allows us to ask questions about it and suggests potentially fruitful lines of inquiry for future research.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology, Jul 30, 2022
ObjectivesResearch and policies in the United Kingdom have repeatedly highlighted the need to red... more ObjectivesResearch and policies in the United Kingdom have repeatedly highlighted the need to reduce ethnic disparities and improve engagement with mental health services among Black African and Caribbean people with psychosis. The aim of this study was to examine the role of social network characteristics and psychological factors in engagement with services in Black people with psychosis.MethodsA cross‐sectional study was conducted with 51 Black African and Caribbean adults with non‐affective psychosis and currently receiving care from mental health services in England. Measures were completed to examine relationships between social networks, illness perceptions, perceived racial or ethnic discrimination in services, internalized stigma, and current engagement with services from service user and staff perspectives.ResultsSocial network composition (ethnic homogeneity) moderately correlated with better service user and staff reported engagement. Greater perceived personal control over problems was associated with better staff reported engagement. Lower perceived ethnic or racial discrimination in services, and specific illness perceptions (higher perceived treatment control, greater self‐identification with psychosis symptoms, more concern and greater emotional response related to problems) were associated with better service user reported engagement. Internalized stigma was not associated with service engagement. Multivariate regression analyses suggested that a more ethnically homogenous social network was the strongest predictor of better service user and staff reported engagement.ConclusionsPsychosocial interventions that target social networks, perceived ethnic and racial discrimination in services, and illness perceptions may facilitate better engagement and improve outcomes. Further longitudinal studies are required to examine causal mechanisms.
a stage. Meanwhile, audiences and performers made connections between the music and the civil rig... more a stage. Meanwhile, audiences and performers made connections between the music and the civil rights movement. One chapter is devoted to what Fosler-Lussier calls the 'double-edged diplomacy of popular music ' (p. 143). For the officials in Washington, the problem with pop was that it was 'pure entertainment', and as such it could do 'nothing'. This concern was mitigated by the association that could be made between popular music and protest. This meant that the State Department favoured the blues -Junior Wells and Buddy Guy were presented to audiences in Africaand folk -The Phoenix singers visited Egypt. Rock music, too, featured towards the end of the programme. Blood, Sweat and Tears played gigs in Eastern Europewhich earned the band the ire of the Yippies. This response delighted the State Department who, because they were also getting criticised by the political right, could claim that BST represented the political centre ground. Meanwhile, the music itself served to excite audiences behind the Iron Curtain, where 'the West's popular music was both more commonly heard and more stringently forbidden than was its art music' (p. 170). The story told by this book is based on primary sources, and vividly captures the thinking of the government officials and diplomats in the countries that were visited. It also documents the experiences of the musicians and their audiences. For some who heard the music, this was their first ever encounter with an American; some of the musicians actively embraced their role as ambassadors. Fosler-Lussier argues that, while the USA's ambitions might look like top-down imperialism, 'if we look from the bottom up . . . we see an intensive process of negotiation and engagement' (p. 7). While there were imperial ambitions at work, there was also a developing globalisation. The book makes this case convincingly. In doing so, it has much to say about the values and meanings to be attributed to music, and about how its performance does things (both political and social) to the world in which it circulates, and how, in turn, music's involvement with government changes it. Fosler-Lussier talks, for example, of how the State Department's use of jazz facilitated its 'institutionalisation' and its inclusion in the canon (p. 100). She also notes that, while it might have been supposed that popular music evoked and inspired ideas of freedom, this was not what the State Department wanted or how it evaluated its programme's success. Rather, Washington was more interested in the music's acceptance. And towards the end, Fosler-Lussier wryly notes: 'The US embassy in Moscow routinely reported to Washington on the vicissitudes of Soviet musical judgements as if they corresponded to other political matters' (p. 185).
