Abstract
Are contemporary higher-status tastes inclusive, exclusive, or both? Recent work suggests that the answer likely is both. And yet, little is known concerning how configurations of such tastes are learned, upheld, and expressed without contradiction. We resolve this puzzle by showing the affordances of different levels of culture (i.e., genres and objects) in the expression of tastes. We rely on original survey data to show that people of higher status taste differently at different levels of culture: more inclusively for genres and more exclusively for objects. Inclusivity at the level of genres is fostered through familial socialization, and exclusivity at the level of objects is fostered through formal schooling. Individuals’ taste configurations are mirrored in and presumably reinforce their adult social-structural positions. The results have important implications for understanding the subtle maintenance of status in an increasingly diverse and putatively meritocratic society.
Highlights
Are contemporary higher-status tastes inclusive, exclusive, or both? Recent work suggests that the answer likely is both
To test the prediction in Hypothesis 1—namely, that higher-status individuals will tend to have more inclusive genre tastes and more exclusive object tastes than individuals of lower status—we begin by estimating two hierarchical linear models (HLMs): one examining broad-based appreciation of genres and the other examining the status of artists or objects within those genres, as a function of childhood arts exposure, schooling, social ties, and controls
These results strongly support the overall view of a homology in social space and tastes: middle-status individuals are average with respect to their inclusivity toward genres and exclusivity toward objects
Summary
Are contemporary higher-status tastes inclusive, exclusive, or both? Recent work suggests that the answer likely is both.
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