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Social Status, Lifestyle and Cultural ConsumptionThis research project is a macro-sociological study of cultural consumption in seven countries: Britain, Chile, France, Hungary, Israel, the Netherlands and the US. We brought together an international team of scholars to study the social bases of cultural consumption. Based on analyses of existing survey data, we have investigated how cultural consumption is related to social status – a hierarchy of perceived and often accepted social superiority, equality and inferiority. We also examined how the status–consumption link might be modified by social class, education, income, age and gender. This project ran from October 2004 to March 2007 visit the project's external pages>> Project team Contact Dr Tak Wing Chan Publications Chan T. W. and Goldthorpe J. H. ‘Is There a Status Order in Contemporary British Society? Evidence from the Occupational Structure of Friendship’, European Sociological Review, 20 (5) (2004), pp.383–401. Chan T. W. and Goldthorpe J. H. ‘The Social Stratification of Theatre, Dance and Cinema Attendance’, Cultural Trends, 14(3) (2005), pp.193–212. Chan T. W. and Goldthorpe J. H. ‘Class and Status: The Conceptual Distinction and its Empirical Relevance’, American Sociological Review (forthcoming, 2007). Chan T. W. and Goldthorpe J. H. ‘Social Status and Newspaper Readership’, American Journal of Sociology, 112(4) (2007), pp.1095–1134. Chan T. W. and Goldthorpe J. H. ‘Social Stratification and Cultural Consumption: Music in England’, European Sociological Review, 23(1) (2007), pp.1–19. Chan T. W. and Goldthorpe J. H. ‘Social Stratification and Cultural Consumption: The Visual Arts in England’, Poetics (forthcoming, 2007). Project outline The following is the text of the project's original proposal SUMMARYThis research project is a macro-sociological study of cultural consumption in Britain, France, the Netherlands and the US. We bring together an international team of scholars to study the social bases of consumption and lifestyle in these countries. We shall investigate how cultural consumption might be related to social status a hierarchy of perceived and often accepted social superiority, equality and inferiority. We shall also investigate how the status-consumption link might be modified by social class, education, income, age, gender and ethnicity. OUTLINE OF PROJECTThere is a variety of theories purporting to explain how cultural assumption is, or is not, related to social structure. The empirical validity of many of these theories is open to serious challenge. We argue that the theoretical and empirical difficulties concerning the social bases of cultural consumption is, to a large extent, due to a disregard of Max Weber's distinction between social KEY QUESTIONS1. Does a status order still exist in contemporary societies? APPROACHThe project will be based on the secondary, and primarily quantitative analysis of large-scale and nationally representative data-sets collected in recent years. The surveys that we have identified cover a wide range of both `high' and `popular' cultural activities, thus allowing us to consider the social bases of, for example, reading tabloids as well as broadsheets, going to the cinema OUTCOMESOur project should provide information of direct relevance to current debate on British (as well as French, Dutch and American) cultural life, turning on such issues as the relation between `high' and `popular' culture, elitism and inclusiveness, commercialism, and `dumbing down'. We believe this projects will have long terms impacts in three ways. First, it will advance understanding of the social bases of cultural consumption in modern societies. Secondly, such understanding will inform policy of organisations concerned with the promotion and provision of cultural activities in both |
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