Spécificité du terrain en sociologie des arts et de la culture

In this article, the author examines the specificities of field studies with regards to the sociology of the arts and culture. It is argued that the over-valorisation of these activities has consequences on the relations between researchers and actors or consumers of art and culture. Constituting activities of social distinction, such activities provoke as many over-declarations as under-declarations. With regards to the actors, the integration of certain sociological views on the arts and culture means that interviews are biased by a sort of scholarly hyper-correction; as for the consummators, the integration of social distinction codes, linked in particular to education but also to dominant expressions, imposes a value scale which crushes certain practices and underlines others. The article uses examples of studies undertaken with artists as well as with consummators to illustrate the argument