richard a. peterson and the culture of consumption

ELSEVIER Poetics 28 (2000) 207-224

POETICS

www.elsevier,nl/locate/poetic

Richard A. Peterson and the culture of consumption

K o e n van Ei jck*

Tilburg University, Department of Leisure Studies, P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, the Netherlands

Abstract

This article discusses the work of Richard A. Peterson in the field of cultural consumption. Peterson studied patterns of cultured choice and coined the term 'cultural omnivore', which has become part of the standard vocabulary of cultural scholars. After a brief overview of the current state of the art, and Peterson's contribution to it, the author attempts to provide a description of who the cultural omnivore is and how we might better understand the omnivore taste pattern by simultaneously considering breadth and content of cultural tastes. © 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

I. Introduction

In 1983, Richard Peterson edited an issue of the journal American Behavioral Scientist, devoted to 'patterns of cultural choice' . The volume was a joint effort to empirically account for taste. How can culture consumption be understood from the viewpoint of the consumer, the participant, or the audience? Peterson wanted to make a fresh start with the ,;ubject by introducing the term 'patterns of cultural choice' , avoiding available terms such as class culture, lifestyle, or subculture. In an article co-authored with Michael Hughes in the same volume (Hughes and Peterson 1983), eight cultural c, hoice patterns were distinguished using a clustering technique. Nine years later, Peterson and Simkus (1992) concentrated on the breadth of cultural tastes by distinguishing cultural omnivores and univores. In this study, Peterson did not look fi~r distinct patterns, but his focus was on the obser- vation that the higher status groups like more different types of music than the lower status groups. Both approaches to the subject of taste have in common that they are successful attempts r.o put into question the nature of the relationship

I thank John Ryan and Hans Mommaas for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article.

* E-mail: [email protected]

0304 -422X/00 /$ - see front matter © 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 0 4 - 4 2 2 X ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 2 2 - X

208 K. van Eijek / Poetics 28 (2000) 207-224

between consumption patterns and social class as seen from a more traditional point of view.

Peterson's project presents us with a number of challenges. It is probably becoming increasingly difficult to transform "the buzz of human activity into a set of delimited patterns" (Peterson, 1983: 428). Can we still expect to find certain activities to typically 'go together' because they belong to the same pattern if patterns are thought to be changing from homogeneous packages of preferences into creative juxtapositions of heterogenous elements? And if patterns are becoming more difficult to interpret in terms of traditional labels, does this mean that people are con- sciously creating a certain lifestyle or consumption pattern that renders distinction? Or are these patterns becoming more blurry because people are less concerned about the social connotation of their preferences but rather let their 'natural' need for variety prevail in the formation of their lifestyle, as is suggested by Longhurst and Sav- age (1996)? Such questions are further complicated by the vast emergence of cultural cross-products which are hard to classify due to the constant emphasis on renewal and originality on the part of cultural producers.

In this article, I want to discuss Peterson's work on patterns of cultural choice and cultural omnivores. It will be argued that Peterson's findings and interpretations regarding current cultural patterns can be both affirmed and further specified if we compare them to other studies on the subject. The taste of the cultural omnivore will be looked at in more detail, leading to the conclusion that the emergence of the cultural omnivore is a cultural expression of personal qualities that are highly valued and thus rewarded in today's complex society.

2. The waning self-evidence of highbrow culture

Studies on the relation between social stratification and cultural consumption have oftentimes been concerned exclusively with participation in highbrow culture. It has typically been found that the higher educated participate more in this field, including e.g. literary reading, museum visits, ballets, operas, theater, et cetera (DiMaggio and Mohr, 1985; Robinson, 1993). These results might suggest that we are dealing with a more or less one-dimensional domain. 'Difficult', 'high-minded' culture is appreciated by those who are able to make sense of it and enjoy it, i.e. the higher educated, and awarded within the higher status groups for reflecting desirable personal attributes.

Sociologists of stratification considered cultural capital as a resource for educational and occupational success (DiMaggio, 1982; De Graaf, 1986). As a consequence, they were mostly interested in legitimate culture. Popular culture didn't really matter for life chances otherwise than perhaps indicating an interest that was unlikely to be rewarded in terms of status (a lack of the 'right' type of cultural capital). Yet the fact that the higher status groups consume more highbrow culture does not imply that they shun other cultural products. On the one hand, both in the U.S. and the Netherlands, studies on high culture show a declining correlation between schooling level and highbrow culture participation, suggesting that such activities

K. van Eijck / Poetics 28 (2000) 207-224 209

are becoming less elitist (Kraaykamp and De Graaf, 1995; Robinson, 1993). On the other hand, the audience for the traditional performing arts can be considered as an elitist rearguard because, during the seventies and eighties, this culturally experienced audience had little to gain from new forms of electronic participation through media (LP's, tape recorders, television; Knulst, 1992). According to Knulst, those who have invested in highbrow culture and have become connoisseurs are least inclined to settle for alternatives offered by the media.

