Black Musicians in Northern US Cities during the Early 20th Century: A Test of the Critical Mass Hypothesis of Urban Sub-culture Theory

Robert L. Boyd
Additional contact information
Robert L. Boyd: Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Mississippi State University, 207 Bowen Hall, Hardy Road, Mississippi State, MS 39762-5503, USA, Boyd@Soc.MsState.Edu

Urban Studies, 2005, vol. 42, issue 13, 2363-2370

Abstract: According to the sub-culture theory of urbanism, a vital social world will emerge in a city when there is a 'critical mass' of members of some unique population. This hypothesis is tested by analysing the entertainment sub-culture that developed around the musical styles of the southern Blacks who moved to northern cities in the US in the early 20th century. The employment rate of Blacks in the musical professions is examined as an indicator of the vitality of this sub-culture, because this rate reflects the extent to which Blacks could make a living as musicians. Regression analyses of census data from 1910 to 1930 show that, as hypothesised, the rate at which Blacks were employed as professional musicians became positively associated with the size of the Black populations of the urban north only after these populations reached critical mass levels. It is concluded that the central notion of sub-culture theory-that group size intensifies sub-cultures and fosters unconventionality-can help to explain the rise of the social world of Black musicians in northern cities in the US during the early 20th century.

Date: 2005
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420980500379479 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:42:y:2005:i:13:p:2363-2370

DOI: 10.1080/00420980500379479

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Urban Studies from Urban Studies Journal Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().