Putting a Glitch in the Field: Bourdieu, Actor Network Theory and Contemporary Music
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Bourdieu's cultural sociology has become increasingly attractive to sociologists of music looking to account for the complex interrelations between industry, institution and practice. There remains, however, a tendency in such work to reduce the complexity and scope of Bourdieu's ideas. This paper attempts to apply Bourdieu's field theory to music, but does so with a critical orientation. The focus of the paper is the fin de millénaire music style called glitch, a style characterized by sonic fragments of technological error. While we learn a lot about the social trajectories of glitch from greater sensitization to its position in a structured setting of socio-economic relations, it becomes difficult to account for the centrality of technological mediators to this contemporary style of music using Bourdieu's categories alone. The paper pursues the possibility of supplementing or combining a Bourdieusian approach with actor network theory.
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Those who profess some sympathy for Bourdieu's concepts have often pointed to significant shortcomings in his work, finding it overly rigid or lacking a convincing account of technology and creative agency.
“Those who profess some sympathy for Bourdieu's concepts have often pointed to significant shortcomings in his work, finding it overly rigid or lacking a convincing account of technology and creative agency (Prior 2008;Born 2010).”
From Bourdieu and the Sociology of Music Consumption: A Critical Assessment of Recent Developments (2013) · cites this paper as Prior 2008
The supplied passages are bibliographic records, not passages discussing Bourdieu’s concepts or their shortcomings. Searches for rigidity, technology, and creative agency returned no substantive passage from our copy, so the attributed criticism cannot be verified. (LLM, conf=0.72)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThose who have attempted something like a middle ground position have had to tread delicately between these poles in the spirit of a critical but sympathetic reappraisal of Bourdieu's ideas.
“Those who have attempted something like a middle ground position have had to tread delicately between these poles in the spirit of a critical but sympathetic reappraisal of Bourdieu's ideas (Prior, 2008;Atkinson 2011).”
From Bourdieu and the Sociology of Music Consumption: A Critical Assessment of Recent Developments (2013) · cites this paper as Prior, 2008
The available indexed passages are bibliographic records with no section or page text discussing Prior’s position on Bourdieu. Searches for a critical but sympathetic reappraisal and for a middle ground between Bourdieu and actor-network theory returned no substantive passage, so the claim cannot be verified from our copy. (LLM, conf=0.73)
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Bourdieu and the Sociology of Music Consumption: A Critical Assessment of Recent Developments
Prior, N. (2013) · Sociology Compass · doi:10.1111/soc4.12020 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Prior, N.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Prior, Nick
- ORCID
- Prior, Nick
- Venue
- Cultural Sociology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-11
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 301-319
- ISSN
- 1749-9755 (ISSN-L)
- 1749-9763
- OpenAlex
- W1976010852
- Cited by
- 103
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 32.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- Cultural Sociology (publishedVersion)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Music › Music History and Culture
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Cultural Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Music › Musicology and Musical Analysis
- Keywords
- glitch music, field theory, Pierre Bourdieu, actor-network theory, technological errors, technological mediation, contemporary music, music industry
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