These results do not contradict each other. For reasons explained below, highly educated youngsters are less inclined toward highbrow culture than their older counterparts, and more familiar with a number of popular alternatives to traditional performing arts (television, pop music, internet, cinema). Initially, the educational expansion led many to expect that participation in highbrow would increase because its potential audience was growing. However, as the cultural domain broadened, ado- lescence was prolonged, incomes rose, and the traditional Bi ldungs idea l diminished in significance, participation in highbrow art was no longer a self-evident choice for this new generation of highly educated persons. Schooling therefore differentiates relatively poorly between young people's levels of participation in highbrow culture. Among the older generation, on, the other hand, those with lower schooling levels were more inclined to turn to television and other forms of electronic home enter- tainment than the higher educated. Comparing educational categories therefore only makes sense if one takes into account the fact that the younger generations are over- represented among the higher educated. And these youngsters do not pursue an elitist lifestyle, despite the fact that they meet the intellectual prerequisites traditionally assumed to lead to such a lifestyle (see also Peterson, 1990: 209-210).

Thus, due to differences in socialization, the highbrow-lowbrow model is a decreasingly useful tool for understanding audience segmentation. Instead of focus- ing on indicators of cultural capital, we should rather ask to what extent patterns of cultural choice as a whole differ between status groups. Peterson and DiMaggio (1975: 504) suggest that '"[r]ather than begin with social classes, it may prove more fruitful to categorize persons in terms of cu l tura l classes, that is shared patterns of consumption, and then search for the correlates of strata so defined". Then it will also become clear that the decline of differences in schooling levels, or socio-economic status in general, between participants and non-participants in highbrow culture does not mean that status differences are disappearing. If we look at other aspects of cultural behavior as well, new differences between status groups emerge.

3. Clustering cultural preferences

Let us take a brief look at previous attempts to cluster cultural taste patterns. Using a large diversity of activities, including e.g. sports, domestic activities, or trips, results in activity patterns that cannot easily be arranged into any clear-cut sys- tem such as a distinction between lowbrow, middlebrow, and highbrow (e.g. Hughes and Peterson, 1983; Mitchell, 1'983). Also, such descriptive analyses are often difficult to generalize because they are highly contingent upon the specific set of cultural

210 K. van Eijck / Poetics 28 (2000) 207-224

indicators used and their level of aggregation. Broad lifestyle studies have, nevertheless, attempted to inform us about the principles underlying lifestyles. Yet it is problematic that such structuring principles are often no more than labels describing the lifestyles that emerged from the analysis, thereby offering little explanation.l

The authors in the 1983 issue of Amer ican Behavioral Scient is t come up with different numbers of clusters, ranging from four (Sobel) to fourteen (Greenberg and Frank). A number of labels nevertheless consistently recur, such as home-centered, outdoor, arts, community, family, sports, or social/informal interaction. Despite the limitations of the approach, the results prove that leisure activities are not indepen- dent but rather structured by certain interests that are in part specific for certain status groups. Thus, Weber ' s classic distinction between classes and status groups finds empirical validation in most of these studies, even if the results vary significantly.

The above-mentioned authors mainly attempt to understand lifestyle patterns by relating them to socio-demographic variables. Concern with underlying dimensions is limited. Hughes and Peterson (1983) suggest there may be at least one broad dimension underlying their factor solution, ranging from active on the one hand to passive or alienated on the other. This interpretation is, however, largely based on their anti-arts attitude scale which correlates negatively with all other factors, while the correlations between the activity factors are positive. The latter finding does, interestingly, presage Peterson's distinction between omnivores and univores. It is found that less than one percent of the sample are highbrow purist; most respondents who are active participants in the arts engage in a wide range of other activities as well. Therefore, I now turn to Peterson's distinction between omnivores and univores and, later on, I will attempt to link these findings to a more pattern-like approach to cultural consumption.

4. Omnivores and univores

4.1. More -more

Lifestyle pattems have been studied at different levels of behavioral concreteness. Scholars have distinguished 'patterns of leisure activities', including e.g. sports and cultural activity (level 1), 'choices within cultural domains ' , e.g. preferences within the domain of legitimate culture (level 2), and 'preferences within artistic disciplines',

Typologies such as Mitchell's (1983) nine American lifestyles, consisting of aggregations of diverse social factors such as values, cognitive skills, schooling level, consumption and leisure, or age, are con- structed in a rather exploratory manner. The link to Maslow's need hierarchy or 'inner-directed' and 'other-directed' orientations derived from Riesman et al. (1950) are not established on the basis of hypotheses, but seem to be loosely attached to the lifestyles that popped up (Ganzeboom, 1988). Con- sumption items, values, and sociodemographic variables are treated similarly as lifestyle indicators in Mitchell's Values and Life Style (VALS) methodology; relations between these highly diverse charac- teristics are not explicated. This approach may lead to vivid and appealing portrayals of typical repre- sentatives of each type, but in doing so they categorize people rather than explain why they have certain orientations or preferences.


e.g. musical tastes (level 3). The possibility of discerning stable dimensions depends on the level of measurement. Types of leisure activities (level l) lend themselves to clustering, but results are difficult to replicate, as we saw above. Distinct clusters of arts attendance within the high arts activities (level 2), could not be discerned by Robinson, using the SPPA data. Here, correlations tend to be positive across all highbrow activities. In their study of cultural choice, Peterson and Simkus (1992) investigated musical tastes (level 3), thus limiting their field of research to one culture discipline while leaving room for very different tastes to come out.

