“Stupid Music for Stupid People”: Negotiating Class in a Small Town in Moravia

This article examines cultural participation processes within the specific context of Tišnov, a small Czech town situated in the southeastern part of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, approximately 25 kilometers away from Brno. The study was conducted among individuals actively involved in various gr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of nationalism, memory & language politics Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 243 - 260
Main Author Daniel, Ondřej
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences 01.12.2023
Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Fakulta sociálních věd
Sciendo
Subjects
class distinctions
cultural exclusivity
cultural participation
generational divides
grassroots cultural initiatives
Rural and urban sociology
small town
Social Sciences
Sociology of Culture
taste
grassroots cultural initiatives
small town
generational divides
class distinctions
cultural exclusivity
taste
cultural participation
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Summary:This article examines cultural participation processes within the specific context of Tišnov, a small Czech town situated in the southeastern part of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, approximately 25 kilometers away from Brno. The study was conducted among individuals actively involved in various grassroots cultural endeavors during the early 1990s, including music clubs focused on alternative genres, art film screenings, bookstores, and small art galleries. Within this setting, a narrative of cultural exclusivity emerged, which was particularly pronounced in the milieu of a small town, often framed in the context of perceived or real injustices endured during the state socialist era, as well as expressed through generational and class distinctions. The argument put forth is that in Tišnov, typically considered a prototypical small town, a select group of like-minded individuals formed a relatively cohesive taste-based community, necessitating intense competition and argumentation to establish their position within the cultural landscape. This article seeks to challenge prevailing narratives of cultural exclusivity within the framework of a small town following the dissolution of state socialism and the transformation of its class dynamics.
ISSN:2570-5857
2570-5857
DOI:10.2478/jnmlp-2023-0011