Deadhead Social Science : "You Ain't Gonna Learn What You Don't Want to Know"

by Adams, Rebecca G.; Sardiello, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780742502505
• ISBN10: 0742502503
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc

Summary

Deadhead Social Science is a collection of papers examining various aspects of the complex subculture surrounding the rock band, the Grateful Dead. Deadheads, as Grateful Dead fans are called, followed the band from venue to venue until the band announced their dissolution in December of 1995. Deadhead Social Science addresses the questions: What is a Deadhead? How does a Deadhead identity evolve? Why would a person choose an identity that would be viewed negatively by a larger society? Why are Deadheads viewed negatively by the larger society? Is the Deadhead community a popular religion? How did a rock band develop a religious following? The book also examines the music, the role of vendors, and the reaction by _host_ communities to the Grateful Dead and its following. One key theme in Deadhead Social Science is the interconnections among teaching, research, and personal interests written from a variety of social science disciplinary traditions.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword
Dennis McNally
PART I: INTRODUCTION
``What Goes Around, Comes Around'': Collaborative Research and Learning	15	(36)
Rebecca G. Adams
PART II: MUSIC
The Grammar of the Grateful Dead	51	(24)
Gary Shank
Eric J. Simon
Other People Play the Music: Improvisation as Social Interaction	75	(34)
Robert Freeman
PART III: SPIRITUALITY
The Deadhead Community: Popular Religion in Contemporary American Culture	109	(20)
Shan C. Sutton
``We Were Given this Dance'': Music and Meaning in the Early Unlimited Devotion Family	129	(28)
Jennifer A. Hartley
PART IV: OUTSIDE THE SHOW
Vending at Dead Shows: The Bizarre Bazaar	157	(26)
Matthew Sheptoski
Community Reaction to Deadhead Subculture	183	(20)
Brent Paterline
PART V: IDENTITY
Becoming a Deadhead	203	(12)
Stephanie Jennings
An Eriksonian Perspective on the Journey Through Deadhead Adulthood	215	(12)
Michelle J. David
Self-concept and Ego-extension among Grateful Dead Fans	227	(14)
Alan R. Lehman
Deadheads and Dichotomies: Mediated and Negotiated Readings	241	(26)
Jeremy Ritzer
PART VI: CONCLUSION
Studying Deadhead Subculture	267	(14)
Robert Sardiello
Author Index	281	(3)
Subject Index	284	(11)
About the Contributors	295