Cultural participation in Flanders: Testing the cultural omnivore thesis with population data

Abstract

In this article, we use the ‘post-Bourdieu’ debate on cultural omnivores as the overall framework for an exploration of patterns in cultural participation within Flanders. The data stem from the 2002 and 2003 survey of the Department for Planning and Statistics of the Flemish government. Latent Class Analysis yielded a six-cluster solution as the optimum. These six different patterns of cultural participation can be placed in three groups of two clusters each on the basis of the frequency and the mode of participation. The frequency of participation increases with the level of education, whereas the mode of participation varies with the age variable. If the older clusters are culturally active, they almost exclusively tend towards the fine arts, whereas the younger clusters are not only oriented towards high culture but also show a marked interest for different forms of popular culture. Combined with the difference in frequency in cultural participation, we therefore distinguish within the younger clusters ‘omnivore incidental art participants’ (moderate educational level) from ‘omnivore art participants’ (high educational level).