Many studies have demonstrated the need to consider protest as a continual process which is prolonged beyond the simple phase of the action itself. Militant activism reveals itself as more or less durable depending on a number of very variable connections that mean that it is either congruent with or opposed to commitments in professional, affective and family life. At the level of militant organisations this phenomena can be seen in the permanent toing-and-froing of those who join, leave or maintain their involvement in protest movements. It is therefore important to study how these militant careers are marked by successive phases of intensification or retraction of membership, according to the duration of involvement and the social and professional trajectories of different individuals. In this last chapter we will see to what extent the use of musical devices particularly encourages these intertwining memberships and detachments. Because of the multitude of ways in which music is used for protest, its exploitation is part of a series of concurrent alternatives, of which some are not so much to do with subversion as the subordination of pre-existing social norms. Careful examination of the logics that characterise these different alternatives will lead us to shed light on a fact that initially appears paradoxical. Although, under certain conditions, music may contribute to challenging the social order, it can also tend to neutralise or nuance the criticism that is necessary to the development of collective conflict and mobilisation.

Musical outlets and youth ‘moratoriums’

Specialists of collective action tend to examine the pre-existing conditions that facilitate individuals’ involvement in protest movements. In this respect Albert Hirschman has demonstrated that protest is simply one of three possible alternatives. On one hand there is also ‘loyalty’ to institutions, which annihilates all possible temptations of criticism, and on the other hand there are the various forms of ‘exit’ which prevent the expression of discontent which might provide resolution (for example, in the form of emigration out of a tyrannical country, resignation from a disappointing organisation, membership to other organisations etc.). However, the work of Norbert Elias on the trajectory of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart invites us to consider affective involvement in musical composition as an additional alternative to this trio.