Whereas the audience for the high arts is relatively homogeneous in terms of its socio-demographics, the audience for music encompasses virtually everybody. Musi- cal preferences therefore lend themselves very well to the study of taste differentiation, because music comes in all tastes and is easily accessible through media display as well as tapes and cd's to be played whenever one feels like doing so at relatively low costs. Although the analysis of preferences within the field of music also depends on the categories used, it is more likely to render results that are compara- ble between samples than broad lifestyle analyses, because the choice of relevant categories is more likely to be similar among studies (see below). Finally, musical preference seems to be a valid measure of arts participation in general (Peterson en Simkus, 1992: 161-164). The validity of music preference as an indicator of cultural taste is confirmed by Peterson and Simkus by simultaneously ranking occupations and tastes and by correlating musical taste with other cultural activities. The results from the ranking procedure show that the higher status groups appreciate the so- called highbrow genres (especially classical music) more than other groups, whereas lowbrow styles (e.g. country music, blues, gospel) are mostly appreciated by the lower status groups.

At first sight, this finding see:ms to be in accordance with the elite-to-mass theory, but there is more. Peterson and Simkus (1992) also stress that social status is not the only determinant of taste. Age, gender, and race are important determinants as well (see also Christenson and Peterson, 1988). This is especially true for the lower status groups, where there is relatively little agreement on what is the 'best' music. The higher status groups, on the other hand, show more consensus in their ranking of genres, but they do not devote themselves exclusively to the most legitimate types of music. In fact, classical music ~md opera are best liked by only 30% and 6% of the members of the higher status groups, respectively (Peterson, 1992). In addition, the higher status groups tend to like non-elite music and be more active in non-elite leisure activities as well. Members of the higher status groups are more ambitious in their leisure behavior in the sense that they have a broader range of tastes and activities (Roberts, 1999). This finding has been observed by other scholars (e.g. De Haan, 1997; Robinson et al., 1985)

So, despite mass affluence and the democratization of leisure, inequality is still very much present, although along other lines than the highbrow-lowbrow continuum. Today, the main difference seems to be in the range of leisure activities. Peter- son and Simkus (1992) introduced the term 'omnivore' to describe the broad taste pattern of the members of the higher status groups and 'univore' to characterize the narrow tastes of the lower status groups. Peterson and Kern (1996) argue that the


omnivore taste is becoming more widespread as, between 1982 and 1992, individuals with a taste for classical musical genres have learned to appreciate more middle- and lowbrow genres. This does not necessarily mean that persons who were initially highbrow lovers have developed a broader taste. It may also be that more persons who were non-highbrow lovers have developed a taste for classical music and opera and have thus joined the ranks of those defined as high-brow lovers by Peterson and Kern. In other words, it does not yet tell us whether the omnivores are snobs turning to popular culture, or social climbers turning to highbrow art, or both. But in any case, their numbers are growing. Similarly, in studying reading behavior, Van Eijck and Van Rees (forthcoming) found that the proportion of Dutch respondents who jointly read newspapers and/or magazines from different 'brow-levels' (e.g. combin- ing 'quality' newspapers with gossip magazines) has increased between 1975 and 1995. It thus seems that the cultural snob is being replaced by the cultural omnivore. In the next two paragraphs, I want to test some of Peterson's possible explanations for the emergence of the cultural omnivore.

4.2. The mobile omnivore

Whereas the study of patterns of cultural choice is based on combinations of cultural or leisure pursuits at the level of the individual (what goes together with what), the findings of Peterson (Peterson and Simkus, 1992; Peterson, 1992) are based on aggregated data. The problem is that such aggregated results cannot be directly translated to the individual level (e.g. Jepperson and Swidler, 1994; Longhurst and Savage, 1996: 283). The results are nevertheless interpreted in that manner; diversity at the level of the status group is taken to result from diversity at the individual level. Peterson's translation from diversity at the aggregate level to omnivorous tastes at the individual level obviously holds true to a large extent, but that does not mean that the overall differences in taste between status groups neatly reflect differences in the tastes of their individual members.

Perhaps there is something else contributing to the observed diversity of preferences within the higher status groups. Peterson (1992: 255) mentions social mobility as a possible cause for the emergence of the omnivore. Many mobile persons adhere at least in part to the cultural preferences and habits from their past. This is one of the reasons why the superiority of the traditional high arts is increasingly contested and why the traditional, 'snobbish' cultural patterns seem to evanesce (Featherstone, 1991). Yet social mobility also contributes to a compositional effect which may help explain the differences between status groups observed by Peter- son, as is shown by Van Eijck (1999). Because most social mobility that took place during the last decades has been upward, especially the members of the higher status groups are increasingly recruited from lower social strata, resulting in a relatively high level of socio-cultural heterogeneity within these status groups. There- fore, the diversity of tastes among the higher status groups may have come about as the sum of either omnivorous individual tastes, or of diversity of tastes at the group level. In the case of the former, we will find more omnivores within the higher status groups. In case of the latter, this is not necessarily true because Peterson's

K. van E~/ck / Poetics 28 (2000) 207-224 213

aggregated findings may reflect diversity of tastes between the members of these groups.

