Muzyka jako forma spójności wspólnot. Jak dzieło sztuki muzycznej charakteryzuje rzeczywistość społeczną

Abstract

The aim herein is to respond to a question about the relational dimension of music in the context of forms of socialization. It appears that music is one such form. Furthermore, following the footsteps of Stanisław Ossowski, I claim that the constitutive feature of music is its meaningfulness because there is no work of music devoid of its social context. The only quandary in the validation of this assertion is the question of the criteria by which the researcher defines that context. In sociological research, two criteria (not always overlapping) are key: the author’s context vis-a-vis the sociogenesis of the work and the receiving context via-a-vis the sociogenesis of the work’s reception. Both of these sets is a social product; they exist in a closed system. Each is a feedback system conveyed in the social framework of individual, but is also a culturally conditioned work of art.: a communique. That communique is understood as a cultural product – i.e., the piece of music codified therein. This symbolic action, in the context of a sociological research perspective, is an indisputable piece of empirical material. Thus music manifests itself as a significant kind of cultural practice. It is a form of socialization because it has a bonding task to perform; it is a kind of language in the space of communication and in the process of symbolization.