Cultural Tastes Research Articles

‘I cringe at the slave portions’: How fans ofGone with the Windnegotiate anti-racist criticism

In recent years an increasing number of cultural products have come under fire for moral or political reasons, such as racist or sexist content, in the mainstream (White) public sphere. An outstanding example is the classic 1939 film Gone with the Wind ( GWTW), which is loved by many but also strongly criticised for glorifying the American Antebellum South and ignoring the inhumanity of slavery. This case study explores how fans of the film (and the novel on which it was based) negotiate their appreciation of GWTW and these controversial issues. Using an open-ended survey and follow-up interviews, we explore two dominant narratives among the film's predominantly White fans: one that fiercely defends the film against criticism and one that expresses increased feelings of ambivalence and awkwardness. Thus, we add a more self-reflective and dynamic approach to scholarship on cultural taste, audience reception, and fan studies.

Culture and green tastes. A sociological analysis of the relationship between cultural engagement and environmental practices

In this study, we approach environmental practices from a cultural point of view, focusing on the role of cultural capital. While previous studies have looked at educational attainment, we focus on another dimension of cultural capital i.e., cultural engagement. Against this background, we use data from the Flemish Survey on Socio-cultural Shift to (i) examine cultural engagement and distinction in Flanders though multiple correspondence analysis and (ii) investigate the relationship between people's cultural activities and their environmental practices through structural equation modelling. Firstly, we found three modes of cultural engagement. The primary distinction resides between the culturally engaged and disengaged. The second and third respectively distinguish a traditional and folksy musical orientation from more contemporary and eclectic tastes, and highbrow culture from emerging forms of cultural capital. Secondly, our study confirms that education relates positively to environmental practices, and more importantly shows that educational differences in cultural engagement can explain educational differences in environmental practices. General cultural engagement was the best predictor of environmental practices. Highbrow cultural capital was positively associated with conspicuous forms of environmental practices (e.g., shopping). In contrast, a traditional and folksy musical orientation seemed negatively related to environmental practices. In conclusion, our findings present strong evidence for a (re)conceptualization of environmental practices as a cultural taste and a potential form of cultural capital. Our study suggests that future research on social differentiation and cultural hierarchies should pay more attention to environmental practices.

What cultural hierarchy? Cultural tastes, status and inequality.

Research on cultural stratification often draws on Bourdieu's misrecognition model to interpret socioeconomic gradients in cultural tastes and participation. In this model, an assumed cultural hierarchy leads individuals to adopt cultural tastes and behaviours whose status is congruent with that of their socioeconomic position (SEP). Yet, this assumed cultural hierarchy remains opaque. In this paper, we derive and test three empirical implications of the cultural hierarchy: (1) cultural activities have different status (recognition); (2) individuals in high and low SEPs have similar perceptions of the status of cultural activities (necessary condition for misrecognition); and (3) individuals prefer and engage in cultural activities whose status matches that of their SEP (status congruence). We collected survey data in Denmark and find that cultural activities differ in terms of perceived status (e.g., opera has higher perceived status than flea market), status perceptions are similar in high- and low-SEP groups and individuals prefer activities whose status matches that of their SEP. These results are consistent with the idea that a cultural hierarchy exists that sustains SEP gradients in cultural tastes and participation.

민족정체성과 취향정체성 사이 : 〈귀멸의 칼날〉 우익논란을 둘러싼 국내 재패니메이션 팬의 경험 및 전략 분석

본 연구는 만화·애니메이션 〈귀멸의 칼날〉 우익논란을 중심으로 국내 일본만화·애니메이션 팬들이 민족정체성과 취향정체성 사이의 긴장을 어떻게 경험하고, 이를 조정하는가를 분석했다. 나아가 이를 통해 ‘민족ᐨ개인’에 대한 인식이 현대 사회 속 취향의 개인 행위자들에게 어떻게 변화하고 있는가를 추적했다. 본 연구는 국내 재패니메이션 팬 총 10명을 대상으로 심층 면접을 시행하였다. 연구 결과, 이들은 해당 작품의 우익논란을 민족정체성과 취향정체성의 충돌, 대립, 모순적 공존, 통합 등 상이한 방식의 얽힘으로 경험하고 있었으며, 그러한 얽힘 속에서 취향의 일시중지, 취향의 합리적 근거 찾기, 취향의 하위전략화, 세계인의 취향으로 통합이라는 다원화된 전략을 구사하고 있었다. 이들의 다원화된 경험과 전략의 등장은 민족(국가)의 경계가 모호해지는 가운데 ‘나(self)로의 환원’을 의미했다. 즉, 절대적이고 명확한 기준이 부재한 현대 사회에서 이제 ‘나(self)’는 각 개인에게 기준을 제공하는 공간이 되고 있었으며, 민족(또는 국가)은 ‘나’를 온전히 설명하지 못하는 개념으로서 분리되는 동시에, ‘나’의 심리적 토대를 위해 소환되고 있었다.