Van Eijck (1999) found evidence of both processes. On the one hand, members of the higher (educational) status groups who had experienced upward mobility, were more likely to engage in popular leisure activities and less likely to participate in literature reading and the arts. The impact of family background on cultural participation thus remains visible throughout adult life (see Van Eijck, 1997). Given that, within the highest strata, over seventy percent of the group members have experienced upward mobility (they are newcomers to the upper strata), this results, through simple cohort replacement, in an increasing enthusiasm for pop culture within the higher status groups and a decreasing interest in highbrow culture. On the other hand, the upwardly mobile do not fully cling to their past but engage in a mixture of activities that is not very much structured by the highbrow-lowbrow dimension. Correlations between popular and highbrow items showed that the higher educated, upwardly mobile respondents up to age forty were less likely to care about the distinction between high- and lowbrow than other groups of similar age. Most notable within this groups was the strong positive relation between attending soccer games and performing arts, whereas the latter was not necessarily correlated with reading literature or visiting museums. Immobile members of the same generation were more likely to shun all forms of highbrow culture, resulting in strong positive correlations between the highbrow activities (which were also observed among the higher educated older respondents, showing that they engaged in all highbrow activities).

These findings suggest that there is both more cultural heterogeneity within the higher status groups, with the upwardly mobile displaying different tastes than those who have grown up in high status families themselves, and there is a mixture of tastes going on, leading to omnivorous cultural behavior. As heterogeneity increases, cultural norms and values are likely to become less rigid and enjoying pop culture is no longer a sign of bad taste within the higher status groups (see also Groenman, 1961). In fact, it might even be valued positively to be familiar with e.g. Brahms, Beck, Brubeck and Busta Rhymes at the same time, as will be argued below.

4.3. The young omnivore

In a society that is characterized by social (and geographical) mobility, where the allocation of workers takes place on the basis of achievement rather than ascription, as we have just shown, traditional class cultures inevitably become more diffuse. To some extent, cultural boundarie:~ have always been subject to changing definitions, but this has not led to their disappearance. Which specific cultural behavior is associated with status is strongly dependent on the social context (Levine, 1988; Peter- son, 1997a). Cultural tastes, opinions, and consumption patterns are part of a broader vision on moral, social, and cultural values. An excellent illustration of this is provided by Lamont (1992), who has shown that her American upper middle class male respondents have a broad cultural repertoire, incorporating a lot of mainstream culture, whereas their French counterparts are more culturally exclusive and draw


sharper boundaries between themselves and the Franqois moyen (Lamont, 1992: 104). Such differences may also be present within societies. For example, given the heterogeneity within the higher status groups due to social mobility, we cannot simply assume that the higher status groups comprise one audience.

Given that the omnivore taste pattern is emerging, it can be expected that we will find differentiation between generations within the higher status groups. Peterson (1990) argues that the baby-boom generation stopped turning to classical music as adults, but more or less held on to their more popular preferences. Knulst (1992) tells a similar story, and in a recent publication of the Dutch Cultural Planning Bureau, it is argued that the younger generations are 'programmed differently' in terms of cultural socialization (SCP, 1998). The ideal of highbrow cultural training does not appeal to a generation for whom the difference between highbrow and popular culture is of little relevance. Therefore, now that we have learned about the existence of omnivores, it will be instructive to turn the analysis around again. Let us again focus on cultural patterns to see whether something of an omnivore pattern emerges at the individual level, and, if so, who these omnivores really are, instead of starting out with a distinction between status groups in order to look at their aggregated preferences.

Empirical descriptions of cultural consumers who cross traditional boundaries are provided by Savage et al. (1992), Wynne and O'Connor (1998) and Schulze (1995). This category of consumers is generally referred to as the new middle class, consisting of younger, well-educated, often upwardly mobile individuals whose lifestyles might be characterized as postmodern because their consumption patterns encompass leisure activities and preferences which seem incompatible from a tradi- tionalist point of view, such as visiting amusement parks and museums or listening to classical and pop music. If the members of this so-called new middle class, rather than the higher status groups, were to be the bearers of an omnivorous taste, it could be hypothesized that there are at least two taste patterns present among the members of the higher classes: one tending towards the traditional snobbish taste and one conveying a more omnivorous preference. The former would be more prevalent among the older members of the higher status groups, the latter among the younger ones, given that they are more likely to have experienced social mobility and, partly as a consequence, draw less sharp boundaries between high- and lowbrow culture.

This distinction within the higher status groups was confirmed by Van Eijck (forthcoming), employing a 1987 sample from the Dutch population (n = 3178). Using factor analysis to discern patterns of musical taste from thirteen genres, and incorporating these factors into a linear structural model, four musical factors were found. There was a folk factor (with high loadings of music for accordion/mandoline/guitar, brass band, sentimental Dutch songs), a highbrow factor (chamber music, symphonic music, opera), a pop factor (pop/rock, top 40), and an 'omnivore' factor comprising many genres, among which jazz and blues stood out mostly, but with relatively high loadings of chamber music, symphonic music, folk and pop/rock as well.

The effects of a number of sociodemographic indicators on the likelihood of appreciating each of these cluster of genres revealed that schooling level had strong


positive effects on both the highbrow factor and the omnivore factor, whereas the pop and, especially, the folk factor were negatively affected by level of education. A composite variable measuring respondents' interest in the arts and their actual arts attendance, was also positively related to the highbrow and the onmivore musical preferences. There were, however, differences related to gender (women were more likely to have a highbrow musical taste and men were more likely to be omnivores) and, as expected, to age. Age increased the probability of having a highbrow preference and it decreased the chance, of being a musical omnivore. Thus, it seems that the cultural omnivores are indeed likely to belong to the higher status groups, but that we cannot conclude that the reverse is also true. Younger members of the higher status groups, to whom e.g. Wynne and O'Connor (1998) refer as the new middle class, are most likely to be omnivores.

