Music and Society

Music and Society have always been intimately related. Throughout the years, music has had the power to influence the behavior of individuals and societies. Music has been thought of as a very powerful medium within social groups because it can facilitate communication beyond strictly words. Music has multiple meanings which can promote the development of individual, cultural and national identities. Today, music has been criticized for corrupting youth. For example, Rap music has been blamed for crimes and murders that take place within cities throughout America. Rap music however serves a more meaningful purpose within societal development and culture. The defiant images of Rap music and Hip-Hop serve as an inspirational outlet of social change through the ideology of the Frankfurt School 's Marxist critical theory.
The Frankfurt school was established in the early 19th century as school of Marxist interdisciplinary social theory. Following Marx, they were concerned by the conditions that allowed for social change. They were concerned with the shift from agrarian economy to industrializing labor in the 19th century. They were also concerned with wealth, class, and most importantly the oppression of workers by the rich class. They were troubled by the thought that one percent of people owned forty percent of the nation 's wealth, and ninety percent of the people only owned twenty-five percent of the nation 's wealth. These statistics completely contradicted the ideology of the “American Dream”, which indicates that anyone can succeed and make it in America if they work hard. We are indoctrinated with this concept that people are wealthy because they have earned their wealth, and others are poor because they deserve to be poor. We are brainwashed to believe this ideology because the wealthy are the ruling class which set these ideas for the rest to believe and trust in. The one percent wants us to believe in the American Dream because it instills a “false hope”