This chapter is intended both as an introduction to the conference proceedings and as a necessary framing of the conference topic, designed to illuminate different interpretations of and references to the term “parallel societies”. In accordance with our intention to initiate a joint conference of the two supposedly parallel associations for popular music research / popular music studies in German-speaking countries, a topic was chosen for the 2022 annual conference in Vienna that would make it possible to address this relationship and to undertake a critical-reflective examination of the claimed or perceived divergences in popular music and its research and mediation. This article presents the genesis and development of the contested term “parallel societies”, as well as the term’s independent existence, which deviates from academic definitions due to its often one-sided, abbreviated and exclusionary use in the mass media and in political and public debate. It reveals how a targeted connotation is established by referencing ethnicity or religious affiliation, while significant formative factors such as school education, income and social background are often ignored. Corresponding applications of the term derived from incidents in world politics are presented, as are the worrying social effects that these narratives entail for the designated people and social groups. A link is then made to pop cultural practices and how they reference the effects of “parallel societies”; finally, there is an examination of the thematisation of parallel (music) worlds as a result of digitalisation. Moreover, the chapter contains an overview of the contributions to this anthology.
„„Parallelgesellschaften“ in populärer Musik? Ausgangsposition – Begriffsgeschichten – pop-kulturelle Bezüge“ weiterlesen„Parallelgesellschaften“ in populärer Musik? Ausgangsposition – Begriffsgeschichten – pop-kulturelle Bezüge
