Authors: J D Snowball M Jamal K G Willis
Publish Date: 2009/09/17
Volume: 97, Issue: 3, Pages: 467-483
Abstract
Contrary to Bourdieu’s theory Distinction A social critique of the judgment of taste Cambridge Massachusetts Harvard University Press 1984 that cultural consumption of socalled “high” versus popular culture is determined by socioeconomic class Peterson Poetics 21243–258 1992 Poetics 33257–282 2005 finds that higher income and education groups are more likely to be “cultural omnivores”—consumers of a wide variety of both high and popular cultural goods Omnivores were also found to be much less likely to exclude other cultures and to be more open to and tolerant of the views of others than those with narrower cultural tastes called “cultural univores” This article investigates the omnivore/univore hypothesis in a South African context using survey data collected from 500 attendees of live theatre performances at the National Arts Festival in 2008 Multiple correspondence analysis also called perceptual mapping shows an interesting intermediate state between Boudieulike high culture univores and Peterson omnivores which could have interesting implications for the development of social tolerance in multicultural South Africa
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