Why Authenticity is In Demand: Overcoming High-Status Denigration with Outsider Art

• In Event: 202 - Regular Session. Popular Culture

Abstract

This paper develops and tests theory to explain the puzzling tendency for high-status actors to consume cultural products that are associated with low-status groups. The theory builds on Hahl and Zuckerman’s (2014) theory of “high-status denigration,” which holds that typical features of the status attainment process cause suspicion to be cast on the authenticity and considerateness of high-status actors. The logic of this theory is here extended in two ways. First, we focus on the specific case of “outsider art” to argue that the appeal of art produced by low-status actors lies not in its low status but in the moral authenticity it derives from the artist’s apparent lack of concern with extrinsic rewards. Second, we argue that public appreciation for such morally authentic art helps to override the tendency towards “high-status denigration.” Results from a series of experiments, which test individuals’ impressions of how other individuals rate the status and authenticity of particular works of art and those who consume such art, as well as the differences in preference for such art by social position provide validation for the theory. Implications are drawn regarding the sources of demand for cultural products, and the dynamics of such demand.

Authors

• Oliver Hahl, Carnegie Mellon University

• Minjae Kim, Massachusetts Institute of Technology