Rethinking the Sociology of Music After Adorno: A Review

Abstract

Tia DeNora, a British sociologist of music, proposes the concept of "musical event" in her work After Adorno: Rethinking Music Sociology, which promotes the transformation of the sociology of music from a grand theoretical research paradigm to a practice-oriented one. Taking this monograph as the core material, this paper adopts the methods of literature analysis and theoretical comparison to sort out DeNora’s inheritance and reflection on Adorno’s theory, focusing on her redefinition of cognition, emotion, control, and the theoretical significance of the "musical event" framework for understanding the sociality of music. The study points out that DeNora breaks through the problems of Adorno’s high abstraction and absence of actors, enabling the social significance of music to be reinterpreted in specific contexts and interaction processes. The paper further summarizes the theoretical contributions and methodological limitations of the book, arguing that the "musical event" provides a more explanatory practical perspective for contemporary sociology of music, and also indicates the path for deepening the relationship between context, actors, and structure in future research.