Cultural Omnivores’ Consumption: Strategic and Inclusively Exclusive

Kyoung-Nan Kwon,Yoo Jin Kwon

doi:10.5539/ijms.v5n1p118

Abstract

This study explores cultural dispositions and consumption practices of cultural omnivores whose tastes align with those of high-status people in the U.S. Peterson and colleagues first identified the shift in status markers from snobbish and highbrow tastes to eclectic and omnivorous ones. Our findings suggest that cultural omnivores are characterized by two traits: superior self-perception in taste and cultural tolerance. These traits indicate that their prestige is sustained by their cultural styles, which are simultaneously broad and exclusive. Cultural omnivores also tend to engage in multifaceted experiences in food consumption and appearance-related goods (i.e., clothing), as well as Internet usage. We believe that the multiplicity observed in the current study reflects the highly strategic nature of the everyday consumption practices of cultural omnivores. We conclude that the qualities of elite consumers (i.e., cultural capital) are translated into omnivorous cultural consumption and a strategic and practical type of everyday consumption. The findings of this study have implications for marketing to high-status consumer segments characterized by a strong buying power and opinion leadership.

Highlights

Research on cultural omnivorousness has adopted the Weberian notion of stratification, of status (Note 1)
This study explores cultural dispositions and consumption practices of cultural omnivores whose tastes align with those of high-status people in the U.S Peterson and colleagues first identified the shift in status markers from snobbish and highbrow tastes to eclectic and omnivorous ones
We believe that the multiplicity observed in the current study reflects the highly strategic nature of the everyday consumption practices of cultural omnivores

Summary

Introduction

Research on cultural omnivorousness has adopted the Weberian notion of stratification, of status (Note 1). Status is based on the principles of their consumption of goods as represented by “special styles of life” Status consumption involves a tendency to value status and to consume goods and services that provide status to the individual Ever since Veblen’s (1899) pioneering work, research on status consumption has examined two aspects: 1) consumers’ emotions and behaviors are perpetuated by a stratified social system by investigating how consumption process denotes one’s position in the social space; and 2) consumption reproduces social arrangements by demonstrating consumption as part of the construction of social reality (Arnould & Thompson, 2005)

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