I consider the new middle class and the class of cultural omnivores as represent- ing essentially similar social groups. I believe this assumption to hold, even if, as Peterson and Kern (1996) suggest, both cohort replacement and period effects con- tribute to the rising proportion of omnivores within the population. This finding indi- cates that the older generations are becoming more omnivorous as well, but still the younger generation is more likely to move into this direction. Thus, the new middle class can certainly be described as omnivores, and the omnivores are most likely to be encountered in the new middle class.

4.4. The p icky omnivore

The four factor solution simultaneously yielded information on scope and content of the distinguished taste patterns. Only six genres loaded significantly positive on the highbrow factor, compared lo eleven on the omnivore factor. Moreover, not a single genre loaded negatively on the omnivore factor, while five genres did so on the highbrow factor. This tells us something about the disl ikes of the respondents, which were most explicit among the highbrow music lovers (they did not at all appreciate jazz, blues, pop/rock, top 40/disco, and sentimental songs). The pop fans had the most narrow taste (liking only four genres and disliking one), whereas the lovers of folk appreciated nine genres (nearly everything but the highbrow genres, jazz and pop) and disliked none. It seems that, at least in the Netherlands of the late 1980s, musical exclusiveness does not necessarily decrease with rising schooling levels, as Bryson (1996) argued referring to the U.S. The positive relation between status and breadth of taste exists for younger generations, but not for the older members of the higher status groups.

These results show that the difference between omnivores and univores does not imply that we should focu,; on scope rather than content, or that content is irrelevant to the omnivores. The omnivores in the Dutch sample did not care for top 40/disco and gospel, two genres that are associated with low status, which is generally in line with Bryson's (1996) findings for the U.S. The fact that the Dutch omnivores, again like Bryson's 'tolerant respondents', are most enthusias- tic about jazz and blues, also suggests that the taste of the omnivores is more specific than the term might sugge,;t. Latin music, another favorite genre of Bryson's


tolerant respondents, was not included in the list of genres evaluated by the Dutch respondents.

There may well be a new musical canon evolving that is typically appreciated by the cultural omnivore. With regard to the genres enjoyed by the omnivores, Peterson (1990) argues that such music genres, being predominantly - o r incorporating elements - from non-Western origin, are likely to appeal to affluent baby-boomers, to whom, again, the classical ideals of high culture have little significance compared to the generations before them. Typical practitioners of such 'World Music', according to Peterson, are artists such as Philip Glass, Brian Eno, Frank Zappa, Laurie Ander- son, or David Byrne. Peterson (1990: 223) states: 'Significantly, World Music programming could be a major force in finally displacing classical Western music and in making World Music the intellectually enriching classical music of the twenty- first century. Alternatively, it could facilitate the articulation of a new music aes- thetic in such a way that it would meld with and enrich the classical music of our civilization'. Thus, the taste of the (post-)baby-boom members of the higher status groups is, according to Peterson, shifting away from classical Western music, although the 'highbrow' ideal of intellectual enrichment has not washed-out. But, considering the above-mentioned list of composers, it seems that the attraction lies in the musical experiment and the juxtaposition of diverse musical elements rather than in perfection within a well-defined genre.

5. Back to the dimensionality of cultural choice patterns

5.1. Three discourses

If today's well-educated, high-status culture consumers are anything but exclusive highbrow lovers, then how are we to make sense of their tastes? They may still be looking for intellectually stimulating forms of art, but they may equally enjoy pop and folk, whether contemporary or picked up during their adolescent years. Can we still understand their taste as being structured by universal dimensions? For this pur- pose, I want to turn back to the issue of dimensionality, paying special attentions to its applicability to musical taste.

Peterson (1972) speaks of three distinct major streams of music which have been present in America: folk, pop, and fine art music. In describing the evolution of jazz, he argues that it has passed through each of these streams, which in principle exist parallel and independently of one another. Such an evolution is not exclusively applicable to jazz, Peterson notes, as it may be useful for understanding the history of other kinds of music as well.

A recent attempt to discern the dimensions underlying lifestyles is from the Ger- man sociologist Gerhard Schulze. In Die Erlebnisgesellschaft, Schulze (1995) dis- tinguishes five so-called milieus. Underlying the behavior and orientation of these milieus are three schemes; the high culture scheme (Hochkulturschema), the trivial scheme (Trivialschema) and the excitement scheme (Spannungsschema). I want to elaborate on these schemes, because they have been used by others as well. They


coincide with three discourses identified by Frith (1990): the art discourse, the folk discourse, and the pop discourse. Frith, in turn, has based his discourses on the works of Bourdieu and Becker and his special interest is with music. The discourses he discerns do not refer to separate art worlds or class attitudes, but are at play across cultural practices.

Schulze's high culture scheme can be briefly sketched by a number of key words: intellect, cultivation, training, contemplation, perfection, spirituality, restraint, and distinction. The typical mode of enjoying high culture is a self-controlled position, concentrating on what is offered by officially trained performers. This is a way of distinguishing oneself from the more sensual or informal modes of appreciation characteristic of the pop and the folk scheme, respectively. The high art scheme emphasizes that art and life are different; art refers to the higher, the spiritual, the absolute (or, increasingly: disillusionment, or the coming loose of these romantic ideals). It is not to be simply enjoyed, but one has to learn something from partici- pating in it. In this description, we easily recognize the taste and practice of Bour- dieu's cultural capitalists.

