We’ve been talking a lot about social rituals. Well, just what exactly is a social ritual? Social rituals are, basically, traditions or customs that a society has followed for many years. For example, in America, most people follow the custom of dating. In Israel, they tend to follow the tradition of arranged marriages. Yet, in some countries, they use courtship. Even though all three of these approaches to finding a mate are different, they all are very similar because they are all Social Mating Rituals. Now, of course, mating isn’t the only social ritual. The way our culture responds to and views death is a social ritual in and of itself. So is the way we do warfare. The way we eat and the way we clothe ourselves are also social rituals. One of the most interesting social rituals, in my opinion, is music. The music we listen to and the way it is used to influence us is much different then it used to be.With the start of the 20th century, music was just beginning to play a huge part in the rapidly maturing United States. For centuries, music had always been used to entertain people around living rooms and campfires. It had always contained the ability to manipulate the emotions and feelings of a listener. But, as America started to prosper and business began to boom, people began to realize the potential money making qualities of music and the music entertainment industry was born. Today, it’s one of the biggest industries ever. An artist can have his music heard by thousands to even millions of people. Instead of entertaining just a few hundred people, artists go on tours around the country or even the world, playing music in front of millions of people (Ennis, 1992).With the wide audiences available to artists, music became one of the best ways to advertise and to influence people with ideas and such. Many artists knew this to be true and took advantage of it. Music rapidly began to influence every aspect of Ameri...
