Razred in kulturne distinkcije

Članek tematizira razmerje med razredno strukturo in kulturno potrošnjo v sodobnih družbah. Obravnava pristope k razmerju med kulturo in razredom v okviru sociologije kulture, medijskih študij, kulturnih študij in študij stratifikacije ter zavrne teze o domnevnem zatonu razredne strukturiranosti kulturnih preferenc in praks. Avtorja ugotavljata, da ima razredna klasifikacija tudi v Sloveniji jasne kulturne dimenzije kljub domnevnemu zatonu distinkcijske vloge visoke kulture in vseprisotnosti popularne kulture,ki ga ugotavljajo nekatere teoretske in empirične študije. Odnos med družbenim položajem in kulturnimi praksami ter okusom je sicer kompleksen in dekodirne strategije niso enostavno funkcija ekonomsko razumljenega razrednega položaja, vendar pa je s pomočjo historično specifičnega razumevanja kulturnega kapitala tudi v družbah kjer so taksonomične meje med razredi šibke (npr. Slovenija) mogoče ugotavljati jasno ločene razredno-kulturne formacije. Argumente avtorja ilustrirata z izbranimi podatki empirične študije Kultura in razred, ki je bila izvedena z vprašalnikom na vzorcu 820 prebivalcev Ljubljane in Maribora.This article analyses the relationship between class structure and cultural consumption in modern societies. It deals with contemporary approaches to the relationship between culture and social class in the context of the sociology of culture, media studies, cultural studies and stratification studies. The article rejects the assumption that cultural preferences and practices are increasingly less likely to be structured along class lines. The authors argue that class differences still have clear cultural dimensions despite the empirically proven lessening distinction played by elite culture, and the ubiquity of popular culture. Strategies of symbolic distinction are therefore not disappearing but merely changing, yet at the same time they remain specific to the local environment. This article argues that although the relationship between social status and cultural practices and taste is complex and decoding strategies are not a simple function of an economically understood position within society, one can still find clearly defined class-cultural formations with the help of a historically specific understanding of cultural capital, even in societies where taxonomic boundaries between classes are weak (e.g. Slovenia). The authors illustrate their arguments with selected data from the Culture and Class empirical study conducted with the help of a questionnaire administered to 820 residents of Ljubljana and Maribor, the two biggest cities in Slovenia