Course Description

This lecture will explore the interplay between popular music and American politics. We will take a chronological approach looking at how popular music interacts with the American government, politics, and society within given historical contexts, exploring both what the music reveals about the dominant values, identities, norms, politics, and experiences of that era and for what the music does. Music can serve an agentic role in American politics and society, serving as a source of information, engagement, and participation. As a form of political communication, music mobilizes and recruits people and creates a sense of identity or community.