The Regeneration and Value Realization of Urban Cultural Resources in the Capital of Culture in East Asian Cities: The Examples from China

The development of a city is not only a long-term process of material environment construction, but also a long-term process of cultural development and civilization accumulation. The essence of a city is that the city can provide people with a high-quality lifestyle: “valuable, meaningful, tasteful, dignified and dreamy”. When a city's material civilization is built to a certain extent, the excessive materialization needs cultural harmony to be more perfect. The Capital of Culture in East Asia has rich cultural resources, and also excellent tourist cities. The core task of building the Capital of Culture in East Asia is to protect and utilize cultural resources fully, and promote the regeneration of urban cultural resources and cultural development. This study used research data derived from the relevant statistics officially released by the cities, and mainly using the case study with the Capital of Culture in East Asia in China as the example. Previous studies have shown that the realization of a city's cultural value is first to promote the regional development of the urban culture, so as to allow the residents to establish “Asian awareness” and “Asian vision”, promote the development of urban culture in life, and increase opportunities for host and guest participation. On this basis, the spatial carrier of urban culture production, trade and consumption is built through the construction of urban culture space and the production of space. Finally, through the implementation of a brand strategy for the Capital of Culture in East Asia, the city's cultural space, cultural taste and consumption level will be improved, the city brand based on local culture and regional culture will be built, and its competitiveness will be achieved on both regional and global levels.

“Please the women or die”: silent cinema and the construction of female desire

ABSTRACT By the mid-1920s, the top echelons of the film industry on both sides of the Atlantic were almost entirely dominated by men. Despite women becoming the majority consumers for cinema culture, male studio bosses, producers, directors and publicists mediated women’s tastes and expectations through the silent and early sound period. Taking Iris Barry’s claim that cinema ‘exists for the purpose of pleasing women’ (Barry 1926, 59), this article considers how women became increasingly significant, not only as audiences for films but to the burgeoning consumer cultures surrounding cinema including magazines, novels, fashion, beauty and leisure. Additionally, Lisa Stead’s assertion that ‘The movies, and going to the movies, were for many British women an integral part of their experience of modernity’ (2016, 1) is examined in relation to how women’s tastes and patterns of consumption, helped steer the expansion of the cinema industry and its associated fan cultures. This article also addresses how young female cinemagoers and entertainment seekers were dismissed as ‘flappers’ and often excoriated by Britain’s intellectual elite. It examines how cinema’s stubbornly persistent male power base was forced to accommodate and address women’s cultural tastes due to their numerical significance as consumers.

In the garden with Lefebvre and Foucault: The cultivation of taste in spaces of food

Research on the conventional food system and alternative food networks has evolved largely in isolation from each other. This paper aims to narrow this gap by using a common theoretical framework to disclose the properties of spaces produced by both types of food systems. The theoretical tools used are Lefebvre’s spatial dialectic and Foucauldian analysis of discipline and governmentality. The results indicate constitutive differences in the nature of both types of spaces: while the conventional food system produces standardized relations and spaces, taking away attention from the food itself to other aspects of its sale and supressing knowledge about food provenance and ways of preparation, the diverse spaces of non-market production are shaped around the quality and “taste” of food. This means that the way out of the crisis-laden conventional food system may lead not only through frugality but also through the cultivation of “taste”, that is, the human interest to eat good food, whose taste includes the knowledge of ecological and social relations and cultures producing the spaces of food.

August Disgust: Distinction, Disinterest, and Race in The Woman of Colour

In The Woman of Colour (1808), Augustus Merton is taken aback when he first sees his soon-to-be wife, Olivia Fairfield, expressing his aversion to the darkness of her skin before eventually coming to admire her other qualities. The novel depicts him as a paragon of virtue and sentiment, with characters like Olivia praising his high moral worth. This article argues that Augustus exemplifies the ideals of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century aesthetic traditions, including their views on race. Augustus’s aversion to the colour of Olivia’s skin is not out of character nor is it depicted as a foible to be rectified. The expression of disgust toward mercantile behaviour and Blackness is at the core of the culture of taste that Augustus represents.

