Cultural forms gain artistic recognition when their producers of meaning “prove” that they (a) contain “serious” meanings and aesthetic genuineness; (b) they are produced by a definable creative entity and (c) the creative entity is autonomous, producing its works for their own sake. Since the 1960's, critics have claimed artistic recognition for rock music. They have done so by stressing the “subversive” meaning of rock, by identifying the rock‐group and the rock individual‐musician as autonomous creative entities, by consecrating a body of albums as the “masterpieces” of rock and by defining several sonic components as rock's genuine aesthetic language. Although the realization of this claim remains partial, it demonstrates that the belief in artistic cultural hierarchies is a structuring force in contemporary culture.

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Aesthetic cosmopolitanism is conceptualized here as a cultural condition in which late modern ethno-national cultural uniqueness is associated with contemporary cultural forms like film and pop-rock music, and as such it is produced from within the national framework. The social production of aesthetic cosmopolitanism is analyzed through elaborations on Bourdieu's field theory, as an outcome of the intersection of and interplay between global fields of art and fields of national culture. A sociological explanation for the emergence of aesthetic cosmopolitanism is proposed. It focuses on claims by social sectors within national contexts for status and recognition of their own contemporary cultural uniqueness.

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Expressive isomorphism is characterized as the process through which national uniqueness is standardized so that expressive culture of various nations, or of social sectors within them, comes to consist of similar expressive forms and stylistic elements. Expanding on Meyer, the presence of pop-rock music in world culture is discussed as a major manifestation of expressive isomorphism. This is done by looking at these aspects of pop-rock music: electric instrumentation, ritual classification, ritual periodization, diffusion of styles and genres, legitimation discourses, and the emergence of ethnic rock. Following Bourdieu, a sociological account that focuses on recognition and status concludes the article.