Utbildningsvägar till musiken – Musikerstudenters livshistorier om drivkrafter och erkännande

Abstract in English

Nearly everyone alive today has some connection to music. Despite music’s presence throughout society, research shows that access to music education is unequally distributed and that the field of music education in Sweden exhibits recurring patterns of social reproduction. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze life histories of music students to understand their pathways through the field of music education and their strategies for participating and gaining recognition in the field. The empirical material consists of 41 conversational interviews with music students in Swedish higher education programs in classical music and music production. The study analyzes settings using two sociological theories that shed light on the reproduction and production of dominance relationships, as well as the possibility of existential, resonant relationships with music. Pierre Bourdieu’s framework offers tools for analyzing how a musical habitus is formed by the intersection of individual experiences and positions in the field, which in turn helps us understand how social reproduction happens on a micro level. In this study, the focus is on embodied capital in the form of a musical habitus. Hartmut Rosa’s concept of resonance is used to understand what creates meaning in the lives of music students, beyond just career goals – driving forces that have to do with relationships and the making of existential meaning. The results show that social reproduction starts early, in childhood. Having musical parents gives many children an early advantage in musical and cultural capital as well as trust capital. A snowball effect ensues where each fresh recognition (admissions, ensembles, auditions) reinforces already embodied dispositions (habitus). When capital from home meets institutions, such as after-school classes, music schools, churches, private actors, a subtle but effective form of social selection arises. Separately from the sphere of professional achievement, the student stories in this dissertation also offer an answer to why music still matters. It matters not just as an achievement or something elite, but as a place of meaning, connection, and existence. In this context, resonance appears as a necessary condition for us to commit, create, and change. Rosa’s resonance theory captures the ways students make meaning, the forces that drive them, and the turning points they encounter. By highlighting this dimension, the dissertation seeks to contribute a relational theory of resonance in music education, a tool to better understand the driving forces that shape pathways through music education – an approach that may contribute to opening up the field of music education, challenging its hierarchies, and fostering transformation and renewal.