Inequality and Popular Culture

• In Event: 365 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 13. Taste and Classification

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that popular culture constitutes a system for organizing persons into social hierarchies. I examine a variety of sites in which this hierarchical organizing takes place and I emphasize the importance of looking at both representational and non-representational actions. Representation must be contextualized with other issues such as policy (the cultural policies that shape how culture is created and organized), labor (the labor force for the culture industries as well as associated practices of training and recruitment), and consumption (the practices of audiences in terms of access to popular culture, cultural consumption choices, and the translation of cultural consumption into social action).

Author

• Dustin Kidd, Temple University