Music, Identity and Subcultures, an in-more-depth study

Music unites, it is a well-known and much-discussed thing, but it only takes a few examples to realize how much it can be considered a social glue: Woodstock, raves, and heavy metal music festivals.

Starting from more ancient times, music has always been used to name something of one's identity, in the pre-Cristopher Columbus Native American peoples, it distinguished one civilization from another, and in older Europe, it characterized the bourgeoisie from the people, how? Just think of the masses in Latin. But the same, national anthems, and protest songs are all things that lead us to an association with something and therefore to a belonging, an identity.
In short, it tends to be the case that listening, dancing, playing a certain genre of music, what clothes one wears, what readings one prefers, and even what means of transportation one tends to use, are all things that affirm an identity of ours and usually make us part of a certain collectivity and a certain group of people.
Music can influence our values and beliefs, and also, the kind of music we prefer is related to our cognitive functions.

A 2015 study from the University of Chicago highlighted several traits typical of those who listen to a certain genre, listed below:

- Pop: Those who prefer this music tend to be more outgoing, honest, and conventional. Although lovers of this genre are hard workers with high self-esteem, pop-heads tend to be more anxious and apprehensive, in addition to the fact that they tend to be less creative.

- Rap/Hip Hop: The myth that rap fans would tend to be more violent has been debunked with this very research. In fact, they tend to have higher self-esteem and be more outgoing.

- Country: they tend to be hard-working, conventional, extroverted people and tend to be more conservative. Although very often country lyrics tend to be about heartbreak, fans tend to be more emotionally stable. They ranked lower in the "openness to new experiences" item.

- Rock/Heavy Metal: another genre that carries the cross having aggressive followers, who pull shenanigans, and tend to be angry people. This research debunked this myth as well and showed that "metalheads" tend to be sweet, creative, and introverted. They tend to have lower self-esteem.

- Indie: fans of indie music have been classified as introverted, intellectual, and creative, but less hardworking and sweet than people who favor other genres. They tend to be passive, anxious and have lower self-esteem.

- Dance: listeners of this genre are typically extroverted, self-confident, and more open to new experiences, however, they also classified themselves as much less sweet people than listeners of other genres.

- Classical: classical music listeners tend to be more introverted but comfortable with themselves, creative, and with healthy self-esteem. 

- Jazz, blues, and soul: tend to be extroverts, and with high self-esteem. Often very creative, intelligent, and comfortable outside their comfort zone.

In addition, researchers have suggested that people can see and experience the world in two ways: based on social cues (thus empathizing) and based on preset conceptions of how people should respond (thus analyzing).

More empathetic people tend to prefer more emotionally rich genres such as indie rock, country, and folk. Most of them have careers in the arts, or at least in professions born to help others. They, therefore, prefer lighter music that provokes stronger emotions.
In contrast, analyzers, unlike empaths, gravitate toward math and science and are precisely attracted to structurally complex genres such as jazz or classical music; world music is also often to their liking.

However, not all research supports the idea that personality traits play a role in determining music preferences. A 2017 meta-analysis found that personality traits play very little role in determining individual differences.
In this very regard, musicologist and sociologist Marcello Sorce Keller states that: "The activity of making music, our tastes in producing it, in listening to it, our choices to participate with others in the rituals to which it gives substance, constitute yet another way of clarifying ourselves and those who observe us who we are (or at least who we think we are or wish to be), with whom we identify and with whom we do not wish to be confused."
He also adds that: "Music, music-making therefore, is an activity that, at the same time, unites us with someone and separates us from someone else, always and everywhere."

But how about nowadays?
I don't want to say that technology killed subcultures or self-identity, because it is not like this. As a society, we've had social networks since the 2000s with MySpace and Facebook, and honestly, people were still parts of subcultures and similar. Even during the early 2010s we could still see some glimpses and attempts at creating short-lived subcultures on platforms such as Tumblr. 
So what happened? Well, I feel like it all started happening with the rise of Musical.ly, a very short-lived platform (2014-2017), which is now known as TikTok. To be honest, I have always hated it because everyone was doing the trends and everyone was starting to act braindead. We all know the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and the 2000s for certain looks, certain music, and how things were developing and evolving but each decade had a characterizing and prominent trend, whether we're talking about fashion, music, or art. 

But what about the times where we are living now?

Tell me something that you find characterizing about these times. 

The answer is highly probably nothing apart from constantly changing trends and short-form content.

I'm not here writing all of these things to complain, but I want to talk about it and show that as much as certain social media are good because we get to connect with long-lost relatives, and people from all around the World, all of these platforms are extremely fast-paced, leaving little to no space for deeper thoughts or for differentiation.

No one here is saying to delete all of your accounts and disappear, but at least, be more cynical about the content that you expose yourself to, and, don't homologate to others and live your truth. If you enjoy wearing plain clothes and not "alternative" ones then go with whatever makes you more comfortable and happy. 

Subcultures still exist, even though now the majority of people call them "something-core", but they are still there, the problem is that the Internet now makes it look like they do not exist anymore and we are all the same.

What can you do about it? Simply be yourself and go on with whatever music you prefer, and maybe, spend less time on TikTok, that shit really sucks.