Stephen B. Groce

Occupational rhetoric and ideology: A comparison of copy and original music performers

This study focuses on similarities and differences between occupational rhetorics and ideologies of two groups of local level popular musicians, those who compose and perform their own music and those who perform music made commercially successful by other bands/performers. The analysis of in-depth interviews with twenty-five local level musicians demonstrates that the latter have developed an ideology which legitimates definitions of themselves as audience-oriented technicians who view the performance of music as an economic enterprise; musicians who perform original music share an ideology which stresses creativity over economic reward and legitimates a definition of themselves as primarily artists. Both types of musicians and their ideologies are discussed in relation to larger structural forces of the popular entertainment industry.

What's the buzz?: Rethinking the meanings and uses of alcohol and other drugs among small‐timerock ‘n’ roll musicians

Since Beckers pioneering work on marijuana use among jazz musicians and Bennetts discussion of the role of drugs in rock ‘n’ roll musicians’ lives, social scientists have added little of either a theoretical or substantive nature to what we think we know about the meanings and uses of alcohol and other drugs among contemporary popular musicians. Drawing on participant observation from 7 years’ experience as a professional musician and in‐depth interviews with 35 local‐level performing musicians, the author explores the relationships between the social organization of musicians’ workplaces, the nature of musicians’ work, and the meanings and uses of various mood‐altering substances. The study offers a descriptive analysis that highlights how musicians performing in bands or groups create and sustain norms regarding work and substance use and under what conditions they invoke both formal and informal mechanisms of social control. In addition, the author discusses the importance of building a theory of dev...

Patterns of communication in occupational/professional publications

This article concerns the initial phase of the authors’ research on occupational publications as sources of on‐going socialization. Four occupational publications were studied: The ABA Banking journal, The Journal of Family Practice, Guitar Player, and The Secretary. Findings indicate that journals communicate both simple and more complex occupational information, the former in advertisements and the latter in written discourse. The relationships between the nature of occupational messages and how they are presented hold despite substantial differences in overall journal formats. The authors demonstrate that the journals emphasize problematic issues related to work activity, how operating environments are changing occupational activity, and the promise that particular occupational tools will make the outcomes of complex, unpredictable work activity more certain. The authors conclude by deriving several working hypotheses to be systematically tested in future research.