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2006:9 Social Standing and Lifestyle in Czech Society |
Jiří Šafr |
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In this paper, I address two associated issues concerning differentiation of cultural consumption, lifestyle and stratification: first, I examine the hypothesis assuming that social classes in the Czech Republic are associated with distinct lifestyles, and second, I look at the social patterning of cultural omnivorousness. In the introductory part, I review cultural consumption and lifestyle theories along with the research agenda related to social stratification. Three theoretical models of class and culture, homology, post-modern individualisation and 'cultural omnivorousness' are introduced. In the second part, using data from the Market & Media & Lifestyle TGI 2004 (MEDIAN s.r.o.), I deal with three dimensions of lifestyle: highbrow cultural tastes/activities, luxury consumption and healthy lifestyle. The hierarchical association between social class (ABCDE Social Grades based on household position) together with education and household income on the one hand and lifestyle on the other is clearly present in the domain of highbrow cultural tastes/activities and luxury consumption but not in the case of healthy lifestyle which is primarily differentiated by education. However, other factors, namely gender, age, and a city as a place of residence, also have a strong impact. The boundary of cultural difference passes between the classes A, B, C and the lower classes D, E. In addition, an examination is made of cultural omnivorousness in the area of a general interest in topics of an informative and entertaining character in the media. Omnivores are more likely to be present in higher status groups defined by education credentials and household income, but the direct effect of social class, with other characteristics controlled for, is tenuous. Generally, cultural consumption and lifestyle is linked to vertical social standing. Consequently, it seems too soon to refer to post-modern stratification theory, with its emphasis on weakened cultural hierarchies and their eroded ties to social class, to clarify the Czech social structure.
Keywords
lifestyle, social class, cultural consumption, cultural omnivorousness, highbrow culture, luxury consumption, healthy lifestyle
Summary
This study examines the mutual relationships between lifestyle, especially culture consumption, and stratification in contemporary Czech society. The hierarchically ordered differences in embodied culture capital between social classes are focused on. Thus we are interested on a general level in how cultural practices mark interclass symbolic boundaries.
In the first part, the theoretical framework of lifestyle, cultural consumption and stratification is discussed along with methodological issues of conceptualisation and measurement of lifestyle and cultural taste. Three theoretical models of social class and culture are introduced. The homology perspective proceeds from the assumption that social classes have a different volume and composition of specific forms of capital available, and consequently they have different embedded lifestyles. Classes or their fractions follow intrinsically characteristic cultural consumption patterns that maintain their identity. A different post-modern individualisation model claims that lifestyles, cultural consumption and tastes have become diversified and fragmented due to the fact that they cannot simply be explained by social standing. People no longer recognise or share any fixed cultural hierarchy and differences between social classes in terms of cultural consumption have become marginal.
The recent model of 'cultural omnivorousness' represents an intermediate perspective between the two. According to the omnivore-univore thesis cosmopolitan omnivorousness has displaced distinct highbrow culture as a status marker. High status groups consume a broader genre spectrum (omnivores) than others. Status is gained by knowing about and participating in all cultural forms. However, lower classes have retained their lowbrow tastes (univores), whereas the privileged classes have kept not only their taste-exclusive highbrow but also have embraced popular-culture consumption and taste distinctions.
The second part of the study presents the results of the analysis of the lifestyle and cultural consumption structure using data from the Market & Media & Lifestyle TGI 2004 (MEDIAN s.r.o.). First, hypothesis assuming that social classes in the Czech Republic (Social Grades ABCDE based on household head status) are associated with distinct lifestyles in three domains: highbrow cultural tastes and activities (going to cultural events, watching art TV programmes, interest in classical music, reading poetry, etc.), luxury consumption (a preference for purchasing luxury goods, expensive clothing, brand-name goods, dressing exclusively, etc.) and healthy lifestyle (taking care of one's health, watching one's nutrition, a preference for organic products, etc.) is examined. Second, we explore the social patterning of cultural omnivorousness in a general interest in topics of an informative and entertaining nature, highbrow (history, education, art, etc.) as well as lowbrow (sensational events, celebrities, sex, etc.), in the media.
The hierarchical association, proposed by the general hypothesis, between social class together with household income and education as an institutionalised form of cultural capital on the one hand and distinct lifestyle on the other is clearly present in the domain of highbrow cultural tastes/activities and luxury consumption but not in the case of healthy lifestyle. Only the third domain, healthy lifestyle, is not structured by class but by education alone and income, together with major influence of gender and age. The analyses have confirmed previous results from the end of the 1990s that highbrow culture is associated with class position. However, other factors, namely gender and age, and to some extent also the centrality of Prague as the capital city and other cities, also have a strong impact. The boundary passes between the classes A, B, C, with an affinity for highbrow culture and luxury consumption, and the lower classes D, E (households of manual workers and not working). Consequently, it seems too soon to refer to post-modern stratification theory, with its emphasis on weakened cultural hierarchies and their eroded ties to social class, to plausibly clarify the Czech social structure. In general, the findings are in accord with prevailing empirical results in advanced countries.
Omnivores in the interest in media topics are more likely to be present in higher status groups in terms of education and household income, but the direct effect of social class is tenuous. A decisively distinctive class culture, anchored in this new sort of cultural capital comprised of cultural diversity, has not yet developed in Czech society. However, omnivores and highbrows (taste and activities of highbrow culture) overlap to a large degree, which may indicate that cultural omnivorousness will function as a basis for marking elite status later on. To what extent it will serve as the dominant status group's culture is a question. Instead, parallel distinctive elite highbrow cultural patterns may develop among the upper classes as a consequence of the emergence of social classes in terms of economic capital during the post-communist transformation. The results regarding luxury consumption imply that snobbish exclusion also acts as a marker of status.
When studying how symbolic interclass boundaries are expressed as lifestyle in the contemporary
Czech social space, two general and dual processes simultaneously affecting the social structure should be taken into consideration. The first one, individualisation, is the outcome of ongoing modernization and globalisation processes. The other concurrent process is that of class structuralisation resulting from an increase in economic inequalities and the crystallisation of different status components, which occurred during the post-socialist transformation.
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