Manele Music as a Marker of Collective Shame in the Online Discourse of the Romanian Diaspora in the United Kingdom

"This article charts the reception of manele music among the Romanian diaspora in the UK. Using a netnographic approach applied to an online diasporic community, it studies the replication of acerbic debates in Romania about the role of manele within Romanian musical tradition. It also shows how the racialization of the Roma and the rejection of manele as “inferior” music serve both psychological and political purposes for a community that has experienced a loss in status due to migration. Manele become thus the measuring tape of cultural taste but also markers of collective shame that separate the “good” Romanians from the “bad”. These power games need to be understood in the context of old dissensions among Romanian elites related to Romania’s uncomfortable belonging to the Balkans. They also represent a renewed contestation of Oriental influences in Romanian culture that threaten to disrupt Romania’s presupposed belonging to the West. Keywords: manele, Roma, Romania, diaspora, Orientalism, shame. "

The Role of Values as Mediator in Relationships Between Social Position and Cultural Omnivorousness in Germany

Research on cultural omnivorousness—the concept conceptualized originally as the ability to expand one’s cultural preferences—continues to grow in prominence in studies of the cultural dimension of social stratification. Given recent inconsistent empirical findings, this study returned to the origins of the concept and examined the role of values in developing omnivorous cultural taste. Based on the example of Germany and relying on data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS/GGSS) in 2014, this study empirically examined the indirect effect of social position on cultural omnivorousness via postmaterialistic values using structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that postmaterialist values could be mediators; a higher position in the social structure implied a higher likelihood to hold postmaterialist values, which led to higher cultural omnivorousness. The indicators of social position were also analyzed separately, given that the explanatory power of educational attainment in predicting cultural omnivorousness was approximately the same as that of occupational characteristics. The proportion of the relationship mediated by values did not differ significantly in models with education or occupational characteristics as predictors of cultural omnivorousness.

Netflix Recommends: Algorithms, Film Choice, and the History of Taste, by Mattias Frey

“Is it on Netflix?” now seems to be the most frequent response to a film or TV recommendation. Thus, in a world of ever-diversifying streaming platforms, it makes perfect sense to investigate this most influential global streaming platform and the functioning of its algorithms, particularly regarding its influence on the shaping of cultural taste. In Netflix Recommends: Algorithms, Film Choice, and the History of Taste, Mattias Frey delves deeper into the “recommendation” algorithms, how they function and how they are received, and, significantly, examining whether these algorithms can replace the more traditional methods of film recommendations and criticism.

Product Development and Application of Chinese Traditional Art Derivatives in the Context of New Media

The relevance of the study lies in the fact that relying on the development of the modern media environment, the traditional culture of China can re-enter the vision and life of people against the background of a new era, and the excellent intangible cultural legacy will be continuously transmitted from generation to generation. Therefore, it is important to delve into the traditional techniques and artistic characteristics of products to properly use the unique elements and symbols of art derivatives, boldly combining them with the cultural background and features of the current era that are being introduced into people's daily lives. The purpose of the study is to analyse the role and importance of combinations of art derivatives in cultural and creative products and to consider their subsequent development in the environment of new media. The following techniques were used to achieve the purpose of the study: deduction, descriptive, and comparative methods. The results determined that by involving Chinese traditional art derivatives, it is possible to develop more diverse, innovative products in the context of modern mass media that consider the aesthetics and functionality of the product and allow satisfying aesthetic emotions and vital needs of modern people. Derivative arts follow from the concept of financial derivatives and refer to many extended services and products designed and manufactured in accordance with culture. Taking cultural elements as a creative basis, a profit-making model that uses its potential resources develops peripheral creations and then brings them to market for sale. The high added characteristics of cultural derivatives play a role in improving the cultural taste and cultural image of the country, acting as a true embodiment of the external appearance and inner spirit, historical and realistic culture. The practical importance lies in the use of the results and conclusions of the study in the development of products that include the traditions and legacy of the Chinese people.

Whose Good Death? Valuation and Standardization as Mechanisms of Inequality in Hospitals.

Although most clinicians have come to perceive invasive life-sustaining treatments as overly aggressive at the end of life, some of the public and greater proportions of some socially disadvantaged groups have not. Drawing on 1,500+ hours of observation in four intensive care units and 69 interviews with physicians and patients' family members, I find inequality occurs through two mechanisms complementary to the cultural health capital and fundamental causes explanations prevalent in existing health disparities literature: in valuation, as the attitudes and values of the socially disadvantaged are challenged and ignored, and in standardization, as the outcomes preferred by less advantaged groups are defined as inappropriate and made harder to obtain by the informal and formal practices and policies of racialized organizations. I argue inequality is produced in part because wealthier and White elites shape institutional preferences and practices and, therefore, institutions and clinical standards to reflect their cultural tastes.

