The unwilling foils of the political right: The cultural elite in Swedish and Norwegian newspapers

Anne Krogstad,Audrey Stark

doi:10.1177/0001699320971704

Abstract

Using classic elite understandings as our point of departure, we specify the constituent elements and repertoires of the cultural elite as these are described in Swedish and Norwegian newspapers. Through qualitative and quantitative content analyses, we contextualize and compare the cultural elite through five occupational categories and five main themes, and we ask how these characterizations affect the role this elite plays in politics. Also, we suggest a theoretical apparatus for how to link thematic analysis to national cultural repertoires and configurations. We find that there is a higher percentage of references to artists and those with authority over culture production in Sweden than in Norway, while the cultural elite are referred to as academics and culture policy influencers more often in Norway. Another finding is a high level of similarity between the two countries’ view of the cultural elite as snobbish, politically correct, powerful, arrogant and privileged. The study shows that the cultural elite are drawn into a media logic in which they are portrayed as despised adversaries of ordinary people. However, the cultural elite is a more politically contentious label in Sweden than in Norway. The Swedish cultural elite are described as both more cherished and more despised. Moreover, access to membership in the cultural elite is more difficult, and the polarization between the cultural elite and ordinary people is stronger in Sweden.

Highlights

My father was told his whole life, ‘You are vulgar, you have bad taste, your vote should not count, you are a threat to democracy, and by the way, you have no manners’
We have contextualized, specified and compared public ideas about two north Scandinavian cultural elites through five main themes and five occupational categories, and we have asked how these characterizations affect the role this elite plays in politics
We provided descriptions of how, in both countries, the cultural elite is characterized by themes such as snobbery, political correctness, power, arrogance and privilege

Summary

Introduction

My father was told his whole life, ‘You are vulgar, you have bad taste, your vote should not count, you are a threat to democracy, and by the way, you have no manners’. Authors in the newspaper sample weave the mentioned themes together – into what we, in line with Swidler (1986) and Lamont and Thevenot (2000), have called national cultural repertoires – in order to present their readers with narratives about who the cultural elite are and how they behave One such repertoire is illustrated in an opinion piece written by Siv Jensen (Party Leader) and Ulf Erik Knudsen (Member of Parliament) from the Progress Party (Norway): It is, wrong that a small group of insiders allocate public funds (allocation/priorities), on a so-called discretionary basis (power/network), to what they think is good culture and art (taste/lifestyle). To accuse someone of being a member of the cultural elite is, a potent political and rhetorical device

Comparisons and conclusions

Findings

Printed newspaper circulation 2015: Aftenposten