1.4a Macro-, Meso-, and Microsociology

Sociologist must decide what level of society they will focus their sociological eye on. Will they use a macrosociological approach and look at large-scale social phenomena? Will they use a microsociological approach to study small-scale interaction? Or will they use a mesosociological approach, which draws on the other approaches?

A sociologist using a macrosociological perspective studies large-scale social phenomena. They might focus on social institutions like the media. Within the media, they may direct their attention to a specific area, such as the music recording industry. The microsociological perspective attends to interpersonal interaction. For example, they could explore the interactions between songwriters and musicians (Skaggs, 2019). A sociologist using a mesosociological perspective studies the areas in between. They might research how music is sold and consumed, such as changes due to the switch from physical to digital formats. Figure 1.5 provides a summary of these three perspectives.

Macrosociological Perspective

The music industry includes everything from the record label producers to concert venue organizations to fans. A sociologist using a macrosociological approach could study how social structure influences the music business. For example, a sociologist might explore how government regulation limits the kind of music is available. They could study how governments and record labels censor music produced in one country for distribution in another.

Mesosociological Perspective

A sociologist could use a mesosociological approach to study one aspect of the music industry. For example, they could study how the norms of listening to music have changed. Record companies used to sell music as physical products, such as vinyl records or compact discs. With physical media, people listened to an entire album from start to finish. With streaming, people might never listen to a complete album by their favorite artist.

Microsociological Perspective

Record labels earn less per stream compared to what they earned selling physical media like compact discs. Therefore, they seek income elsewhere (Skaggs, 2019). As a result, most recording contracts now expect that the artist is also a co-writer of their songs. When the artist co-writes, the record label has a stake in copyright. The copyright is where money is made. As a result, songwriters must write songs with instead of for performers. Performers are not always good songwriters. Further, they do not have a lot of time for songwriting because of their other obligations, such as touring and creating social media content.

Rachel Skaggs (2019) used a microsociological approach to understand how recording artists and songwriters write songs together. She interviewed 39 country songwriters for her study. Skaggs found that songwriters used two strategies to co-write with artists. Songwriters used “bespoke facilitation” and “manipulation dance.” They practiced “bespoke facilitation” by co-writing in a way that meets the artist’s vision and branding. In the “manipulation dance,” the songwriter comes to the writing session with the lyrics in mind. During their writing session, the songwriter convinces the artist that the lyrics emerged during their time together. The songwriter steers the artist to where the songwriter wants the song to go while letting the artist believe they have control over the outcome.