William Morris, Cultural Leadership, and the Dynamics of Taste

Abstract

This examination of the social processes that inform cultural production asks how tastes are formed, transmitted, embedded, and reproduced across generations. These questions are explored through a study of William Morris, his working methods and products, and their impact on the decorative arts in Victorian Britain and beyond. Through the exercise of cultural leadership, Morris gave physical expression to the ideals and sentiments of Romanticism, and this in turn gave rise to a community of taste reaching across class boundaries and generations. Morrisian products and designs, through the agency of his disciples, became institutionally embedded, emblematic of refinement and good taste. A process model of taste formation is deployed to explore the economic and social dynamics at work in the Morris case and more generally.

Conceptualizing taste: Food, culture and celebrities

“…Cultural capital mirrors in some ways theories proposed by Veblen and Simmel, in that taste is determined not only by material goods, but also by possessing the knowledge and time needed to appreciate and consume them (Harvey et al, 2011). Lin (1999) describes the process of creating cultural capital as "investments on the part of the dominant class in reproducing a set of symbols and meanings, which are misrecognized and internalized by the dominated class as their own" (p. 29).…”

“…The debates concerning the formation and judgment of aesthetics, taste, fashion and style permeate the social sciences, and are particular concerns of researchers interested in tourism, leisure and consumer culture (Harvey, Press, & Maclean, 2011). Pierre Bourdieu, a pre-eminent twentieth century French sociologist, authored the acclaimed text Distinction (1984), which deals with the formation of tastes in food, culture and presentation.…”

“…The massification and popularization of culture discerned by Deleuze (1972) chimes with this notion of the commodification of taste. Simulacra provide accessible substitutes for consumers lacking the purchasing power to acquire more distinctive, original products (Harvey et al, 2011). Interestingly, in Deleuze's (1969) view, the imitation may enhance the original artifact instead of debasing it: "The simulacra is not a degraded copy, it possesses a positive power which denies both the original and the copy, the model and the reproduction" (pp.…”

“…There is a symbiotic relationship between the field of production, referring to the economic world, and the field of consumption, which is the social world (Harvey et al, 2011). Tastes depend on the system of goods offered, which may influence changes in taste or alternatively, a change in taste may bring about a transformation in the field of production (Turner and Edmunds, 2002).…”

“…Cultural endeavors such as cooking, music and art are social arenas in which tastes are aligned within communities, and are constrained by faithfulness to culturally embedded principles and historical preferences (Harvey et al, 2011).…”