The first topic is chapter 24 which discuss group culture by explaining how small groups and cultures are created by using an example of the idioculture in little league baseball teams. The primary factor in understanding culture according to Wray is interaction, with the contents, meanings and the reasons for the interactions defining how the culture is created or transmitted (368). Wray describes ideoculture as an organization of knowledge, convictions, practices and traditions shared by individuals from an intermingling set of people to which individuals can allude and utilize as the premise of further interactions (369). He also defines “known culture” as the background on which the members of a group unite so they can develop an ideoculure. “Usable culture” is defined by Wray as the part of the known culture which the members of the group are willing to adapt. Created culture, on the other hand, refers to the practices that the group adapts to after establishing itself. A combination of the usable culture and the new culture forms the ideoculture. The triggering event for an ideoculture is an action or an occurrence that leads to precipitation of the particular culture; hence, the culture will always be associated with the triggering event.
The second reading is on music and symbolic exclusion which is in chapter 24. According to Wray, music has the power to define what class a person belongs to and what kind of people he/she would rather be associated with. He explains that despite studies showing that more educated people are more receptive to a broad range of cultures, terming them as "culture herbivores," more educated people are more likely to avoid rock and heavy metal music which is strongly linked to the lowly in society with no education. Considering that music is a part of culture, the more learned people who are higher the social ladder are more likely to dissociate themselves with the music that is likely to be associated with lowlife people.
The two readings merge in their discussion of social modes through which cultures are created and practiced, with the first reading focusing on little league baseball teams and the second one focusing on genres of music. Just like the first reading suggests, the formation of culture requires a trigger and a usable or functional culture with which all members of the team believe in, a notion that is supported by the second reading by the claim that a genre of music can act as a trigger event. The belief that heavy metal music is a part of culture of the lowly and the poor which is a stereotype is likely to push away educated people who a high in the social classes. The second study indicates that people low in the social order are more selective with music than those high I the social ladder, proving the point made in the first study that culture is defined by other factors in the interaction. However, the study on music tolerance and its relationship to culture and grouping fail to consider the possibility of the people higher in the social ladder having more exposure and being more receptive to various cultures despite not identifying with the genre.
In conclusion, it is clear that music, just like sports can act as a nucleus or precipitator for group culture. There are styles of music which are associated with the rich and others that are associated with the people low in the social order. One of the reasons why people high in the social order do not like music associated with people low in the order is because they do not want to be associated with the cultural group that is known for the music.
Work Cited
Wray, Matt. Cultural Sociology: An Introductory Reader. New York, NY: WW Norton & Co., 2013. Print.
