Hitit Theology Journal

It is a matter of curiosity how the meaning attributed to the music corresponds to our identity, rather than the sounds that make up the music. It has been the subject of research that music can be a tool both to define the social identities that individuals belong to, and to separate others. Music also can create a group and provide a basis for the construction of social identity. Thus, it can be said that music can be a tool both to define the social identities that individuals belong to and to separate others, and to create a social identity by creating a group itself. From a social constructivist theoretical point of view, music is both the constructor and the constructed itself. In the body of the literature, it is seen that people evaluate others who prefer different music than themselves as an outgroup. The purpose of this research is to investigate the reasons young people listen to the local 45’s songs within the context of social identity. In addition, the research also deals with the consumption patterns of the local 45’s songs, the performance areas, mental attributions, and the effects of all these factors on social identity. The data of this phenomenological study is collected through semi-structured questions via interview method, and the content analysis is applied to the data. In the research findings, the participants mostly defined the places where local 45's songs are played as cafes (n=15, 39.47%) and pubs (n=8, 21.05%), and a retro (n=6, 15.78%) design about the appearance of these places. According to the research findings; the participants attributed the characteristics such as, nostalgia lover (n=7, 20.59%), open-mindedness (n=6, 17.65%), to the other people who listen to the local 45’s songs. However, the participants attributed the most negative adjectives such as rude (n=7, 20.59%), disrespectful (n=8, 14.54%), unconscious consumer (n=10, 18.18%), ignorant of music (n=4, 7.27%), prejudiced (n=2, 3.64%), old-fashion (n=3, 5.45%), loser (n=1, 1.81%) to those who does not listen to these songs. Considering the personal characteristics that they think are similar to those of the local 45’s listeners’; the highest is found to be open-minded (n=3, 13.04%), respectful (n=3, 13.04%), interested, and curious (n=4, 17.39%). There was a theme of deep intellectuality (n=2, 8.69%) among the features that the participants attributed to the local 45’s listeners. Indeed, it is noteworthy that they made such references when describing their similar characteristics for themselves. On the other hand, the highest team about the participants’ attributions to others’ reasons about to dislike local 45’s songs as follows: meaningless life (n=5, 16.13%) and being prejudiced (n=5, 16.13%).

Participants also chose these definitions such as, emotional attachment (n=11, 2.44%), nostalgic (n=7, 15.56%), and playing qualified music (n=7, 15.56%) regarding the features of the place where the local 45’s songs are played. They also referred to other people who come to these places as intellectual (n=8, 14.03%), living life consciously (n=6, 10.53%), and care the external look (n=9, 15.79%). In addition, emotional reasons (n=12, 28.57%) is the most frequent theme among the motivations of listening to the local 45’s songs, and the reasons for the others who do not prefer these songs are defined as meaningless life (n=5, %16.13), and to find cliché (n=5, %16.13).

The findings show that popular music is a storage for the consumers to ascribe personal meanings. In addition, it has been observed that the participants identify with the songs they listen to by attributing a personal meaning, and they place those who make different choices at the opposite point of this mental identification. Thus, music is both a bearer of collective identity and a norm setter in the relations between a group and others.

These findings are going to be discussed within the perspective of the social constructivist theoretical framework and the body of the literature. In addition, in the conclusion section, suggestions for future studies are presented.