THE MUSIC I LIKE (...) THE PEOPLE I HANG OUT WITH!
THE MUSIC I LIKE (...) THE PEOPLE I HANG OUT WITH!

IDENTITIES, VALUES AND PREFERENCES AMONG ROMANIANS

Summary/Abstract: Music preference has been proven to correlate with personality traits, personal values and belonging to a certain group or social class. Previous studies stressed upon the fact that music preference impacts both the social and the personal identity. While music preference has been correctly used by social scientists, marketers and musicologists as a symbolic differentiator between groups and as a marker of group belonging, this perspective is now challenged by the changes in the society and culture that we observe, such as the intensification of cultural hybridization, the rise of temporary and imagined communities, that may replace the real communities, and the advocacy for equality, diversity, and tolerance. This paper explores the relation between music preference and music identity in the case of the Romanian Generation Y members, the so-called digital natives. The results of the quantitative research presented here support the idea that music preference is perceived by youngsters as important, in terms of personal identity construction and expression, but, depending on the personal values they have, as having little to no relevance in terms of their social identity. As the digital natives have started to replace the members of the X Generation and the Baby boomers in the working environment, the findings have multiple implications for professionals in the social sciences and for marketing professionals.

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