No, it’s not a joke – McGill University have launched an academic journal devoted purely to the work of Bruce Springsteen. The brief is to publish scholarly works looking closely at Springsteen’s creative output in context of wider society.
The first issue is available for free now, and here’s an example of one article’s title and abstract:
SPRINGSTEEN AS DEVELOPMENTAL THERAPIST: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHY
Based on differing theories of moral development proposed by Lawrence Kohlberg, Martin Hoffman, and John Gibbs, this paper posits that listening to Bruce Springsteen’s music can increase moral growth. Scores of Springsteen songs parallel psychological techniques used to increase moral development, such as being exposed to two or more beliefs that are contradictory, social perspective-taking by listening to moral dilemmas, gaining empathy with the distress that another person experiences, hypothetical contemplation, and meta-ethical reflection. Through qualitative-based autoethnographical storytelling, the author outlines how his moral development was enabled through such Springsteen songs as “Factory,†“Highway Patrolman,†“Independence Day,†“Johnny 99,†and “Used Cars,†as well as two self-disclosures from Springsteen’s Live 1975-85 album.
It’s easy to scoff, but hell if anyone has observed the progress of life in the USA over the past forty years, it’s Bruce Springsteen. I wouldn’t say no to a PhD in Springsteenology. Would you?
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