The act of listening to music while traveling : when music moves us. An interactionist approach of walkman uses in a train environment

in Sociétés : “Ecouter, ressentir et comprendre la musique”, N° 105, Paris 2009/3 (à paraître)

This article offers fragments of conclusions from a field investigation focusing on the act of listening to music while traveling. It is based on an observation process of four hundred hours gone through in 2005 and 2006 in regional trains between Marseille and Avignon (south of France), as well as interviews made during several trips in 2009. This article’s first conclusion states that the acts of listening to music and using a walkman can, through a search for intimacy, be a powerful repellent against potential social interactions by showing a desire for isolation. The second conclusion tackles the idea that one can stage and share what one’s listening to through a voluntarily obvious behaviour going beyond a simple personal will for isolation (loud sounds, body langage, etc.).
Through a social approach of communication, the proposals that are made here in this article question the regulating aspect of the music listening process in public places.