Social Stratification of Musical Tastes : Questioning the Cultural Legitimacy Model
Philippe Coulangeon
In sociological study of artistic tastes, the behavior of the upper classes is usually characterized by a penchant for “highbrow” arts and simultaneous rejection of popular arts and
the products of mass culture. However, the trends brought to light by analysis of cultural
practices survey data do not entirely confirm this representation. What distinguishes upper
class behavior is in fact not so much familiarity with “legitimate” culture, as is often
claimed, but diversity of stated preferences, in contrast to members of lower-status classes,
whose preferences appear more exclusive. A contrast can therefore be established between
the traditional model of cultural legitimacy and a model in terms of eclecticism. This article
seeks to assess the import of the latter model on the basis of data on preferences in music
from a 1997 survey of French cultural practices. First, French practices in this area unequivocally confirm the relevance of the eclecticism model, though that model appears more an
extension of the cultural legitimacy model than a refutation of it. Second, the preference
typology constructed through analysis of the data, and distribution of individuals by social
factors among five music-listener profiles defined on the basis of that typology, forefront
the importance of generation differences and uneven distribution of cultural capital and
musical competence.
• Testing the cultural legitimacy theory against the “omnivore/univore” hypothesis
— Habitus and distinction
— The “omnivore/univore” hypothesis : blurring the boundary between
highbrow and lowbrow
— Eclecticism and legitimacy
• Distribution of music preferences in the survey of French cultural practices
— The dimensions of social stratification of preferences : eclecticism, generation,
cultural legitimacy
— Typology of attitudes toward recorded music
• Social factors of preference orientation
— Primacy of age and cultural capital
— Generation, age, and musical preference orientation
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