From Jahsonic:
With all this talk on nobrow, low and high culture, maybe it’s time to define the concepts of these cultures a little better. The best effort so far defining low and high culture is the following schema by American sociologist Herbert J. Gans from his 1974 book Popular Culture and High Culture: an Analysis and Evaluation of Taste.
High culture
- Interest in creative process and symbolism
- Preference for experimentation
- Introspection preferred to action
- Accepts different levels of meaning
- Expects consideration of philosophical, psychological and social issues
Upper middle culture
- A less literary verbal culture
- Figurative and narrative art preferred, especially if illustrative of individual achievement or upward mobility
- Enjoys nineteenth-century art and opera, but not early music or contemporary art
Lower middle culture
- Form must unambiguously express meaning
- Demands conclusions
- Unresolvable conflicts not made explicit
- Interested in performers, not writers or directors
- Influenced by word-of-mouth judgement
Low culture
- No concern with abstract ideas: form must be entirely subservient to content
- Demands crude morality with dramatic demarcations, but usually limited to family or individual problems
- Performer is paramount: enjoys vicarious contact with ’stars’
- Considers ornateness attractive
-Schema adapted from Herbert J. Gans (1974) by Stephen Bayley (1991)
(Via Jahsonic)
