Music as symbolic action

Phil Graham; Andy Ward

doi:10.1177/09579265231195713

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Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Music as symbolic action

Phil Graham and Andy Ward

Discourse & Society, Vol.35(1), pp.66-82

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265231195713

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Abstract

Critical discourse studies

Kenneth Burke

music as discourse

symbolic action

sonic policing

The aim of this paper is to describe and exemplify a theoretical perspective for the analysis of music as symbolic action in critical studies of discourse. We use deployments of music by legislatures in Australia, the UK, and the USA as exemplar cases to develop foundations for a critical, non-semiotic perspective that sees music work as gestalt complexes of physical and cultural forces that move people towards or away from specific actions and attitudes. In presenting our perspective we critique some semiotic assertions about music that are commonplaces in discourse studies and elsewhere. Our cases draw on news reports and scholarly discourse about the use of music as a means of torture in warfare and as a means of purifying urban public spaces by keeping youth and homeless people out of them at night.

Details

Title: Music as symbolic action
Authors: Phil Graham (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative Industries
Andy Ward (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative Industries
Publication details: Discourse & Society, Vol.35(1), pp.66-82
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
Date published: 2024
DOI: 10.1177/09579265231195713
ISSN: 1460-3624; 0957-9265
Copyright note: © The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries; Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic); University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Creative Industries - Legacy
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99968897202621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Communication; Psychology, Multidisciplinary; Sociology