Bourdieu's habitus clivé in voicing, feeling, being Aboriginal

Bourdieu's concept of habitus clivé is discussed in relation to Aboriginal Australians’ experience within dominant White society. The argument is put forward that the concept can make an important contribution to illuminating Indigenous experience. At the same time there is an ever-present danger that habitus clivé becomes another tool for theorising about Aboriginal people, even if sympathetically, rather than a vehicle for Aboriginal expression of history, pain, suffering and contemporary aspirations. Growing recognition of the value of Aboriginal culture, art and ways of knowing is desirable and a positive part of present shifts in Australian cultural identities. Changing cultural tastes and an aesthetic sense beyond co-option of place involves telling and re-telling many difficult stories with Aboriginal experiences at the centre and learning to embrace what we hear.

Wragge-Morley, Alexander. Aesthetic Science: Representing Nature in the Royal Society of London, 1650–1720

Wragge-Morley, Alexander. <i>Aesthetic Science: Representing Nature in the Royal Society of London, 1650–1720</i>

Interkulturele probleme in beeldkommunikasie

This paper focuses on only three of the many aspects of intercultural communication which are relevant to pictorial communication. (i) Stereotyping and the one-sided view which is created by one cultural and/or ethnic group of another; (ii) the misconception of the picture as universal language; (iii) the acknowledge ment of heterogeneity within a specific cultural and/or ethnic group and the consequent necessity to plan the media supply in accordance with the variety of different cultural tastes within a society. What is said, is that this paper must be seen as an introduction. Neither time nor space allows for a more intensive look at the theoretical principles on which the study of these three aspects or problems are based. Before these three aspects are discussed, a synopsis is given of the status of entertainment in the mass media and the model function of film through which it becomes a socialising and ideologizing instrument.

Study on the Promotion of College Students' Returning Home Development on Rural Revitalization

The key to rural revitalization lies in talents, and innovative college students are an important force to promote agricultural modernization and industrialization, extend the value chain of agricultural products, and enhance rural cultural taste. College students returning to their hometowns to start businesses can not only solve their own employment problems well, but also display their talents, test their learning and temper themselves in grass-roots practice. At the same time, they can help develop rural industries and lead the villagers to get rich. This paper focuses on the significance, problems and strategies of young college students' returning home. On the research subject, we pay more attention to the problem of college students' returning to their hometowns, and think that in the process of national modernization, we should strengthen the mission responsibility of young college students, encourage more young college students to return to their hometowns for employment and entrepreneurship after graduation, contribute their own intelligence and wisdom to the beautiful picture of rural construction, and at the same time enhance their own value.

Access to arts consumption: The stratification of aesthetic life-chances

This paper develops the concept of access to arts consumption as a necessary link connecting cultural taste and actual consumption. I present a theoretical model that deconstructs access to arts consumption into four dimensions of access: rights, opportunity, participation, and reception. I operationalize and test the model in the context of access to physical cultural consumption using Eurobarometer data on barriers to such access from a sample of respondents from 27 European countries. Utilizing regression analyses, I examine how different types of access are socially distributed. The results reveal the individual and country-level variables that shape physical access to art. The findings highlight the importance of using a multi-dimensional concept of access in the study of arts consumption. They also have implications for planning arts policies designed to increase access to art, both physical and online, especially post-COVID-19.

Social and cultural mobility: rising to the middle class and cultural practices in contemporary Finland

Abstract How does social mobility influence cultural taste and participation? Cultural reproduction theory predicts little change, while cultural mobility theory suggests more substantial makeover. This article explores the influence of upward educational and occupational mobility in reading literature, participation in highbrow activities, television watching, and music and food tastes, focusing on mobility from the secondary-level education and the working class to the higher education and the middle class. By analysing survey data (N = 2,813) collected in Finland in 2007 and 2018 with ordinary least squares regression, we show that educational mobility and occupational mobility are mostly differently related to tastes and participation. Both educationally and occupationally upwardly mobile people tend to participate more in highbrow activities, watch less television and dislike meat-heavy food, as is more typical to their social destination than to their social origins. Conversely, the educationally upwardly mobile, again more typical to their destination, tend to read more books, like light-ethnic food and classical music, and dislike popular folk, but occupational mobility is not associated with reading or liking light-ethnic food, and the occupationally mobile retain their original tastes in classical and popular folk music when education is controlled for. We discuss the implications of our results.

Designing a building for music and dance performing arts in Bogor

This research aimed to design a building for music and dance performing arts in Bogor, West Java. In order to support the local government's work program, the building is designed so that art performers can create and express the results of these works and can be enjoyed by modern and contemporary art connoisseurs. Through such a building, West Java cultural arts can be preserved and inherited. The method used in the design refers to descriptive qualitative methods and uses literature studies and precedents, surveys and field observations. This is done in order to obtain complete data, then analyze every problem that exists. The resulting design concept is a building design with a cultural and modern atmosphere that is realized through a design theme, namely Semiotic and Taste Cultures with the intention of using a characteristic style that prioritizes simplicity of form, uses ornaments and follows the shape of the building's function.