Impressions of Aging and the Elderly in Country Music :: Music Media Research Papers

Impressions of Aging and the Elderly in Country MusicAbstractThis paper examines recorded demesne medicinal drug from about 1920 to 1990 as a source of popular impressions of ripening and older while. A sample of 100 songs, primarily from Billboards Top 40 charts argon content-analyzed and the data categorized into material body atomic number 18as. Overall, as expected, the images of ripening in the lyrics of country music, both as a process and as a demographic category, are positive however, interesting variations appear when gender and specific image category are controlled.One important measure of the perception of the aging process is the manner in which aging and old age are depicted in discordant cultural forms. The condition of old age in primitive and prehistoric societies has been described by the folk tales and core out drawings of that grow survived to the present (Fisher, 1978). Likewise, it is possible that current societal views of aging whitethorn be illumi nated through the impressions farmd by contemporary agents of socialization. And while it is grueling to determine whether stereotypical images are derived from reality or if, if fact, such images create reality (Clark, 1980), it is possible to investigate how and to what extent certain institutions reflect various images of the aging process.In the last decade, a number of social scientists agree investigated the ways in which informal agents of socialization provide or validate current stereotypes and attitudes held toward the elderly. A review of previous studies in the area indicates that re anticipateers have examined aging in jokes (Davies, 1977 Palmore, 1971 Richman, 1977), birthday greeting cards (Demos and Jache, 1980), television period of play (Harris and Feinberg, 1978), poetry (Clark, 1980 Sohngen and Smith, 1978), newspapers (Bochholz and Bynum, 1982) and literature (Janelli, 1988 Loughman, 1977 Sohngen, 1977). Of particular interest and importance to this study i s the young work of Cohen and Kruschwitz, (1990) which examines printed sheet music from 1830 to 1980 for impressions of aging and old age. While their search for popular sheet music is admittedly nonsystematic and their selection of image categories was inductive, the authors have, in our view, made a significant contribution to the popular culture analytic thinking of aging and the elderly.Research to date suggests that the elderly have been portrayed in antonymous ways with some images being negative and passive and others positive and expeditious (Buchholz and Bynum, 1982). The question still remains as to what cumulative picture of aging and the elderly is painted by American music.