Bob Dylan: The Prophet of Social Change in the 1960s

STEPHEN BRANDON¹, ISAAC MAUPIN² & MARK GOODMAN²
^{1, 3}Mississippi State University, USA & ²University of Kentucky, USA

Abstract
The 1960s was a period of social change in countries around the world and in hundreds of cities in the United States. We argue that music played a rhetorical role in bringing a vast array of people together behind a wide range of issues. The music of Bob Dylan unified people together, making Dylan a kind of prophet that put into music the voice of the people involved in the social movements of the 1960s. By considering his music rhetorically, we provide insight into how music played a key role in the social movements of the 1960s.

Keywords: social movement theory, Bob Dylan, music as rhetoric

Dr. Stephen Brandon is an instructor in English at Mississippi State University, USA. He specializes in rhetoric and music.
Isaac Maupin is a Ph.D. student in musicology at University of Kentucky, USA. His interest is American music.
Dr. Mark Goodman is a professor of communication at Mississippi State University, USA. He specializes in mass media effects.