“High”/“Low” Cultural Products and Their Social Functions

Abstract

This article discusses the opposition between “high” and “low” forms of culture as related to the emergence of literacy in society. Some empirical evidence (for the differences between high and low artistic products in terms of object properties and users' expectations) is discussed. The origin of the difference lies, so the argument runs, in the codification of high products and values through the writing system, which can subsequently act as external and independent quality control. Hence the acquisition of literacy is indicative and mimetic with respect to the initiation into high culture. Especially, the processes of self-control that are needed to master literacy, reflect the requirements of high culture. In this perspective, the “debate” on the opposition between high and low culture is seen as largely uninformative. On the one side, the opposition (linked, as it is, to literacy) is an inescapable one for industrialized societies, and takes on the form of a feed-back mechanism. On the other hand, we lack reliable empirical evidence about the influence of both forms on society. It is therefore up to empirical studies to eliminate the main ingredients that feed the antipathy between high and low forms: ignorance and fear.