In the folk discourse, art and life are less separated. Authenticity and the social function of art are most relevan~I in this discourse. Folk art represents folk values, thus shunning e.g. presumption and eccentricity on the part of the performers. The audience is allowed or encouraged to participate by swaying or clapping along, as long as it contributes to the creation of an emphatic, cosy atmosphere. Rather than looking for status or self-development through intellectual or spiritual challenges, the folk audience seeks security through conformity.

The pop discourse, similar to Schulze's excitement scheme, is best characterized by the words commerce and fun. This scheme is historically the youngest of the three, emerging, according to Schulze (1995:153) with the appearance of performers such as Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, and Fats Domino, whose followers often tried to exceed their suspense and aggression. This type of culture is to be indulged in, without much concern for perfection (highbrow scheme) or harmony (folk scheme), which is why Schulze holds narcissism to be the underlying mainspring, with escapism as the paramount function. Enjoying pop culture is a relatively physical activity; the body is put to actio:a through e.g. dancing or laughter and non-conventional physical identification marks convey specific tastes, especially when it comes to musical preferences.

Again, these three discourses do not reflect three taste patterns, but rather represent dimensions that might be useful in understanding such patterns. It is not unlikely, however, that certain social groups confine themselves to a single discourse. Although they are a very small minority, one percent of the sample of Hughes and Peterson (1983) are highbrow purists who obviously reject any cultural products that might be charactelized as either pop or folk. The proportions of pop- and folk-purist are probably larger, but there is also a considerable proportion of people who have tastes that are !tess 'coherent'.

In factor-analyzing musical taste patterns, Deihl et al. (1983) find three clusters, or meta-genres, labeled highbrow/traditional, contemporary progressive, and middlebrow/traditional. Cluster solutions resemble the highbrow, folk, and pop clusters


found by Van Eijck (forthcoming), be it that jazz and folk also had moderate loadings on the highbrow factor, showing that many of the lovers of highbrow music also enjoy these genres. According to Fink et al. (1985), who analyzed the structure of music preferences using multi-dimensional scaling, jazz and classical music are very different in terms of formality, but also related because they are both viewed as urban rather than rural. It thus makes sense that the members of the new middle class, which is largely from urban origin, are most likely to enjoy both at the same time. The musical omnivores found by Van Eijck (forthcoming) are engaging in several discourses. They appreciate genres typical of the highbrow discourse (e.g. classical and chamber music), the pop discourse (pop/rock, but not top 40 or disco), and the folk discourse (folk). This group seems to represent a segment of the cultural elite which values authenticity (blues, folk, rock) and instrumental craftsmanship (jazz, symphonic music, chamber music).

It is, of course, not without problems to match genres to discourses. As we saw, jazz is both informal and urban, and it can range from extremely complex to relatively easy-listening. Folk, according to Deihl et al. (1983), "is often ideologically more complex than other forms of music, while it remains relatively simple in musical structure". But there are many types of folk and people may differ in their defi- nition of the term. So relying on musical genre labels alone to infer people's tastes is problematic, given the fact that such standard categories are 'virtually meaning- less' (Peterson, 1997b: 55). They can offer us only a global idea about taste differentiation in terms of content and, perhaps less problematically, breadth. As Frith (1990) says, we may find elements of pop, folk, and highbrow within many genres, within the repertoires of bands or artists, and even within single pieces of music, given that today's musicians have easy access to a lot of materials which can be sampled to meld into something new. Yet, given the broad range of genres appreciated by the omnivores, they are likely to appreciate elements from each of the three discourses presented, especially highbrow and pop. The most preferred genres are typically urban, but not necessarily formal or complex. Music that is too obviously produced for commercial purposes (top 40/disco) does not appeal to the Dutch omnivores. Their familiarity with a wide range of styles probably reflects their active search for 'something interesting', which, no matter how we define 'interesting', is unlikely to lead to music which is produced for immediate appeal and faithful to highly predictable formats in terms of musical structure and lyrics.

5.2. The distinguishing omnivore ?

If the omnivore appreciates many kinds and genres of music, or engages in several discourses, then how does this finding relate to Bourdieu's concept of distinction? Schulze (1995) locates the omnivore lifestyle in a social milieu of highly educated members of the generation aged up to forty (again very similar to the new middle class). He argues that their consumption pattern is structured by their affinity with the high brow discourse (Hochkulturschema) and the pop discourse (Spannungsschema), but the folk discourse (Trivialschema) does not appeal to them. Schulze labels this social milieu the self-fulfillment milieu (Selbstverwirklichungs-


milieu). Its members are searching for both action and contemplation, for leisure pursuits that are both non-conventional and elitist, driven as they are thought to be by narcissism and perfection. It seems that they are looking for distinction and fun (or distinction through fun), just like Bourdieu's new petite bourgeoisie. As the domi- nated fraction of the dominant class, to remain within Bourdieu's vocabulary, they may be strategically aiming at redefining the domain of legitimate culture to suit their taste or interests.

