From Omnivore to Snob: The Social Positions of Taste Between and Within Music Genres

• In Event: 2231 - Cultural Distinction, Taste, and Intergroup Relations among Elites

Abstract

Are elite cultural tastes in the modern United States better described as being inclusive and broad or exclusive and narrow? We construct an original dataset in response to conflicting answers to this question. We fill a major gap in the literature on cultural tastes by simultaneously considering taste for both musical genres and artists within genres. Using both predictive and relational analyses, we reconcile seemingly incommensurate theoretical frameworks of class homology and omnivorousness. Results indicate that an omnivorous disposition to music is a middle-status position in the social structure. In contrast, elite social position maps onto exclusive and narrower tastes for consecrated culture. Optimistic interpretations of shifts to inclusivity in elite tastes are not supported.

Authors

• Clayton Childress, University of Toronto

• Shyon Baumann, University of Toronto

• Jean-Francois Nault, University of Toronto

• Craig M. Rawlings, Duke University