Pre-Essay Notes

These are some notes i made prior to starting my essay. Due to the nature of how badly i have been prepared this year for my essay and unfortunately COP in general i hadn't even solidified my essay title or question. So i used this as an opportunity to brainstorm possible ideas i had for potential questions or titles. Among other things i noted down general key words or topics to discuss. Some of these might not necessarily have been included into my essay due to how i have changed my mind frequently on what areas/topics to discuss but its all important to showing the basis from where i started.

I also may have added other ones after this such as more theorists but i haven't included them here as it is just a starting record more like a rough in a sketchbook in that sense. 

·      Discuss the ways in which music acts as a social commentator

·      Discuss how music work as a social commentator and forms cultures and subcultures

·      Discuss the ways in which the medium of Music works as a social commentator and how it creates status frustration as a result of it. 

·      Discuss the ways in which music, through being a social commentator can create status frustration

·      Discuss subcultures and musical genres in relation to social reform

·      Discuss the way in which music instigated the emergence of subcultures in post second world war Britain and their role in today’s society.

·      Discuss the role of music and the subsequent subcultures in society in Britain.

·      How did the culture of the Modernists ‘Mods’ in the late 1950’s to mid 1960’s Britain influence and impact the idea of subculture British culture today?

Key words

·      Subcultures

·      Social commentary

·      Status frustration

·      Subcultural theory

·      Social reform

·      Affluence

Possible Arguments/topics to discuss

·      Are subcultures still relevant

·      What impact did music have on society?

·      The influence of Androgynous musicians and what impact that they had on society.

·      To look at the impact of music in general

·      Working class resistance

·      Structural changes

·      Music and style centred youth cultures

·      Music as a cultural resource adopted by youth culture

Genres & Subcultures

·      Mods

·      Rockers

·      Teddy boys

·      Skinheads

·      Rock n roll

·      Punk

Theorists

·      Robert K Merton

·      Matthew Arnold

·      Phil Cohen

·      Stanley Cohen

·      Cloward & Ohlin

·      Andy Bennett

·      E. Anne Kaplan

·      Theodore Adorno

·      Thomas Geyrhelter

·      Birmingham CCCS (Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies)