Omnivorous Masculinity: Gender Capital and Cultural Legitimacy in Craft Beer Culture

Abstract

Peterson’s “omnivore-univore” hypothesis has stimulated a lively debate among cultural sociologists, but the effect of omnivorousness upon gender inequality remains underexplored. By analyzing the gendered valuation of beer types in craft beer blogs and in open-ended surveys with 93 craft beer bar patrons, this article demonstrates that a shift toward omnivorousness does not necessarily reflect a shift toward progressive gender ideology. These findings indicate that the same ideological conflation between femininity and illegitimacy that dominates the univorous American mainstream beer culture has been reproduced—albeit repackaged—within the American craft beer culture. Men are free to consume a range of beer types without consequence within the confines of the omnivorous craft beer culture, but women remain subjected to gendered judgment depending upon their beer preference. This imbalance signifies the emergence of a “hybrid masculinity” within the omnivorous craft beer scene that superficially signifies gender-blindness while ultimately maintaining the patriarchal status quo. These findings contribute towards the sociology of gender and the sociology of consumption by demonstrating the gender contingencies of cultural capital accrual that reinforce women’s subordination.