Understanding the cultural consumption of a new wave of immigrants: the case of the South Korean community in South West London

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to develop and test a model explaining the cultural consumption of a new immigrant ethnic group (South Korean) in terms of their highbrow, middlebrow, lowbrow, public/private and ethnic minority cultural pursuits. A core premise of the study was that due to the overall higher socio‐economic standing of the South Korean community (in comparison to many other ethnic minority groups residing in the UK), this particular immigrant group would more closely resemble the omnivore and not the univore cultural consumer. A model was developed on the basis of previous literature in the fields of audience development research, arts marketing and educational sociology and was tested, consequent to qualitative interviews conducted with relevant experts and with South Korean immigrants, on a sample of 351 residents of an area in South West London that contains a high density of South Korean immigrants. The findings indicated that bridging social capital, perceived barriers to the arts, passion for the arts and educational motivation were the strongest predictors of omnivorous consumption amongst this group. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.