As a result of such a process of transvaluation, Peterson's World Music may gain legitimacy and indeed become tile art music of the twenty-first century. The omnivore taste may, as Bryson's tema multi-cultural capital suggests, render distinction because it is in accordance with today's standard of what members of the upper-middle class are supposed to enjoy. Passing knowledge (Peterson, 1992: 255) in a number of cultural areas may be valued more highly than the display of an exclusive, snobbish, taste, because it may work as a social lubricant in a world where the ideal of democracy increasingly implies the principal equality of many cultural forms. Snobbism is not politically correct as it suggests that one's own standards reflect higher morality than those of others. If "in all societies status honor is based in an assertion of moral worthiness" (Peterson, 1997a: 76), and if, in a globalizing, multi- cultural society, moral worthiness is gained through the ability to truly appreciate the cultural products and practices of 'the other', it is only logical that such worthiness is granted to those who are able to place their moral and cultural values in perspec- tive. The 'tolerant' ring to this is in a sense paradoxical because it still boils down to redefining what is 'good' (openness, paying respect to the other) as opposed to what is 'bad' (intolerance, snobbism). But since it is widely acknowledged that applying a single yardstick cannot do justice to the manifold cultural expressions that we wit- ness on a worldwide scale as well as within our own society, the emergence of the cultural omnivore does reflect a :shift in our criteria of moral worthiness. Pop culture is no longer to be shunned, due to large-scale upward social mobility and the general differences in socialization experiences between the (post-)baby-boomers and the generations before them. Highbrow culture holds an intellectual or spiritual appeal and ethnic music deserves an open ear, presenting exciting new forms of rhythmic and melodic complexity, offering a welcome exotic addition to our musical menu, and perhaps as proof of the openness of the listener. Some of the protagonists of what Peterson labels World Music have played an important role in the introduction of ethnic influences in today's music by incorporating these in their songs or by offering artists an opportunity to record their own music (e.g. Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Ry Cooder). Folk can be appreciated alongside, especially if it reflects a sense of authenticity that is lacking in much of the commercial pop music. The adage of the omnivore is that there can be something interesting in anything, depend- ing on how one looks at it.

The above suggests that being a cultural omnivore provides social status, at least within the new middle class. But others have suggested that the new middle class is not particularly concerned with 1:he status game. Wynne and O'Connor (1998) argue that such a lifestyle that combines elements ranging from pop to highbrow is nei- ther designed in order to bring cultural distinction nor based on a specific social


position. The self may be presented through cultural consumption, but the cultural consumption patterns of the new middle class is not so much a matter of compe- tence as a matter of sociability and openness. 2

Simmel (1997) and Longhurst and Savage (1996) point at the fact that lifestyles that are highly consistent (in terms of dual structuring principles such as highbrow versus lowbrow) do not reflect people's 'natural' longing for diversity and are therefore deliberate cultural constructions. According to Simmel (1997: 187) "we seek calm devotion to people and things just as much as energetic self-assertion against them both". Longhurst and Savage (1996) argue that there are two rather different types of consumer action: that geared towards impressing others and that directed at reassuring oneself. Since such modes, or habituses, have no distinct occupational bases (contrary to Bourdieu's argument), they may exist in tension with each other within the individual.

If the omnivore consumption pattern reflects a psychological need for variety ('the bow cannot always be bent') rather than a strategy aimed at gaining social status, then it might point towards an alleviation of the pressure of social norms more than anything else. A person's cultural lifestyle would be largely irrelevant to her or his status, so why bother trying to 'do the right thing'? Well, most probably, there always is a 'right thing'. As long as differences in status exist, different lifestyles will exist and they are unlikely to loose all association with status. The plurality of lifestyle options will make it increasingly difficult to interpret lifestyles as illustrating a person's position on a one-dimensional continuum that neatly reflects a single predominant value that explains, at the same time, socio-economic success and taste. But, no matter what 'cultural arbitrary' (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990) happens to be bon ton among the higher status groups, the desirability of their position will always encourage others to play along. If, for example, openness or "a desire to participate in or 'sample' different social and cultural worlds" (Wynne and O'Connor, 1998: 858) is what motivates the new middle class, then this orientation is likely to be pursued merely on the grounds of its association with success. As long as high status is desirable to many, the higher status groups will be a relevant refer- ence group and whatever lifestyle they fancy is likely to become popular among a larger section of the population, or at least considered somehow respectfully. But the specifics of the cultural arbitrary that is pursued by (specific segments of) the higher status groups can be understood better than this suggests.

2 For example, Wynne and O'Connor show that Prince, Phil Collins, Madonna and Motown are more exemplary of the musical preferences found among the new middle class in Manchester than are the musically more daring examples provided by Peterson when he describes World Music. Yet, since the succession of formats is very rapid in pop music, taste in pop music cannot be compared between generations in a straightforward manner, and it might well be that e.g. Prince and Madonna are as relevant to the scene of the 1980s and 1990s as Eno, Zappa, Anderson or Byrne were just a little earlier. Lifestyles, as Holt (1997) rightly argues, consist of a selection out of available lifestyle options that are contingent on time and place. Other issues are at stake in today's pop culture (e.g. explicit sexual self- assertion rather than the expression of political ideals), which makes a comparison of their meaning in terms of lifestyle very difficult, other than to say that the taste for pop music seems to have been a valid lifestyle option among the upper-middle classes during the last decades.


