The Everyday Life Intersection of Translational Science and Music

Joseph A. Kotarba

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.15.2.04

Authors

Joseph A. Kotarba Texas State University, University of Texas Medical Branch, U.S.A.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.15.2.04

Keywords:

Translational Science and Music, Sense of Self, Symbolic Interaction

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the theoretical relationship between translational science and music. The relationship between science and music has been of great interest to philosophers, historians, and musicologists for centuries. From a sociological perspective, we argue that science and music are closely linked at the level of everyday life in contemporary biomedical science. Translational science is a scientific movement that aims to facilitate the efficient application of bio-medical research to the design and delivery of clinical services, and a qualitative approach inspired by symbolic interactionism provides the opportunity to examine the place of the scientist in this movement. The concept of the existential self provides a useful platform for this examination insofar as the reflexive nature of the existential self is the way the person’s experience of individuality is affected by and in turn affects organizational change. An ongoing qualitative study of an NIH-funded program in translational science has found that music can serve to help scientists maintain a balanced self in light of new expectations placed upon them and their work. We identify six ways in which scientists can use music to enhance their sense of self and their work.

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Author Biography

Joseph A. Kotarba, Texas State University, University of Texas Medical Branch, U.S.A.

Joseph A. Kotarba is a Professor of Sociology at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas. He is also a faculty member at the Institute for Translational Sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. His major areas of scholarly interest reside in the field of symbolic interactionist approaches to science and the arts. Dr. Kotarba’s most recent books include Understanding Society through Popular Music (Routledge 2018), Symbolic Interactionist Takes on Music: The Couch-Stone Papers, co-edited with Christopher Schneider (Emerald Press 2016), and Baby Boomer Rock ‘n’ Roll Fans (Rowman and Littlefield 2013), for which he received the Charles Horton Cooley Award for Best Book from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. He is currently conducting research on music experiences across the life course and culture of team science.

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