What is the study about?

This study was about music preferences, national identity and values. The results of this study will reveal whether individuals from different cultures use musical preferences to display their national identity and values. Listening to national music can serve as a symbol for national identity (McDonald et al, 2001) and music preferences for local and global music styles are thought to relate to values (Wicklund & Gollwitzer, 1985).

These links between music, values and national identity have been described in sociological literature, such as for the role of Samba in Brazil (McCann, 2004), or Nor-Tec music in Tijuana, Mexico (Madrid, 2005). However, this has not been empirically demonstrated. Therefore, this study explores whether musical preferences are related to your values and national identity.

Culturally diverse societies like New Zealand face the challenge of incorporating individuals from different cultural backgrounds. This project will help us to better understand how music can be used to maintain one’s own cultural identity, while also integrating into the larger NZ society. Music can be a unifying force for all members of a society; just think of songs like Trinity Roots’ ‘Aotearoa’ or Katchafire’s ‘Get away’.

References:
MacDonald, R. R., Hargreaves, D., & Miell, D. (2001). Musical identities: Oxford University Press.

Madrid, A. L. (2005). Imagining modernity, revising tradition: Nor-tec music in Tijuana and other borders. Popular Music and Society, 28(5), 595.

McCann, B. (2004). Hello, Hello Brazil. Duke University Press.

Wicklund, R. A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (1985). Symbolische Selbstergänzung. In D. Frey & M. Irle (Eds.), Motivations- und Informationsverarbeitungstheorien. Bern: Huber.

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You are warmly invited to take part in my new study about your daily life experience with music. It takes about 10 minutes to fill in the survey.