A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF MUSIC TASTES AND SOCIAL TIES IN THE EATING CLUBS OF PRINCETON

Abstract

This thesis explores how social groups and social ties shape musical preferences and how musical preferences in turn reinforce social ties or create new ones. More specifically, I investigate the extent to which individual actors' musical preferences are influenced by their relationship and identification with their own club as well as their disidentification with the other clubs. Drawing on Princeton University's eating clubs, I focus on a comparison between two socially and culturally very distinct and influential eating clubs for my investigation, Terrace and Ivy. I find that the manner in which music is chosen within a club regulates the level of influence club members have over the music played and the club’s collective musical identity. Focusing on two contrasting eating clubs, I have found that Ivy members are much more engaged in forming their collective musical tastes than Terrace members despite Terrace’s unique image as a prominent music venue. I observe a paradox of a more democratic choice structure within a more exclusionary club and find that club culture influences the memberships’ perception of the right and wrong types of music.