Ambivalence, indifference, distinction: A comparative netfield analysis of implicit musical boundaries

•Configurations of inclusion, exclusion, and ambivalence define musical boundary forms.•Genre measured indirectly by respondent classifications of favorite and least favorite artists.•Primary contrast in the musical field is drawing boundaries between versus within genres.•Secondary contrast in the musical field defined by those who are indifferent to major genres.•Comparative netfield analysis connects individual-level and field-level analysis.

This study offers a reconceptualization of social and symbolic boundaries around music by specifying combinations of inclusion, exclusion, and ambivalence in musical tastes, producing eight ideal-typical forms of musical boundaries. These forms are investigated using data from a survey of students at the University of Mississippi measuring implicit boundary processes through respondent genre classifications of favorite and least favorite artists. These data are analyzed using comparative netfield analysis, a combination of comparative and relational methods that provides a mixed methods framework for connecting interpretations of individual-level processes to a map of the socio-musical field. The main opposition found in this musical field is between divider and ambivalent boundary forms, i.e., those who draw boundaries between versus within genres. A secondary opposition is defined by those who are indifferent to major genres. Case studies suggest that musical boundaries are often organized around racialized and gendered genre categories. I draw implications for studies of omnivorousness, genre classification, and mixed methods analysis in cultural sociology.