Michael Ramirez

Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi · Department of Psychology and Sociology

Pursuing the dream of a musical vocation-particularly in rock music-is typically regarded as an adolescent pipedream. Music is marked as an appropriate leisure activity, but one that should be discarded upon entering adulthood. How then do many men and women aspire to forge careers in music upon entering adulthood? In Destined for Greatness, sociol...

Identity politics have been of considerable interest to the qualitative research tradition as researchers have speculated on the extent to which identity and positionality matter in the field. In this autoethnography, I analyze private writings I composed while studying musicians' life course trajectories in musical careers, paying particular atten...

Using interview data from 38 musicians, this study examines the ways in which the transition to adulthood is complicated by aspirations to a nonstandard line of work. Musicians face a recurring set of obstacles as they move into adulthood and respond by enacting various tactics to reconcile these dilemmas. The "on-time" musicians do so by framing e...

Using interview data from twenty-eight men performing in independent rock bands in a college music town, this study examines the consequences informal careers have on constructions of masculinities. First, musicians illustrate the ways in which musical commitment poses challenges to normative masculinities as they move into adulthood. In particular...

Based on interviews with twenty-six dog owners in northeast Georgia, this article examines how people rely on gender norms to organize their relationships with their dogs. Owners use gender norms to (1) select what they consider to be suitable dogs, (2) describe their dogs' behaviors and personalities, and (3) use their dogs as props to display the...