Cultural Transposition: A Framework to Address Inequality in Cultural Capital.

• In Event: 20420 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 11: Ethnography

Abstract

Inequality of cultural capital creates barriers to upward mobility, and in the US society, this inequality has often overlapped with class and color lines. This made it particularly challenging for individuals from ethnoracial minority and/or working-class backgrounds to enter fields with high cultural capital. Traditionally, representation-based initiatives. such as affirmative action and diversity hires, have been used to address this inequality, yet these initiatives have increasingly been under attack. This paper stresses the importance of adopting structural approaches to diversity to complement the representation-based approaches that are under attack. A key innovation in this paper is the concept of cultural transposition, inspired by the musical term of transposition – shifting musical key to accommodate a singer’s voice. In the context of diversity, cultural transposition refers to the behind-the-scenes efforts required to successfully integrate marginalized groups into White-dominant fields, ensuring that cultural differences are recognized and appropriately bridged. The paper illustrates this concept with a case study of a nonprofit organization in the classical music sector, a field historically associated with upper-class White culture. The organization provides a tuition-free music program to students from working-class, racial minority households. Using ethnographic data from this organization, the paper identifies three important elements of a successful cultural transposition: recognizing cultural differences, developing common symbols, and managing multiple and separate stages for the dominant and marginalized groups. The paper concludes by showing how the work of cultural transposition, or the lack thereof, can influence the outcomes for students, staff, and the organization as a whole.

Author

• Jiwon Yun, Yale University