Framing Atmospheres: Goffman, Space, and Music in Everyday Life

Abstract

In this article, we synthesize Goffman's microsociology with recent developments in fields such as aesthetics, geography, and urban studies labeled “atmosphere theory.” Our central rationale is if microsociology is to deepen its account of embodiment and the noncognitive it needs a theory of spatialized moods. In the second half, we develop our synthesis with respect to musical atmospheres and conclude by drawing on our own research regarding how social actors use music to shape “involvements” and “disinvolvements” in the spatial ambiances of public transportation, the street, the workplace, and the home.

‘I’m also slightly conscious of how much I’m listening to something’: Music streaming and the transformation of music listening

“…What is critical is that by segregating interactions and social information into different regions, these processes work as 'psycho-social shock absorbers' (Meyrowitz, 1986: 41) ensuring interruptions are reduced that have the potential to drain energies of people while avoiding ambiguous definitions of a situation (Loh and Walsh, 2021;Marwick and Boyd, 2014). Crucially music can help listeners manage regions and frame social activity (Bull 2007;de la Fuente and Walsh, 2021;DeNora, 2013;Walsh and de la Fuente, 2020). However, as I argue in the following, the affordances of music streaming also can contribute to an unravelling or collapsing of experience typically demarcated between front and back regions which loosely aligns in some ways with notions of 'public' and 'private' social life (Bovill and Livingstone, 2001;Kumar and Makarova, 2008;Meyrowitz, 1986;Walsh and Baker, 2017;Zerubavel, 1979).…”