Distinction worldwide?: Bourdieu's theory of taste in international context

Applications of Bourdieu''s theory of taste have focused almost exclusively on French-American comparisons. This paper uses original data to identify the cultural repertoires, the level of cultural participation, and the personal qualities used in symbolic boundary formation for an international sample of young elites. The study found evidence for two domains of cultural stratification: arts activities and sports activities. Rates of participation in arts activities varied across world region but were consistently higher than arts participation found in the GSS national sample. Regional variations in personal qualities desired in friends cast new light on past comparisons; again, despite this variation, arts-related personal qualities were valued more by this sample of elites than by the GSS sample. Sports activities emerged as a major candidate for legitimate culture in the examples of upper-class cultural repertoires generated by respondents; American domination of sports culture was the only consistent regional pattern found. A major finding of this study is the disjuncture in findings among cultural repertoires, cultural participation, and symbolic boundaries, all of which have been assumed to be aspects of a single cultural stratification concept. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]