What cultural hierarchy? Cultural tastes, status and inequality

Research on cultural stratification often draws on Bourdieu's misrecognition model to interpret socioeconomic gradients in cultural tastes and participation. In this model, an assumed cultural hierarchy leads individuals to adopt cultural tastes and behaviours whose status is congruent with tha...

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Published inThe British journal of sociology Vol. 74; no. 3; pp. 402 - 418
Main Authors Jæger, Mads Meier, Rasmussen, Rikke Haudrum, Holm, Anders
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.06.2023
Subjects
Bourdieu
Cultural activities
Cultural differences
cultural participation
cultural taste
Culture
Hierarchies
Humans
Inequality
misrecognition
Participation
Perceptions
Social Class
Social inequality
Socioeconomic Factors
Socioeconomic status
status
Status congruence
Stratification
Surveys and Questionnaires
Taste
Denmark
cultural participation
inequality
misrecognition
Bourdieu
cultural taste
status
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Summary:Research on cultural stratification often draws on Bourdieu's misrecognition model to interpret socioeconomic gradients in cultural tastes and participation. In this model, an assumed cultural hierarchy leads individuals to adopt cultural tastes and behaviours whose status is congruent with that of their socioeconomic position (SEP). Yet, this assumed cultural hierarchy remains opaque. In this paper, we derive and test three empirical implications of the cultural hierarchy: (1) cultural activities have different status (recognition); (2) individuals in high and low SEPs have similar perceptions of the status of cultural activities (necessary condition for misrecognition); and (3) individuals prefer and engage in cultural activities whose status matches that of their SEP (status congruence). We collected survey data in Denmark and find that cultural activities differ in terms of perceived status (e.g., opera has higher perceived status than flea market), status perceptions are similar in high‐ and low‐SEP groups and individuals prefer activities whose status matches that of their SEP. These results are consistent with the idea that a cultural hierarchy exists that sustains SEP gradients in cultural tastes and participation.
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ISSN:0007-1315
1468-4446
DOI:10.1111/1468-4446.13012