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MacIntyre, Bourdieu and the practice of jazz

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2012

Mark Banks
Mark Banks
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article offers a sociological account of the labour of jazz musicians. The first part is concerned with elaborating a theory of jazz work based on Alasdair MacIntyre's notion of social practices. Applying this theory to recent empirical work with British jazz musicians, the article reveals how the virtuous pursuit of specific ‘internal goods’ is judged to be particularly prominent in jazz, suggesting that it might constitute an ethical practice in MacIntyrean terms. While MacIntyre's theory is argued to offer a congenial framework for an analysis of jazz, it is then compared and contrasted with more established readings of jazz practice – based on the work of Pierre Bourdieu – which suggest more objective and instrumental motivations for working in jazz. The article concludes by evaluating the relative merits of each approach.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 69 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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