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Today:
Musical taste and personality
"Researchers have been showing for decades that fans of rock and rap are rebellious, and that fans of opera are wealthy and well-educated" "But this is the first time that research has shown that personality links to liking for a wide range of musical styles" Does you musical taste reflect your personality?
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My favorite quotes regarding statistics:
"All generalizations are wrong"
and
"It's easy to lie with statistics, but far easier to lie without them." --Richard Herstein
While those generalizations are somewhat true, they're only generalizations. I tend to like everything--literally everything (from Bhangra, to Mugham, to Noise, to Hip-Hop, to Classical, to Ghana drumming). What that says about my personality, I have no idea really.
"rebellious" is an adjective that is a character trait. "wealthy and well-educated" are both matters of choices made in life. i know some rich punks and rap fans that are very well educated while i know some opera fans i wouldnt trust to go to the grocery store with 20$....
the types of music you reference are rich in their own cultures and sub-cultures. to identify an individual simply through their musical tastes is irresponsible.
my musical taste reflects aspects of my personality but does not define it.
"rebellious" is an adjective that is a character trait. "wealthy and well-educated" are both matters ...
Good points. And sometimes I just look at the cultures surrounding rap/punk as being commoified rebellion. In other words, the acceptable ways to be "rebellious", given the cultural context. There are ways of rebelling that have nothing to do with either of those cultures/sub-cultures and just may happen to be"more" rebellious (if that can make any sense).
It may be true that opera draws wealthier, better educated people in this country. But I don't think that's universally true in the U.S., and I'm sure it's not elsewhere. I've been lucky enough to travel in Italy, where I heard ordinary workers in the streets humming opera arias, and in Mexico, where I saw a maybe 20-year-old woman with her two young children in the cheap seats at the Palace of Fine Arts.
It may be true that opera draws wealthier, better educated people in this country. But ...
Some people might just argue that the US is less cultured than most other countries. :P
But I think that Opera, which is very much a European invention, is still very much a part of the culture of the "Old WOrld" in a way. It just didn't translate nearly as well here in the states. Neither does the US have as much state sponsorship of classical ensembles, which might make certain productions here just to damn unaffordable--which would contribute to the divergence of Opera vs Rap/Rock cultures here if not in, say, Europe.
I often wonder how much those statistics take other factors into account. Music can affect one's life, but I believe that music is more of a catharsis than a reason for action.