Music Education and Social Reproduction

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses the role of music education in the perpetuation of cycles of unjust hegemonic social reproduction, using Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction and the roles of education and culture therein. Alternative music pedagogies, such as informal learning, are examined as offering potential to break such cycles by allowing accumulation of two forms of cultural capital—pedagogical and musical capital—by diverse students. An empirical example is used to demonstrate how perceptions of the knowledge legimitation code within which music education operates may be shifted, allowing fewer students to self-identify as “non-elite” and therefore not suited to studying music. Some principles are suggested by which music education might act to break cycles of injustice and in whatever small way act to disrupt the social status quo.