Christopher T. Conner, PhD
Published in 2023, Electronic Dance Music: From Deviant Subculture to Culture Industry explores the subculture's emergence as a deviant subculture. This text analyzes how industry professionals, fans, and public officials helped usher in a new age of EDM, arguing that while the defining feature of the subculture made it attractive, they also laid the foundation for outsiders to commodify the movement as a culture industry. Conner and Dickens explore the concept of "commodified resistance" as the mechanism by which the movement's politically dissident features were removed and its place as a multi-billion dollar industry was made possible. Out now from Rowman and Littlefield, use AUTH30 for 30% off at checkout at the publisher's website.
Recent Publications
About Me?
Christopher T. Conner is Teaching Assistant Professor of Sociology at The University of Missouri, Columbia. His research is at the intersection of criminology/deviance, social movements, technology, gender and sexuality, and social theory. His work explores how subgroups become legitimate in the mind of the public, and how these groups maintain their autonomy and commitment to core values in light of these shifts. He has explored this process for members of the Electronic Dance Music Subculture, Gay Men and Gay Spaces, and how right wing extremists exploit this achieve legitimacy within contemporary politics. His work has been featured in a variety of outlets including Critical Sociology, YOUNG: Journal of Nordic Youth Culture, The Sociological Quarterly, Deviant Behavior, Symbolic Interaction, and Sexualities. He has also co-edited numerous anthologies including "The Gayborhood: From Sexual Liberation to Cosmopolitan Spectacle," "Forgotten Founders and Other Neglected Social Theorists," and "Studies in Symbolic Interaction: Subcultures." He is an occasional contributor to Salon and The Conversation, and has been interviewed by a variety of national news outlets.
Student Feedback
“The professor was one of the best teachers I have ever had. He was very flexible and helpful no matter what the situation was. He knew this wasn't our number one priority all the time, so he utilized class presentations extremely well. I was very impressed with him.”
(Fall 2021 Criminology SOCIOL 3600)
“I really enjoyed the documentaries and articles provided. They helped further my understanding of the content covered during the lectures. I also appreciated the messages sent out each week because they were informative academically but also involved information on things going on in society and he provided a lot of emphasis on the importance of our health over assignments, which I feel like isn't as common among other professors as it should be.”
(Spring 2021 Sociology of Sport SOCIOL 3430)
“I thought the instructor taught the course concepts very well. I liked how he used a variety of examples to demonstrate the definitions of the many concepts we discussed and connected them to real-life events. Also, I thought his explanations of all the main concepts were very detailed too.”
(Spring 2020 Collective Behavior SOCIOL 3520)
Edited Volumes and Anthologies
Public Sociology