Changing dimensions of cultural consumption? The space of lifestyles in Switzerland from 1976 to 2013

Abstract

In the present study we trace transformations of the Swiss space of lifestyles during the past four decades. The sociological discussion suggests that lifestyle practices were once structured by a highbrow-lowbrow distinction, whereas today cultural omnivorism, eclecticism, broad engagement, or cosmopolitanism should be prevalent. Furthermore, Bourdieu's homology thesis claims that cultural consumption is closely linked with class structures, which is contested by recent individualisation arguments. So, we ask two questions here: First, what are the main axes of the Swiss space of lifestyles and how do they develop over time? Second, how does the association between the space of lifestyles and the space of social positions evolve over time? We find that cultural practices in Switzerland are primarily structured by a dimension differentiating between engagement in a wide range of activities and disengagement, followed, secondly, by a highbrow-popular distinction. Accordingly, we identify an "inactive", an "intense highbrow" and a "moderate eclectic" consumption pattern. Although this configuration is quite stable over time, structural correlates of lifestyles are changing. Most importantly, indicators of vertical social position like education or occupational status are correlated with broad cultural engagement today, whereas they have been correlated with highbrow activities in the 1970s. Instead, age emerged as the main structuring factor of highbrow-popular disparities.

Digital omnivores? How digital media reinforce social inequalities in cultural consumption

“…Bennett et al, 2009;Coulangeon, 2015;Purhonen et al, 2010). Concurrently, a longitudinal study from Switzerland -the national context of the empirical analysis -finds that the proportion of active cultural consumers has risen over the past 40 years and that their consumption patterns are increasingly omnivorous (Weingartner and Rössel, 2019). This development began in the 1980s latest, shortly before the widespread diffusion of digital media.…”

“…This could be explained by differences in time allocation between educational groups. Since highly educated people are increasingly including popular activities in their cultural portfolio next to high culture activities (Weingartner and Rössel, 2019), they may seek omnivorousness not necessarily by diversifying their film consumption, but by diversifying their range of cultural activities more generally.…”

Is participation in high-status culture a signal of trustworthiness?

“…Furthermore, Swiss cultural discourse in leading quality newspapers still focuses more on high-brow culture. Moreover, cultural policy mainly supports classical culture like classical orchestras, theatres, museums and operas, on which more public funds are spent than on all other leisure and sports activities combined [43,44].…”

“…Whether an inadvertent sign or a deliberate signal, an association between classical music consumption and (perceived) socioeconomic status has been observed in numerous empirical investigations [42,43,[47][48][49][50]. Thus, the preference for classical music demonstrates membership of the higher-status groups and can be assumed to create awe, respect and trust in all members of society.…”

It’s All about Distinction: The Lifestyle Embeddedness of Fair Trade Consumption

“…We refer to this dimension as distinctive lifestyles. It has repeatedly been identified in cultural sociology as one of the most important dimensions of contemporary spaces of lifestyles [25,26,40,44]. It is of particular interest since sociologists have raised the question whether ethical consumption is part of a distinctive lifestyle combining participation in highbrow culture with expensive consumption patterns practiced by high status individuals (see below, [27][28][29].…”