Cultural sociology and new forms of distinction

Abstract

In recent years growing sociological interest in new forms of cultural distinction has led some to argue that the advantages previously conveyed by the consumption of 'high' culture ' or 'omnivorousness' are being overwritten by the possession of what has been termed 'emerging cultural capital'. So far, though, this term has only been discussed in passing within empirical work and remains in need of further analytical specification. This special issue seeks to both critically interrogate and develop this concept by bringing together the work of leading cultural sociologists around four key themes: the role of age and generation in the formation of cultural capital; the power of visual display for distinction; the significance of new elite cultures; and the need for methodological pluralism to apprehend the expressions and mechanisms of distinction. This editorial introduction outlines the descriptive terrain on which the concept of emerging cultural capital has rested until now before exploring the common themes that sit across all five papers in the special issue.

‘McDonald’s Music’ Versus ‘Serious Music’: How Production and Consumption Practices Help to Reproduce Class Inequality in the Classical Music Profession

“…As Kate Oakley and Dave O'Brien (2015) have however shown, the fields of cultural production and cultural consumption tend to be considered separately in the context of research on inequalities. While research has traced and explored inequalities in production (Allen et al, 2012;Banks and Oakley, 2015;Conor et al, 2015;Gill, 2014;Hesmondhalgh and Saha, 2013;Taylor and Littleton, 2012) and consumption (Bennett et al, 2009;Friedman et al, 2015;Miles and Sullivan, 2010;Tampubolon, 2010), the interplay between these practices and the ways they contribute to or alter existing inequalities has been rarely explored.…”

Uma Cidade Entre Sonhos De Néon. Encontros, Transações E Fruições Com as Culturas Musicais Urbanas Contemporâneas

“…Assim sendo, reportando-nos aos resultados obtidos, consideramos ser particularmente relevante o enquadramento desses atores sociais numa esfera de cosmopolitismo estético e lúdico ou capital cultural cosmopolita (Friedman et al, 2015), isto é, um saber-fazer e saber-estar na experimentação e fruição da diferença cultural, por meio do consumo e de práticas culturais urbanas. Foi, aliás, isso que nos ensinou Regev (2013) quanto ao pop-rock.…”

The village in the city: participation and cultural value on the urban periphery

“…In Taylor's terms, therefore, they form the central pillars of the village's "social imaginary", which, as suggested above, works to accommodate sources of division in its cultural life. Together with their affiliated groups, these institutions confer vernacular forms of social and cultural capital (Friedman, Savage, Hanquinet, & Miles, 2015) that inform the character of extensive civic participation. Rooted in the respective contents and participatory dynamics of particular institutions, the civic realm in Culter is refracted through a particular collective morality that generates forms of cultural value that pass under the radar of policy.…”