Distinctions in the Media Welfare State: A Bourdieusian Take on Audience Fragmentation

• In Event: Media and Audience Fragmentation

Abstract

This study draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of culture in order to shed new light on the ongoing fragmentation of media audiences and users. We use a multiple correspondence analysis on national survey data (n = 1604) collected in Sweden in 2015 to 1.) create a statistical representation of the contemporary Swedish class structure and proceed to 2.) analyze the distribution of a broad range of media practices and media preferences in that space. Results show that social groups reproduce their social status by monopolizing distinct media repertoires. We are able to show that class matters for how people orient in increasingly high-choice media environments – even in a so-called media welfare state. Accordingly, we argue that any attempt to understand the fragmentation of media audiences and users should take class seriously

Authors

• Johan Lindell, Karlstad U

• Jan Fredrik Hovden, Bergen U