Reeves, A., Gilbert, E. and Holman, D. (2015) Class dis-identification, cultural stereotypes, and music preferences: Experimental evidence from the UK. Poetics, 50. pp. 44-61. ISSN 1872-7514
Abstract
Do people change their cultural preferences in social interactions where social class is particularly salient? It remains unclear whether cultural preferences vary across interactions or whether they are stable over time. We argue that individuals may alter their cultural preferences over time and that this will be influenced by both the specifics of a particular social interaction and the ‘cultural politics of class’ in which that interaction is embedded. Using a lab-based split-ballot experiment in a research university in the East of England (n = 300), we examine preferences towards music genres depending on whether respondents are assigned to one of three experimental conditions: (1) a vignette describing someone who is working class, (2) a vignette describing someone who is middle class or (3) no vignette. Those born in the UK alter the strength of their preferences towards highbrow music genres when social class is made more salient. When the salience of class is increased it also activates particular cultural stereotypes and these stereotypes influence the strength of respondents’ preferences towards highbrow music genres. This mechanism suggests that individuals use cultural stereotypes in social interaction to position themselves and others in the social hierarchy through cultural preferences.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Poetics. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Social class; Music preferences; Experiment; Cultural sociology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 02 Jun 2015 12:26 |
Last Modified: | 08 Mar 2018 01:38 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2015.01.002 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.poetic.2015.01.002 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:86255 |