Social Change and the Jazz Musician

Abstract

Interviews with 118 randomly selected jazz musicians and four months of participant observation yield evidence strongly suggesting changes in the occupation ideology of jazz musicians. Age controls on the findings suggest that jazz musicians are becoming less hostile toward audiences and the larger society, that in-group norms promoting cohesiveness are weakening, and that jazz musicians are becoming less inclined to interact only with their own kind. These major attitudinal shifts are attributed to an increased positive valuation of jazz music by the general public. Implications drawn from the study include a criticism of a priori assumptions of homogeneity in the study of occupational or deviant groups and some further