Towards a critical understanding of music, emotion and self‐identity

The article begins by outlining a dominant conception of these relations in sociologically‐informed analysis of music, which sees music primarily as a positive resource for active self‐making. My argument is that this conception rests on a problematic notion of the self and also on an overly optimistic understanding of music, which implicitly sees music as highly independent of negative social and historical processes. I then attempt to construct a) a more adequately critical conception of personal identity in modern societies; and b) a more balanced appraisal of music‐society relations. I suggest two ways in which relations between self, music and society may not always be quite so positive or as healthy as the dominant conception suggests: 1) Music is now bound up with the incorporation of authenticity and creativity into capitalism, and with intensified consumption habits. 2) Emotional self‐realisation through music is now linked to status competition. Interviews are analysed.