TY - JOUR

T1 - From Metallica to Mozart

T2 - Mapping the Cultural Hierarchy of Lifestyle Activities

AU - Jæger, Mads Meier

AU - Larsen, Mikkel Haderup

N1 - Funding Information: We have presented earlier versions of this article at the 2023 ECSR conference in Prague, the RC28 Spring Meeting in Paris, the 2023 CEPDISC Conference in Aarhus, and at seminars at the University of Utrecht, University of Copenhagen, the Danish National Centre for Social Research, the Rockwool Foundation, and the European Commission. We thank participants at these events for constructive comments. The research presented in this article was funded by the Carlsberg Foundation (grant number CF21-325) and the Rockwool Foundation (grant number 934121, \u201CLifestyle Discrimination and Inequality\u201D) Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). This open-access article has been published under a Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction, in any form, as long as the original author and source have been credited. c b

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Theories of cultural stratification argue that a widely shared cultural hierarchy legitimizes status differences and inequality. Yet, we know little about this hierarchy empirically. To address this limitation, we collected survey data in Denmark and asked respondents to rate the implied social rank of 60 activities, genres, and objects belonging to six lifestyle domains (music, food, performing arts, leisure, sport, and literature). We use ratings of social rank to infer about the cultural hierarchy, arguing that higher ratings imply higher perceived status. First, respondents link activities often considered highbrow (e.g., opera, caviar, and golf) with higher social rank than activities often considered lowbrow (e.g., heavy metal, nuggets, and boxing), suggesting that a cultural hierarchy exists. Second, ratings of implied social rank differ little by respondents’ objective and subjective socioeconomic position, suggesting that the cultural hierarchy is widely shared. Third, respondents bundle the 60 activities in a perceived highbrow, middlebrow, and lowbrow lifestyle, suggesting that “brows” are salient in distinguishing lifestyles. Overall, our results support the idea that a cultural hierarchy exists.

AB - Theories of cultural stratification argue that a widely shared cultural hierarchy legitimizes status differences and inequality. Yet, we know little about this hierarchy empirically. To address this limitation, we collected survey data in Denmark and asked respondents to rate the implied social rank of 60 activities, genres, and objects belonging to six lifestyle domains (music, food, performing arts, leisure, sport, and literature). We use ratings of social rank to infer about the cultural hierarchy, arguing that higher ratings imply higher perceived status. First, respondents link activities often considered highbrow (e.g., opera, caviar, and golf) with higher social rank than activities often considered lowbrow (e.g., heavy metal, nuggets, and boxing), suggesting that a cultural hierarchy exists. Second, ratings of implied social rank differ little by respondents’ objective and subjective socioeconomic position, suggesting that the cultural hierarchy is widely shared. Third, respondents bundle the 60 activities in a perceived highbrow, middlebrow, and lowbrow lifestyle, suggesting that “brows” are salient in distinguishing lifestyles. Overall, our results support the idea that a cultural hierarchy exists.

KW - cultural taste

KW - distinction

KW - hierarchy

KW - inequality

KW - status

U2 - 10.15195/V11.A15

DO - 10.15195/V11.A15

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85191158171

VL - 11

SP - 413

EP - 438

JO - Sociological Science

JF - Sociological Science

SN - 2330-6696

ER -