Alexander Francis
ENG 200
November 4, 2013
Prof. Hamann, Erika

Thesis: WWII was critical to the degree at which swing influenced the development of American identity; not only through recognition of social inequalities, but furthering the development of a musical identity that still influences the modern sounds of our ever-changing culture.
Why Swing Swung
What separates you from others can appropriately be deemed as a series of conflict’s, conflict is critical to the development of identity; without conflict the unconscious perception of us, them, we or they would not exist. Humans being naturally prone to argument create a cultural identity designed around the conflicts in which a number of people are affected, in turn allowing people to identify with each other through common grounds; unintentionally creating a communication barrier between them and us. This model although small demonstrates how groups are formed, and can be projected upon the development of a musical identity within America during the Second World War.
Possibly seen as the largest conflict in recorded history, World War II set the boundaries for numerous identities; creating a conscious affiliation of differences, people now identified themselves through stereotypes that otherwise would not have developed. Most of these conflicts or stereotypes would happen to be woven inside the United States due to propaganda: a necessary war tool developed to instill a feeling of pride and ensure a feeling of togetherness. It’s questionable if the attack on Pearl Harbor was Americas first involvement in the war, never the less it marks the beginning of a new meaning of America; from this point we would no longer identify ourselves with our Asian neighbor, we happily and willingly rationed our intake to accommodate the needs of the government and soldiers, and our parents felt obligated and were willing to let their children battle; this was a different time.
This idea of separating them from us would be no difficulty, capturing the imagination and ambition of the youth would be even easier; what better way to accomplish this goal of identifying itself with our youth than identifying with they’re music. This has been a tactic of Politicians and expansionists for centuries; seen here in WWII, and the Vietnam War , presently with Obama and rapper artist J- z’s frequent meals at the white house, just latch yourself on and let it ride.
World War II, recognized as an age of economic conversion was the first conflict to occur in the “age of electronically mass distributed music”. The war had only begun in 1939 and by 1940 ninety six percent of the American population was labeled as a radio owner; this is truly impressive when you acknowledge that the first radio broadcast was as recent as 1906. Within in 26 years America had armed itself with a home radio device; these personal one-way communicators did not exist in prior conflicts and as a consequence of mass ownership, the public was now target to bombardment from a variety of propaganda.
In this time of fluctuating opinion, uncertainty toward social equality, and heartfelt pride in our nation took place the birth of swing. Swing in itself is truly radical; a genre of music based on off the feelings of of gender issues, race relations, and adolescent attitudes; expressed through dance. Swing proving to be a popular form of entertainment and socialization, took control of the surrounding public; reaching into all corners of the country to form a great medium, allowing governments to convey messages of inspiration, pride, and patriotism; messages used to motivate action in the citizens and for the first time creating a surplus of support. It’s no wonder musicians, advertisers, and publishers were ready to cooperate with government interests, adopting these new musical motifs would hopefully be in the best interests of the country and with everybody’s attention on earning money from a large population rallied by war eager to respond to the sentiments by war time rationing and donations of cloth and money, nobody would think the less if he or she was truly profiteering. Much of the music distributed during World War II greatly influenced social and political attitudes, thereby serving as an effective propaganda tool for private citizens and governments.
Swing music was critical to the development of American identity; not only through recognition of social inequalities, but furthering the development of a musical identity that still influences the modern sounds of our ever-changing culture. Proving perhaps to be the most influential aspect of swing, dance was previously viewed as an art, in the sense that it wasn’t acceptable for you to just “let loose “; this had never been imagined, and for a time was the eye of extreme public discrimination until it’s full political potential as a tool to impose propaganda was realized. While not only allowing you to let loose swing demonstrated the feelings of gender issues, race relations, and adolescent attitudes; by allowing both dancers to step to the same footing, this conveyed a message of social equality that had been previously ignored by our past generations. These initial recognitions of social inequality were pertinent to the formation of a negative attitude toward the segregation and public discrimination of the African American population, bringing to light many of history’s most famous and influential black musicians, easing social strain through positive assimilation, allowing blacks and whites to identify with each other on deeper level paving the way for the development of a nationwide equal rights movement several years later. Swing was sending a message of youthful attributed to a flux in feministic views perhaps influenced by women in the workplace.
The music genre Swing has been like nothing we have experienced since; Songs published with the direct intent of improving morale, gaining support, encouraging pride. It’s no wonder the attitudes of this time period are envied and written about. A nation whose main goal is to produce respectable nationalists will only get better with the influence of social equality brought about by the occurrence of music; although all aspects of this conflict aren’t peaceful, the idea of peaceful acceptance whilst identifying with a larger conflict for not only the good of the country but also for the interests of the people is a remedy that drove America.
This symbol of democratic equality, seen as an art used to ease social tension would not have left the 1920’s if not for the needs of a nation thriving on patriotism, in the midst of war. Due to the usual negative political stereotypes, usually generated by old white males afraid of change enveloped in their “old timer” mentality calling swing, our new found musical identity “the devils music”, would have no intension on letting it thrive in a time with religious views and public intolerance at an all-time high / hence no need for propaganda; do you really believe anything pertinent really circulates without the government allowing it? Another factor that should be considered irrelevant to World War II is the introduction of radio; this device helped diminish the communication barrier and should be considered variable simply because there is no way to determine how many households owned a radio before the war. We can speculate that numbers dramatically increased for obvious wartime reasons.
Swing has rightfully taken the place as America’s largest musical contribution; swing has logically given birth to rock and roll, the introduction of band leaders and the idea of the unique sound. Jazz would not exist if not for swing; the heavy bass sound, string and brass sections were the backbone of swing which with the help of prominent African American musicians developed into the tipping sounds of jazz. Jazz would later turn into the beats and rhythms on which the foundation of rap was built. Never before had music been given such responsibility, never before had the listeners to a performance been so high; giving a truly unique sound to a truly unique identity.

Bibliography

Maitlis, Sally, and Haken Ozeclic. "Toxic Decision Processes: A Study of Emotion and Organizational Decision Making." JISTOR. INFORMS, July-Aug. 2004. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/30034744>. This paper addresses the role of emotion in organizational decision making. An imperative notion when trying to comprehend the development of an identity; for my paper it is necessary to process the development of an identity created around Swing in order to understand the differences that have been created, ultimately using an us vs. them mentality to reflect my argument.

Pauline Lipman , Making the Global City, Making Inequality: The Political Economy and Cultural Politics of Chicago School Policy ." JISTOR. INFORMS
American Educational Research Journal , Vol. 39, No. 2 American Educational Research Association, Education and Democracy (Summer, 2002), pp. 379-419
<Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3202527.

This article examines current Chicago school reform in the context of economic restructuring, although this subject is not prevalent to my study it is apparent that the process for separating the identities of social and cultural changes mimics the thought pattern necessary to project the differences between “them and us”; building upon my initial premise that identities are formed through conflict.