My new paper: Aestheticisation of Everyday Life on the Example of Musical Practices among Warsaw’s Adolescents

Katarzyna M. Wyrzykowska, Aestheticisation of Everyday Life on the Example of Musical Practices among Warsaw’s Adolescents, Societas/Communitas 1-1(25-1)/2018

Full text is available here or here.

Summary:

The article examines youth musical practices as a form of cultural practice characterised as aestheticisation of everyday life. The analyses are based on a study conducted among Warsaw’s adolescents as a part of a research grant from the National Science Centre (agreement number DEC-2011/01/N/HS6/00972). Analyses of empirical material show that music is omnipresent in the everyday life of adolescents. Thanks to music devices they can stay in contact with music wherever and whenever they want. However, the musical practices of the respondents participating in the said research are dominated by music listening; that is why this kind of activity has to be treated as the main form of aestheticisation of everyday life. Moreover, using music to maintain biographical narratives turned out to be another important cultural practice in adolescents’ reflexive-self project. The conclusion reached is that in order to comprehensively present the practices observed here, it is essential to look at them in a broader socio-cultural context.

Keywords

aestheticisation of everyday life, musical practices, adolescents, aesthetic reflexivity, cultural reflexivity