1. Introduction 2. The Mental Health Field 3. Power, Strain and Social Movement 4. Mental Hygiene... more 1. Introduction 2. The Mental Health Field 3. Power, Strain and Social Movement 4. Mental Hygiene and Mental Health Politics in the 1950s 5. Anti-Psychiatry and Civil Rights 6. Patients and Survivors 7. Panic, Backlash and Counter-Backlash 8. Power and Resistance
This research explained new economic models in the digital music industry in view of cultural, te... more This research explained new economic models in the digital music industry in view of cultural, technological, and sociological aspects. The importance of local entrepreneurship, as well as global markets, were accessed. There have been many developments in digital music in the past two decades. These developments have affected relations between the digital economy and music technology. The study is mainly focused on the Turkish music market. Why the subscription and bundling models are on the rise? How does an economic merger between telecommunication companies and digital music services work? What are the effects of the recent developments in technology, in particular smartphones on music industry? The partnership of Turkcell, the largest GSM operator in Turkey, and one of the top 5 in Europe and Turkish digital music service Fizy was exemplified. Thus, the significance of local markets in the digital era, expectations of the audiences, the applicability of streaming, and bundling economic models in Turkey have been examined.
Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 2018
Translocal music worlds are often defined as networks of local music worlds. However, their netwo... more Translocal music worlds are often defined as networks of local music worlds. However, their networked character and more especially their network structure is generally assumed rather than concretely mapped and explored. Formal social network analysis (SNA) is beginning to attract interest in music sociology but it has not previously been used to explore a translocal music world. In this paper, drawing upon a survey of the participation of 474 enthusiasts in 148 live music events, spread across 6 localities, we use SNA to explore a significant “slice” of the network structure of the U.K.'s translocal underground heavy metal world. Translocality is generated in a number of ways, we suggest, but one way, the way we focus upon, involves audiences traveling between localities to attend gigs and festivals. Our analysis of this network uncovers a core‐periphery structure which, we further find, maps onto locality. Not all live events enjoy equal standing in our music world and some lo...
In this article we explore the revival of rave music in the UK, reporting original research findi... more In this article we explore the revival of rave music in the UK, reporting original research findings and focusing, in particular, upon two emergent themes: (1) the lived experience of the ageing raver, and its embodied and collective nature; and (2) the changing role of the DJ. The article draws upon 15 in-depth interviews with both music professionals and ordinary participants who were part of the rave scene in the 1990s and who are now either returning to rave, after a period away from it, or who, having decreased their involvement, are now stepping it up again in the context of the revival. We explore how rave’s revival constitutes a form of heritage which is crucial to the UK’s creative economy and we illustrate how heritage rave events provide a collective space for ageing ravers to relive times, music and dances of old. However, we find that heritage rave is also a space of contention between advocates of ‘authentic’ and ‘commercialised’ forms of rave respectively. A further f...
The concept of “relations” is fundamental to relational sociology. Definitions vary, however, and... more The concept of “relations” is fundamental to relational sociology. Definitions vary, however, and there is a division in the literature between two in particular. On one side, in symbolic interactionism, social network analysis (SNA), and figurational sociology, “relations” are conceived as concrete ties between social actors. On the other, in the work of Bourdieu, relations are defined as juxtapositions in a “social space” constituted by the distribution of important social resources (forms of “capital”). My own work has tended to prioritize the former but both are important and reconciling them is a key task for relational sociology.
The Palgrave Handbook of Relational Sociology, 2018
As this book shows, there are many varieties of relational sociology. In this chapter I outline t... more As this book shows, there are many varieties of relational sociology. In this chapter I outline the approach that I have been cultivating in recent years [Crossley, N., Towards Relational Sociology. Routledge, 2011; Crossley, N., Interactions and Juxtapositions: Conceptualising ‘Relations’ in Relational Sociology. In Relational Sociology: From Project to Paradigm. Palgrave, 2014; Crossley, N., Cultural Sociology 9 (4): 471–492, 2015b; Crossley, N., Social Networks and Relational Sociology. In Handbook of Contemporary Social Theory. Springer, 2016], briefly sketching certain of the central claims of that approach whilst also developing a few new strands. Specifically I want to: (1) further open up the philosophical underpinnings of my approach; (2) consider some of the mediations which extend social interactions and relations through time and space; (3) stress the need for relational theory to be complemented by relational methodologies (and empirical research); and (4) consider briefly what this might entail. The chapter tackles each of these aims in turn. I begin, however, with a summary of the central claims of my approach.
Uploads
Papers by Nick Crossley