what are the strengths and weaknesses of Petersons production of culture perspective on the birth or rock and roll?

Petersons Production of Culture Perspective attempts to explain why rock n' roll broke through in 1955. He looked at culture, cultural symbols, and artefacts to find an understanding of social norms and practices that are accepted in society.
The strengths of this perspective can be seen when we learn about the six key factors he looks at; law, technology, industry structure, organisation structure, occupational structure and the market.
However, this perspective does have weaknesses, a major one being that the actual music isn't ever taken into account and the question surrounding why rock n' roll emerged in 1955 is never really answered. Also no human emotions or elements are taken into consideration, he says that people bought music because it was on the radio but doesn't consider it's significance to individuals. Although technology is looked at it is never considered when looking at the creation of music, eg microphones and amplifiers.
All in all the perspective is useful when understanding the music industry in the past, but does have it's weaknesses, and doesn't answer many questions.

What is Popular Music?

The definition of popular music is constantly changing and has no clear standard meaning. Raymond Williams defined the term ‘popular’ as ‘belonging to the people’, however in the 16th century popular culture was seen as a negative term. Popular music was perceived as a ‘low’ culture belonging to the ‘common people’.
However in the 18th century popular music was widely accepted and enjoyed. The term ‘popular’ implies that something is accessible, simplified, mass produced and then consumed and enjoyed by a diverse audience.
Popular music is sometimes perceived as being commercially orientated. By this it means that musicians are more interested in receiving a profit rather than focusing on the art of writing and playing music.
All in all Popular Music may be defined as what a lot of people enjoy and like.