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Love of Art

On the (Un)Diminishing Link Between Aesthetic Disposition and Social Position

Summary/Abstract: As part of the broader debate on the changing nature of the art sphere, the author raises the question of whether Poles’ degree of participation in art is still strongly connected with social position. He makes use of the categories of esthetic disposition and artistic competence in Pierre Bourdieu’s sense of the terms. He bases his conclusions on quantitative and qualitative data obtained from research into the tastes and cultural participation of Wrocław inhabitants in 2011. He analyses patterns of cultural engagement. While the general attitude toward art and knowledge of artists appears, in accord with the author’s hypothesis, to be connected with occupation, income, and education, at the same time the distinctive power of ‘high culture’ has decreased among the young generation in comparison with the older generation. This leads the author to suppose that traditional forms of high culture are playing a lesser role in the creation of social boundaries, although this does not mean the erosion of cultural capital as such but rather the emergence of new forms of culture and new socio-cultural divisions.

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