An Examination of the "Post-Critical" Approach in the Sociology of Music: On Antoine Hennion's "Reflexivity"

The "post-critical" approach is a new research trend that has attracted attention with regard to the sociology of culture and art in recent years. The usual "critical" approach, represented by P. Bourdieu and H. Becker, tends to attribute aesthetic objects and actors' preferences for such objects to their social backgrounds and organizational activities. In contrast, the "post-critical" approach treats the aesthetic objects themselves and the aesthetic experiences of those who participate in cultural activities as central agendas worthy of sociological inquiry. The field of music sociology has contributed greatly to the development of a "post-critical" approach in which A. Hennion, T. DeNora, and G. Born have led the discussion. "Reflexivity" is one of the foundational concepts of their approach. In this paper, the focus is on Hennion's work, which discusses this concept in detail. Hennion's "reflexivity" includes the cognitive dimension of that concept proposed by Bourdieu and Giddens, while at the same time paying special attention to the aesthetic dimension of that concept. Hennion's approach focuses on the creative and rich world of cultural activity that results from the sensitive activities of the actors involved. On the other hand, his approach has its own difficulties and raises some related questions: under what conditions an actor's "reflexivity" arises, and what role sociologists need to play in order to understand the actor's reflexive activities, for example. In this paper, these questions are discussed based on my own educational practice. By means of the above discussions, the aim is to clarify the significance of the "post-critical" approach for the sociology of culture and art.