A struggle on two fronts: boundary drawing in the lower region of the social space and the symbolic market for ‘down‐to‐earthness’

Abstract

In this article we use qualitative interviews to examine how Norwegians possessing low volumes of cultural and economic capital demarcate themselves symbolically from the lifestyles of those above and below them in social space. In downward boundary drawing, a range of types of people are regarded as inferior because of perceived moral and aesthetic deficiencies. In upward boundary drawing, anti-elitist sentiments are strong: people practising resource-demanding lifestyles are viewed as harbouring 'snobbish' and 'elitist' attitudes. However, our analysis suggests that contemporary forms of anti-elitism are far from absolute, as symbolic expressions of privilege are markedly less challenged if they are parcelled in a 'down-to-earth' attitude. Previous studies have shown attempts by the privileged to downplay differences in cross-class encounters, accompanied by displays of openness and down-to-earthness. Our findings suggest that there is in fact a symbolic 'market' for such performances in the lower region of social space. This cross-class sympathy, we argue, helps naturalize, and thereby legitimize, class inequalities. The implications of this finding are outlined with reference to current scholarly debates about politics and populism, status and recognition and intersections between class and gender in the structuring of social inequalities. The article also contributes key methodological insights into the mapping of symbolic boundaries. Challenging Lamont's influential framework, we demonstrate that there is a need for a more complex analytical strategy rather than simply measuring the 'relative salience' of various boundaries in terms of their occurrence in qualitative interview data. In distinguishing analytically between usurpationary and exclusionary boundary strategies, we show that moral boundaries in particular can take on qualitatively different forms and that subtypes of boundaries are sometimes so tightly intertwined that separating them to measure their relative salience would neglect the complex ways in which they combine to engender both aversion to and sympathies for others.

Assessing Contradictions: Methodological Challenges when Mapping Symbolic Boundaries

“…First, is the capacity to switch reflexively between different modes of self-presentation distributed unequally in the class structure? In line with Jackman’s thesis discussed earlier, we have demonstrated in previous work that this may be the case (Jarness and Flemmen, 2017; Jarness and Friedman, 2017): contradictions between visceral and honourable narratives, followed by self-reflexive accounts, are much more salient among interviewees located in the upper regions of the class structure than in the lower ones. Conversely, judgements of the lifestyles of those ‘lower down’ the class structure are more blatant and unambiguous among interviewees from the lower regions.…”

The slippery slope of cultural non-participation: Orientations of participation among the potentially passive

“…It seems surprising that the polarization of lifestyles is so large in a sample of relatively similar profiles – starting from a shared low education and many other often overlapping factors, hinting toward strong intra-class tensions in an egalitarian society (Jarness, 2017). In a way, the symbolic boundaries drawn among the introvert-hostile orientation travel beyond mere cultural practices and could be interpreted as moral ones (Jarness and Flemmen, 2017; Lamont, 1992). Finally, while both the discourses of social-mundane and introvert-hostile orientations come close to participation orientations that might well resemble traditionally measured ‘cultural non-participation’ if scrutinized only through cultural participation surveys, it is important to notice that there is a fundamental difference between them, whereas, the former shows no signs of social exclusion or strong boundary-drawing, the latter bears several markers of it: both a strongly experienced social exclusion and a fervently expressed hostility toward perceived other groups.…”

The micro–macro interactive approach to political trust: Quality of representation and substantive representation across Europe

“…As cultural liberalism has been adopted by the upper strata as an identity marker, cultural conservatives experience stigmatisation when confronted with the lifestyles and attitudes of cultural liberals or, more generally, in culturally liberal contexts (cf. Jarness & Flemmen 2019;Noordzij et al 2019;2020). This is likely to make such environments even more frustrating for cultural conservatives than might be expected from disagreements over specific policies.…”