Secretly Serious? Maintaining and Crossing Cultural Boundaries in the Karaoke Bar Through Ironic Consumption

Abstract

When existing cultural boundaries seem to blur, people will look for alternative ways to express their identities. Recent research has shown that aesthetic dispositions (how one consumes culture) may be more significant than taste preferences (what is consumed). Sociologists therefore wonder whether distinction might be going underground. Elaborating on this issue, we examine the role of irony in cultural consumption through nine in-depth interviews with karaoke participants contacted in two bars in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, as we suspect that the ironic attitude is ideally suited to crossing cultural boundaries and, at the same time, to upholding class boundaries by distancing oneself from cultural activities that are considered enjoyable yet incongruent with one's identity. We indeed found large differences in how people performed and appreciated karaoke, which aligned with their levels of cultural capital.

“Maybe it’s … skin colour?” How race-ethnicity and gender function in consumers’ formation of classification styles of cultural content

“…The sociology of cultural consumption has recently witnessed a shift from studying what culture people consume to how they consume it (Jarness 2015;Peters, van Eijck, and Michael 2018). The way people consume cultural products will arguably tell us more about their cultural knowledge than their actual preferences (Peters, van Eijck, and Michael 2018, 59).…”

Out of tune. How people understand social exclusion at concerts

“…Various authors have argued that the way people consume culture-rather than, or in addition to, what they consume-functions as a status marker (Daenekindt and Roose, 2014;Friedman et al, 2015;Peters et al, 2018;Jarness, 2015). These studies reveal different ways of appreciating cultural objects and find that individuals from higher social strata systematically apply other modes of consumption than individuals from lower social strata.…”

“…I consider the two distinct modes of consumption that dominate the focus of the sociology of culture-the intellectual mode and the hedonistic mode. These modes of consumption have been revealed in various cultural domains (e.g., films, music, art) and in both private and public consumption of culture (e.g., Roose, 2013, 2014;Hanquinet et al, 2014;Jarness, 2015;Roose, 2008;Peters et al, 2018;Van Eijck, 2018).…”

“…People differ in whether or not they consider particular cultural contexts socially exclusive. A recent body of work argues that in addition to what people consume, how people consume culture serves as a source of distinction (Daenekindt and Roose, 2014;Peters et al, 2018;Holt, 1998;Jarness, 2015;Schwarz, 2013). Following this thinking, I focused on modes of consumption and find different understandings of social exclusion as people differ in which mode of consumption they consider relevant for drawing social boundaries.…”

From the ‘What’ and ‘How’ to the ‘Where’: Class Distinction as a Matter of Place

“…Studies focussing on cultural choices ("the what") frequently report a shift from exclusively highbrow tastes to cultural tolerance and involvement in lowbrow consumption (Bryson, 1996;Katz-Gerro, 2002;Peterson and Kern, 1996;van Eijck, 2001;Warde et al, 2007). In contrast, contributions highlighting the importance of consumption styles ("the how") tend to indicate the ongoing relevance of cultural distinction (Daenekindt and Roose, 2014;Holt, 1997;Jarness, 2015;Peters et al, 2017). While distinction seems to have moved from the "what" to the "how", the "where" has received less attention.…”