Sociological Study of Popular Music: A View to its Historical Background and Key Theoretical Approaches

Nowadays, the study of popular music as a field of study is stabilized in research institutions and universities. This field of study as a theoretical and methodological field, is considered to be interdisciplinary. Its branches: the studies of music cognition, the studies of folk music cognition and the sociological study of the popular music, each constitute interdisciplinary characteristics and use their theoretical approaches in their analysis and studies. The goal of this article is to have a comprehensive look at the history and general theoretical approaches in the social studies of popular music. The main approach is to have a more methodological look and to use known examples in these studies. From the point of view of the author, such approach can be beneficial in designing concrete social studies, both from a theoretical and methodological approach on Iranian popular music.