what are the strengths and weaknesses of Petersons production of culture perspective on the birth or rock and roll?

Peterson’s theory on the production of culture helps us to understand how the birth of rock and roll happened. His theory concentrates on six main factors that led to this, these are: laws, technology, organisation structure, occupational careers and market. These factors are strengths of Peterson’s theory because they concentrate on the areas which help to produce the music. He said that culture can not be analysed unless we look at the context of producers. However Peterson does not pay any attention to the music itself. The emergence of rock and roll was at a time when young people were developing freedom and music was a way of rebelling against parents. Peterson shows no interest in the creation of the music and the instruments used. The music’s appeal to the audience is of no importance to Peterson. So while his theory is strengthened by the fact he looks at how rock and music was produced, the fact that he pays no attention to the music itself or the reasons for the audiences interest in it, makes his theory much weaker in these areas.

What is popular music?

Popular music has no clear definition but there are many angles that can tackle the question. Raymond Williams said that originally the word ‘popularis’ was a legal term meaning belonging to the people. Throughout the centuries popular music has been perceived very differently. In the 16th century, it was considered as vulgar and of the common people, whereas in the 18th century popular music was very widely favoured. But what exactly is popular music?
In the 19th century an American magazine took the word popular as a synonym for good. Popular music could be something that is very accessible as it is what is in the public eye. Robert Burnett says that popular music is ‘mass produced and mass consumed’. He says that is commercially orientated. ‘Commercial’ implies that it is more about making profit from the music rather than its artistic value.