Material culture and embodied action: Sociological notes on the examination of musical instruments in jazz improvisation

Abstract

This paper argues that the examination of technologies and their social contexts, which form the basis of the material culture perspective, can be strengthened through an increased awareness of the intersubjective and embodied features of social action. With reference to the ways in which jazz musicians improvise with instruments through embodied praxological skills (b42Sudnow, 1978) and intersubjective art world knowledge (b2Becker, 1982), the paper demonstrates the empirical value of these basic sociological concepts. It shows that the 'affordances' of usage (b16Gibson, 1979) that result from social actors' application of objects through orientation to normative procedure become visible through an understanding of embodied habituated social practice, and it is exactly such affordances that constitute the contextual relevance of materiality for social action. © The Editorial Board of The Sociological Review 2006.