ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes a summary of the state of French research on the sociology of musiques actuelles in France. Placed within the general framework of the sociology of art, the sociology of music, and in particular the sociology of the most ‘contemporary’ forms of musical production, appears in France to have been relatively neglected. The production of music in a location which is sited outside the usual confines of musical dissemination has been studied by Anne-Marie Green in an ethnographic analysis of musicians in the Paris Metro. The issue of typologies and of how to label the different styles of music is one of the major preoccupations of the sociology of music. Studying musicians as a group raises obvious difficulties for sociologists considering music, mostly for practical reasons. The transition from rehearsal to concert also offers an opportunity to understand the purist ethic to which many musicians lay claim.