Peterson (1992) mentions a few possible explanations for the emergence of the omnivore taste pattern. One is the waning of the fundamental humanist belief in the moral superiority of highbrow culture since the two World Wars. Another is the trend from ascription to achievement and the fact that persons who grabbed the resulting opportunities for social mobility did not abandon the customs from their past. These explanations refer to the idea that it becomes increasingly difficult to identify with a single cultural fol~at, either because its moral standing is no longer unequivocal, or because people themselves have moved from one status culture to another. "Indeed, if the modern 'problem of identity' was how to construct an identity and keep it solid and stable, the pos tmodern 'problem of identity' is primarily how to avoid fixation and keep tlae options open" (Bauman, 1994: 18).

The omnivore is keeping the options open. He is willing to experience new things, and in a sense this willingness is increasingly needed in order to keep up with today's rapidly changing society, also in the field of occupations, where flexibility and dynamism are core values and consumer satisfaction is the benchmark by which success is judged. Perhaps Bourdieu's concept of homology does still apply in the sense that today's prerequisites for sot'io-economic success are still mirrored in people's cultural lifestyles, although it is no longer the simple mirror he offered in the 1960s.

DiMaggio (1991: 144) speak,; of "a large, well-educated, geographically mobile upper-middle class, with attenuated ties to place and complex role structure that facilitate and reward participation in multiple cultural traditions". What is required for occupational success is mirrored in cultural participation. The increasingly complex social network in which people function, does call for a lot of 'passing knowledge', as Peterson (1992) argued. This goes rather well with Bourdieu's notion of homology and his contention that cultural capital takes on a different form for different segments of the higher status groups. He acknowledges that changing economies make different requirements: "The new bourgeoisie is the initiator of the ethical retooling required by the new economy from which it draws it power and profits [...] The new logic of the economy rejects the ascetic ethic of production and accumulation [...] in favour of a hedonistic morality of consumption, based on credit, spending and enjoyment. This economy demands a social world which judges people by their capacity for consumption, their 'standard of living', their life-style, as much as by their capacity for production [...]. Whereas the juniors of the dominant class and the new bourgeoisie denounce the 'up-tight', 'stuffed-shirt' rigour of the old bourgeoisie and preach 'relaxation' and a 'laid-back' life-style, the old bourgeoisie condemns the 'sloppy' life-style of the new bourgeoisie and calls for more restraint in language and morals" (Bourdieu, 1984:310-311).

Openness and flexibility are !important resources in a society that requires social and geographical mobility, 'employability', and 'social networking' from its highly skilled workers. As such, the orr~ivore does represent the type of person most likely to be successful in the more rewarding segments of today's society. As long as cultural lifestyles somehow reflect personal qualities, qualities and values that are con- ducive to socioeconomic success are reflected in the lifestyles of the upper-middle classes and shifts in occupational requirements will be visible in changing patterns of cultural choice.


6. Conclusions

Peterson's research in the field of culture consumption has consistently been aimed at challenging the idea that there is a straightforward relation between social position and taste. His analyses of patterns of cultural choice made clear that status group cultures cannot be immediately derived from socioeconomic circumstances. To some extent, cultural tastes have their own logic, so studying patterns of cultural choice and relating those to sociodemographics does more justice to what is really happening than assuming similar lifestyles within social milieux. In discerning omnivores and univores, Peterson seems to return to a class-based approach, but only to prove that class is not the sole determinant of taste and that the distinction between highbrow and lowbrow is losing its significance for our interpretation of choice patterns. In doing so, Peterson greatly contributed to our understanding of culture consumption. He proposed a new way of conceptualizing the structure of taste patterns through the image of the reverse pyramid, symbolizing the univore taste of the lower status groups versus the omnivore taste of the higher status groups.

The special issue of Poetics edited by Peterson in 1997 bore the title 'Changing representation of status through taste displays'. It is, of course, difficult to determine whether status is expressly sought after by the cultural omnivore (see also Halle, 1993). The omnivorous lifestyle is argued to express multi-cultural capital (Bryson, 1996), but also to demonstrate the waning of status concerns (Wynne and O'Connor, t998). The mere association between the omnivorous lifestyle and high status does not tell us whether there is a well thought-out cultural strategy involved. But cultural choice patterns do reflect personal values and qualities and the qualities that are rewarded by status in today's society seem to be the same that underlie the omnivore consumption pattern.

Peterson's explanation of the emergence of the omnivore lifestyle has found empirical support. Social mobility encourages an omnivore lifestyle. The new members of the higher status groups care increasingly less about the distinction between highbrow and popular culture, affecting the socio-cultural norms of others as well. But they do have their own likes and dislikes and Peterson's prediction of a new World Music finds some support in the finding that e.g. jazz and Latin music are perhaps becoming the new favorites within the upper strata of society. Van Eijck's (forthcoming) finding that especially the younger members of the higher status groups tend to display omnivorous taste patterns, corroborates the idea that we are dealing with a trend towards more omnivorous consumption patterns, as Peterson and Kern (1996) argued.

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Koen van E|jck is assistant professor at the Department of Leisure Studies, Tilburg University, the Netherlands. His research project concerns cultural participation and trends in time allocation. Van Eijck has published on the subjects of sibling analysis, social mobility, media use, and cultural consumption patterns.

richard a. peterson and the culture of consumption

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