Music of distinction: cultural preferences and adolescents' friendship dynamics

This article reflects on the interdependent relationship between friendship dynamics and music preferences among adolescents. Traditional sociological explanations for music taste heterogeneity focus on socio-demographic factors (social class, ethnicity, gender, …) and are inspired by theories of social stratification, capital conversion, taste patterns, etc. . While these are all valid explanations, we want to focus on the joint dynamics between social networks and music taste. We focus on the social context in which music preferences are formed, internalized and passed on and therefore disentangle the selection and influence mechanisms based on music preferences that influence the dynamics of friendship networks among adolescents. Data We use the CultuS dataset; a longitudinal data collection that contains elaborate information on both the complete friendship networks and the cultural capital of sociology (n=52) and political science (n=152) students from a Flemish university. The data is collected in three time-periods. For each wave, we have detailed information on the friendship networks and personal music taste. Method We model the co-evolution of the friendship networks and the respondents’ cultural capital with an actor-based model for longitudinal complete networks. More specific, our empirical analysis is based on the RSiena routine. Results Our analysis show that cultural preferences and participation patterns play an important role in the dynamics of friendship relations. We find proof for selection effects, especially for alternative music lovers. Behavioral effects are less present in our friendship networks. Furthermore, we argue that longitudinal, complete networks offer an important new perspective for cultural sociologists who are interested in the culture-network link