"Music meshes with emotion, with thought, with action, with the phenomenological and existential features of social life" (182). These particular features that music engages with are also features that are central in the construction of a person's identity, and also for constructing meaning in a person's life. This article "Popular Music, Affective Space and Meaning" by C Partridge, draws links between these features of music and how, through these links, it can be connected to a person's spiritual or religious life (183).
Theodor Adorno, a critic of modernity through his research on popular music, argues that music creates meaning through two ways - in the construction of the self and also through giving meaning to, or contextualising, situations allowing for shared meaning between individuals (185-186). This sharing of meaning can be seen as a pathway to spiritual or religious experiences.
Adorno explains that popular music carries with it cultural and social content which contributes to an affective space being created and particular values being communicated, leading to the construction of both personal and shared meanings, which are at times spiritual, religious, or occultural (187).
In this article, Partridge makes the main point that through a detailed analysis of the interrelation between popular music, the contexts in which it exists, the emotions it evokes and the ideas and values it communicates, it can be clearly seen how music contributes to meaning-making, identity formation and self-understanding - all of which can often be expressed through religion and/or spirituality (192).
Reference
Partridge C. 2012. Popular Music, Affective Space and Meaning. In Lynch G. and Mitchell J. with Strhan A. Eds., Religion, Media and Culture: A Reader. 182-193. London and New York: Routledge
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