Drawing on research in public opinion and political communication, this research examines a highly pervasive form of communication that has often overt political content, yet one that has been largely overlooked by scholars: music. While the macro-level relationship has been broadly discussed and supported, the micro-level relationship remains relatively unexplored. This project helps to identify where it is possible to predict political attitudes based on musical preferences, and vice versa. I explore and advance a theory which links music preferences and political attitudes through a model I term selective group feedback. I test this model using original survey data (n = 888) and experimental analysis (n = 38) of college students conducted in 2006 at UC Santa Barbara. My findings show associations between key political attitudes and certain music preferences, namely country, R & B, rap, and hip-hop. These findings suggest that not only is music an effective and influential form of political communication, but also particular political norms are constructed and encouraged among particular political genres of music.

Artistic expression is a longstanding aspect of mankind and our society. While art can simply be appreciated for aesthetic artistic value, it can be utilized for other various multidisciplinary purposes. Music as a Platform for Political Communication is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly perspectives on delivering political messages to society through musical platforms and venues. Highlighting innovative research topics on an international scale, such as election campaigns, social justice, and protests, this book is ideally designed for academics, professionals, practitioners, graduate students, and researchers interested in discovering how musical expression is shaping the realm of political communication.

Observing European debates about EuroDisney, McDonald's, Hollywood films and television programs, and other vehicles of alleged 'Americanization,' one might imagine that Europe was in serious risk of losing its distinct cultural identity in the melting pot of American pop culture. The loaded charge of 'kitsch' is a central aspect of the debate, with Disney stories, for example, branded as simplified travesties of authentic European folk tales. But the relationship between European and American popular cultures is vastly more complex. Reciprocal and interactive, it is a relationship in which the European-American partnership (for example, in cinematic ventures) has become quite common. And again, artifacts which have a certain meaning and reception in America may have a completely different meaning and reception in Europe; in effect behaving as different artifacts altogether. And finally, as this book shows, American cultural influences have penetrated not only the popular realms of European television, fashions, fast food, and rock music, but also such domains as youth organizations, literature, UFO culture, and religious faith.

"Conservative complaints about popular music focus on lyrics alone and appeal only to public decency and safety. Liberals, swift to the defense of any self-expression, simultaneously celebrate rock's liberating ethos and deny its cultural influence. Neither side appreciates the true power of music or is willing to examine its own musical tastes.".

Most readers of this book will have had at most a fleeting acquaintancewith the music of some of the groups described in this book. Groupssuch as Laibach (from Slovenia), Borghesia (Slovenia), Pankow (theGDR), and Gorky Park (USSR) have concentrated on the Western marketand have acquired followings in the United States and Western Europe.Other artists and groups, such as Boris Grebenshikov and Aquarium(USSR), Sergei Kuryokhin (USSR), Goran Bregovic and White Button(Yugoslavia), and Plastic People of the Universe (Czechoslovakia), havealso seen some Western exposure. But for the most part, the rock musicof that part of the world is terra incognita to Westerners. So too is thestory of their uneasy coexistence with communist authorities from thetime that rock first ~ppeared until the collapse of communism in 1989.This book aims to fill that vacuum.