The Sounds of Poverty: An Analysis of Music and Political Behavior Among the Rural Poor

This presentation was given at the Georgia Sociological Association Annual Conference.

Link to Program: https://www.georgiasociology.com/uploads/9/6/4/8/96484124/gsa_program_2018_final.pdf

Poverty is more than a policy problem. Yet, poverty has been, and continues to be, a problem addressed by government. Political participation, however, in poor communities most influenced by poverty policy, is consistently low. Scholarship that analyzes political participation has long recognized that understanding political behavior requires an analysis of cultural priorities. One means of understanding a culture is through its music; a valuable resource for understanding a variety of concepts, including subcultures. The current analysis uses the music of the Appalachian rural poor as a means of understanding political behavior, including patriotism and trust in government, in rural communities.