[Column] Does the genre of music you listen to in your youth influence your later life and social behavior?
Column en Cculture Generation Sociology![[Column] Does the genre of music you listen to in your youth influence your later life and social behavior?](/../assets/images/column-sociology-youth-culture-generation.webp)
Prologue: Why does the “music I listened to when I was young” remain?
Text: mmr｜Theme: Verifying the long-term effects of music listened to during adolescence and young adulthood on values, career views, and social participation using empirical research data from various countries
When many people think back to a certain time in their lives, they conjure up memories that are strongly associated with specific music. It’s not just nostalgia. Psychology and neuroscience have repeatedly shown that experiences from our late teens to early 20s tend to become the foundation of our self-concept and value judgments.
During this period, the amygdala, which is responsible for emotional processing, and the dopamine circuit, which is responsible for the reward system, are particularly active, making children highly sensitive to new stimuli. Because music simultaneously stimulates emotions, social belonging, and physical sensations, it is more deeply imprinted in our memories than other cultural elements.
This paper examines the extent to which the genres of music listened to in youth influence later life and social behavior, based on long-term follow-up surveys, social statistics, and generational comparative studies in various countries.
Musical experiences from early childhood remain in one’s life, not as memories, but as criteria for judgment.
Chapter 1: Empirical research on music preferences and personality development
The relationship between music preferences and personality traits has been verified using large-scale data, mainly in Europe and the United States. Most of the research uses questionnaires from thousands to tens of thousands of people to compare music preferences in their late teens to early 20s with personality traits in adulthood.
Representative analyzes have confirmed that people who preferred diverse and non-mainstream music during their formative years tend to be more open-minded. On the other hand, those who mainly listened to mainstream genres with clear structures were more honest and norm-oriented.
Importantly, ““formative tastes’’ have a stronger correlation with personality traits in adulthood than current musical tastes. This suggests that rather than taste itself changing personality, the values formed through music are maintained over the long term.
Music does not determine personality, but it strengthens the direction of personality development.
Chapter 2: Effects on educational and career choices
Longitudinal studies from multiple countries have shown that the level of involvement in musical culture in early life is statistically associated with educational and career choices in adulthood. The sample size ranges from a few thousand to 10,000 people and has been followed for more than 10 years.
Those familiar with experimental and anti-establishment music culture are more likely to pursue fields of creativity and self-discretion, such as art, research, IT, and media. On the other hand, those who mainly listened to commercial and traditional genres tended to have jobs with high institutional stability.
Because this relationship remains even after controlling for family environment and educational background, it is interpreted that music culture has an independent influence on values and career aspirations.
Musical culture does not directly determine career paths, but shapes the priorities of choices.
Chapter 3: Effects on political consciousness and social participation
Research that analyzes the relationship with political consciousness shows that people who listened to music with strong social messages when they were young tended to have higher voting rates and social movement participation rates as adults. The study is broken down by generation and compared over several decades.
On the other hand, those familiar with a music culture that emphasizes entertainment and individualism are more likely to express their values through consumption behavior and lifestyle rather than institutional political participation.
It is important that music plays a role in learning forms of participation and sense of distance, rather than directly forming political positions.
Music teaches us not political ideas, but patterns of social participation.
Chapter 4: Analysis by genre ① Rock
Rock has been strongly associated with youth culture since the 1950s. The generation that mainly listened to rock music in their youth tends to view self-expression and anti-authority attitudes positively.
Long-term studies have shown that this group is more likely to express their opinions in the workplace and society even after adulthood. On the other hand, distrust of the system is also likely to coexist.
Age range of greatest impact
The influence of rock is most apparent between the ages of 15 and 22. This age is a stage in which self-development and questioning of social norms progress simultaneously, and the anti-authoritarian attitude and vocabulary of self-expression presented by Locke are likely to be linked to personality development.
Locke functioned as a culture that taught people the validity of self-assertion.
Chapter 5: Genre analysis ② Hip hop
Hip-hop culture is characterized by narratives born from the social margins. Those who became familiar with hip-hop at a young age are more sensitive to social inequality and identity.
A follow-up survey in the United States has confirmed that this group tends to be more active in local activities and community participation.
Age range of greatest impact
Hip-hop’s influence is greatest between the ages of 16 and 25. At a time when people are becoming more aware of their social position and attributes, it is easy for people to internalize hip-hop as a form of self-talk.
Hip hop fosters the ability to verbalize the relationship between self and society.
