Social Stratification and Cultures Hierarchy among the Omnivores: Evidence from the Arts Council England Surveys

Abstract

By analysing the Arts Council England survey of 13,300 respondents in 2001–2004 I take snapshots of the space of cultural consumption and map its social stratification. Mirroring a redrawn image of Americans' cultural consumption in the early 1990s, the emergent image in the UK exhibits evidence of division within the omnivores. The image and division raise questions about the omnivore-univore thesis and existing literature on cultural consumption. The findings also show that contrary to some recent studies, cultural consumption continues to be structured by social class. Most intriguing, however, is the result that culture is seen by avid cultural omnivores to be hierarchical. The received understanding of omnivores as tolerant and possessing inclusive tastes across culture hierarchy (consuming high, middle and low brow cultures), therefore, diverges from evidence of both division within and culture hierarchy perceived by the omnivores. The apparent divergence can be resolved by acknowledging that the concept of omnivores as those whose tastes are inclusive pre-supposes and guarantees the existence of culture hierarchy.