Stability and change in patterns of cultural participation in the events of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016

The Structure of Social Capital and Cultural Participation: A Cross-sectional Study

“…The first two factors, most relevant to our hypotheses, fit the traditional division into “popular” and “highbrow” culture, identified in other research (Gans 1974; Meuleman 2021) and theorized as epitomizing more general cultural orientations: toward entertainment and pleasure, and sheer contemplation, respectively (Van Eijck 2001). What is important, these styles fully match the local cultural distinctions as evidenced by other studies conducted in Wrocław (Błaszczyk and Cebula 2016; Cebula 2019; Kajdanek et al 2022). The remaining styles are also interpretable: practical style resembles the functional one of the lower class (Bourdieu 1984); consumer style epitomizes practices typical for consumer society (going shopping) and younger generations, whereas “reading style” fits the reclusive type of consumption restricted to private or semi-private areas (Błaszczyk and Cebula 2016; Kajdanek et al 2022).…”

“…What is important, these styles fully match the local cultural distinctions as evidenced by other studies conducted in Wrocław (Błaszczyk and Cebula 2016; Cebula 2019; Kajdanek et al 2022). The remaining styles are also interpretable: practical style resembles the functional one of the lower class (Bourdieu 1984); consumer style epitomizes practices typical for consumer society (going shopping) and younger generations, whereas “reading style” fits the reclusive type of consumption restricted to private or semi-private areas (Błaszczyk and Cebula 2016; Kajdanek et al 2022). The latter is also related to education and more generally to cultural capital (although not to economic capital), which corresponds to the thesis of elite provenance of reading as observed by Wendy Griswold, Terry McDonnell, and Nathan Wright (2005).…”

“…In this respect, the study does not address new forms of cultural distinction such as cultural eclecticism, openness or emergent cultural capital (e.g., Prieur and Savage 2013). Nevertheless, the styles of cultural participation that emerge from the analysis are interpretable and chime with other research (Bourdieu 1984; Kajdanek et al 2022; Meuleman 2021; Van Eijck 2001).…”

“…Savage 2013). Nevertheless, the styles of cultural participation that emerge from the analysis are interpretable and chime with other research (Bourdieu 1984;Kajdanek et al 2022;Meuleman 2021;Van Eijck 2001).…”

“…1 As a fourth-largest city in Poland (counting 638,364 people in 2017) and a capital of the historical region of Lower Silesia, Wrocław epitomizes a typical path of postcommunist transformation marked by the shift from industrial to postindustrial economy, with decreasing number of citizens employed in production or crafts and a rapidly increasing level of education. Wrocław is diversified, with industrial sites, businesses, R&D/IT/financial companies, public administration, universities, and many cultural institutions and venues (Kajdanek et al 2022; Książek and Suszczewicz 2017) that makes it a convenient micro-cosmos of the nation and relevant research area. These data were collected by the means of Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) methodology in the latter part of 2017.…”