Week Two - Relevance of the 'Production of Culture Perspective'

The lecture in Week 2, largely dealt with the writings of Richard A. Peterson, and his theory on the birth of Rock’n’Roll. Within his writings, he discusses why he thinks rock’n’roll began in the 50’s, whether it did indeed begin in the 50’s, and the factors which facilitated this birth. More specifically, he said that there were 6 such factors. They were;
· Law
· Technology
· Industry Structure
· Organisation Structure
· Occupational Career
· and Market
It would be wrong to say that Petersons work is irrelevant. The fact that we are drawing upon his work in our lecture/seminar, shows that it isn’t. Personally, I think that his ‘Production of culture perspective’ explains the birth and influence of Rock’n’Roll, up to a certain point, but also leaves a lot to be explained. He fails to explore the actual music which makes up the genre of Rock’n’Roll. It would be like discussing a painting, by describing the way the room in which it was painted, was built.

Sorry Peterson, you did well, but not well enough.