Deena Weinstein (born March 15, 1943) is a professor of

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

whose research focuses on

popular culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art

f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

. She is particularly well known for her research on heavy metal culture, on which subject she wrote a book, ''Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology'' (1991), later published in a revised and updated version as ''Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture'' (2009).

Career

Weinstein holds a PhD from

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

. Her 1991 book ''Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology'' "describes the heavy metal music culture, explains why it has prompted demands for censorship, and argues that the music deserves tolerance and respect." She argues that heavy metal has outlasted many other rock genres largely due to the emergence of an intense, exclusionary, strongly masculine

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture, cultural society that differentiates itself from the values of the conservative, standard or dominant culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures ...

. A review of the book calls it:

A reasonable summary of most academic study so far, which indulges heavy metal as an extreme offshoot of
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
in which rebellion is the prime goal and the fundamental ceremony is the live concert. These failings aside, there is very perceptive research here on the origins of heavy metal and the personalities within its culture. The latter is most informative of all aspects in this book and is Weinstein's strength as a writer.

The ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' called the book the definitive study of heavy metal culture, saying that it "does for metal what

Greil Marcus Greil Marcus (né Gerstley; born June 19, 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics. Biogra ...

's '' Lipstick Traces'' did for the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

." Weinstein was interviewed in the 2005 documentary '' Metal: A Headbanger's Journey'' and the later '' Metal Evolution''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinstein, Deena American sociologists American women sociologists Purdue University alumni DePaul University faculty 1943 births Living people 21st-century American women