Cultural boundaries: Snob to omnivore to …?? New modes of cultural distinction

On this episode Drs Laurie Hanquinet and Dave O’Brien discuss the sociology of cultural consumption. Cultural consumption matters in lots of different ways, from telling us about the value and meaning of cultural objects, through how people get access to jobs and professions, to underpinning power and inequality across entire societies! We discuss the relationship between culture and social inequalities, looking at how cultural hierarchies have changed over time, but social inequalities seem to have persisted. In particular, we think about class and race within these social and cultural hierarchies, reflecting on the new forms of distinction adopted by social elites who are superficially open and democratic in their cultural tastes. On this episode's hosts: Dr. Laurie Hanquinet is professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles. She specializes in cultural consumption, theories of cultural capital, socio-cultural inequalities, and social stratification. She published works on the visitors of modern and contemporary art museums (‘Du musée aux pratiques culturelles‘, Ed. de l’Université de Bruxelles) and on different dimensions of cultural participation and social engagement. She's the co-editor of the ‘Routledge International Handbook of the Sociology of Art and Culture’ (with Mike Savage). She also worked on themes such as ethnicity, intergroups relations and European identity. Dr. Dave O'Brien is Chancellor’s Fellow in Cultural and Creative Industries at the Edinburgh College of Art (University of Edinburgh). Cultural and Creative Industries represent an important area of social, economic, and academic concern, posing research questions and engagement opportunities that range across a number of Art, Humanities and Social Science disciplines. These questions and opportunities are reflected in Dave’s inter-, multi- and cross-disciplinary approach to studying Cultural and Creative Industries. He is the host of the new books in critical theory podcast and you can follow him on twitter: @drdaveobrien.​​​​​​ This episode's readings: Banks, P. (2012) ‘Cultural Socialization in Black Middle-Class Families’ Cultural Sociology 6(1) 61-73 Freidman, S. and Reeves, A. (2020) ‘From Aristocratic to Ordinary: Shifting Modes of Elite Distinction’ American Sociological Review 85(2) 323-350 Hanquinet, L (2018) ‘Inequalities: when culture becomes a capital’ in Durrer, V., Miller, T. and O’Brien, D. (2018) The Routledge Handbook of Global Cultural Policy London: Routledge Hazir, I. and Warde, A. (2016) ‘The cultural omnivore thesis: Methodological aspects of the debate’ in Hanquinet and Savage (eds) Routledge International Handbook of the Sociology of Art and Culture London: Routledge Presentation: Laurie Hanquinet and Dave O'Brien Editing: Iris Verhulsdonk Intro and outro tunes: Timothy Dowd