"Listen to these Speakers": Swedish Hi-fi Enthusiasts, Gender, and Listening

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the practices of Swedish hi-fi enthusiasts from a gender perspective. It builds on the assumption that hi-fi enthusiasts may be understood as participants in a subculture, the structure of which provides a possible explanation to its masculine gender coding. The empirical material is based on interviews with hi-fi enthusiasts, with questions centering on aspects such as music technology, gender, and listening. Two primary aspects of the subculture are discussed: a) the acquisition of subcultural capital (Thornton 1995), and b) ways of listening.

Keywords

• music technology
• gender
• high fidelity
• listening
• subcultural capital