Chapter 6: Genre analysis ③ Electronic music
The generation that is familiar with electronic music tends to have a sense of transcending national borders and genres. Particularly in Europe, early experience with club culture is associated with international mobility and flexible work attitudes.
Age range of greatest impact
The influence of electronic music is most apparent between the ages of 18 and 28. Physical sensations and social networks are formed at the same time at the age when children become able to autonomously choose nighttime culture and club spaces.
Electronic music fosters the ability to adapt to a networked society.
Chapter 7: Genre analysis ④ Pop
Pop music is the most widely shared culture and functions as a synonym and a common language. People who had a pop-centered music experience when they were young tend to be more cooperative.
Age range of greatest impact
Pop’s influence is at its greatest between the ages of 12 and 18. At a time when school life and relationships with peer groups are central, common hits act as social glue.
Pop plays the role of forming a generational common ground.
Chapter 8: Country Comparison: America
American research is conducting long-term surveys with samples of tens of thousands of people. Musical preferences in youth are strongly tied to race, region, and class, and remain as a sense of social belonging even after adulthood.
Hip-hop, rock, and country are each associated with different community structures, creating differences in political consciousness and forms of social participation.
In America, musical genres become part of social identity.
Chapter 9: Country Comparison: Europe
In Europe, the relationship between musical tastes and social behavior has been analyzed in conjunction with educational systems and urban culture. The electronic music generation has a strong international orientation and high labor mobility.
In Europe, musical experiences relativize national border consciousness.
Chapter 10: Country comparison: Japan (before 1990s)
In Japan before the 1990s, musical tastes were difficult to directly reflect in social behavior. This is because lifetime employment and a uniform education system absorbed individual differences.
Still, it has been confirmed that the generation that is familiar with rock and folk music tends to retain an internal critical nature.
Even though the influence of music was hard to express, it accumulated internally.
Chapter 11: Country comparison: Japan (2000s onwards)
Since the 2000s, as the system has become more fluid, the relationship between musical tastes and job views has become apparent. Those who are familiar with subcultural music are more likely to be freelancers or have multiple jobs.
Branch of J-POP/Subculture/Club Culture
Since the 2000s in Japan, young people’s musical experiences have broadly diverged into three categories. J-POP still provides a generational common ground and is shared in school and media contexts. On the other hand, subcultural music connected to anime and internet culture has played a role in strongly internalizing individual tastes and preferences.
Furthermore, in urban areas, club culture and electronic music function as new social experiences linked to the night-time economy. These divergences create differences in career views and work style choices.
In recent years, music experiences have begun to be reflected in work styles in Japan.
Chapter 12: Chronology of generations and major genres
Generations and music genres are linked to changes in social behavior.
Chapter 13: Music as an initial condition, not cause and effect
Music is not a direct cause, but acts as an initial condition of life.
Final Chapter: To what extent does music shape life?
What the empirical data shows is not a simple cause and effect that music determines our lives. Musical culture continues to act as an initial condition for values, social participation, and vocational views.
Although it manifests itself differently depending on the country and system, the music you listen to in your youth continues to serve as a reference point throughout your life.
Musical experiences in early life are not a map of life, but a compass.
References/References (research/statistical materials)
This column is constructed based on the following empirical research, long-term surveys, and social statistics. Specific claims are organized based on the overlapping results of multiple studies, rather than on the basis of a single study.
Music taste and personality/psychology
・Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2003) Music preferences and personality traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
・Rentfrow, P. J., et al. (2011) The structure of musical preferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
・North, A. C., & Hargreaves, D. J. (2008) The social and applied psychology of music.
Early childhood memory/developmental psychology
・Rubin, D. C., Rahhal, T. A., & Poon, L. W. (1998) Things learned in early adulthood are best remembered. Memory & Cognition.
・Arnett, J. J. (2000) Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist.
Music culture and social behavior/political participation
・Street, J. (2012) Music and politics.
・Bennett, A. (2001) Cultures of popular music.
・Frith, S. (1996) Music and identity.
Education/occupational choice and cultural capital
・Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste.
・Savage, M., et al. (2013) A new model of social class. Sociology.
Long-term survey by country and generation
・General Social Survey (U.S. long-term social survey)
・European Social Survey
・World Values Survey
Japanese music culture and generation research
・Public opinion survey on culture conducted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (each year).
This paper relies on a research trend that views the relationship between music genres and social behavior as a cumulative effect rather than a deterministic one.
