Abstract
Bourdieu (Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste. London: Routledge & Kegan, 1984) has posited that cultural tastes are formed in the home and this chapter highlights how a long exposure to parents’ cultural tastes and behaviours have shaped interviewees. Through the presentation of data extracts, illustrative of their cultural participation and taste, this research highlights interviewees’ cultural distinction. Key examples in this regard are the effortless ease with which some interviewees express their cultural taste and display their cultural distinction. A highly developed aesthetic sensibility and disposition is also apparent—one that considers culture as natural as the air they breathe. For others, their voracious cultural interests are dynamic, enthusiastic and a key part of their identity. Through lives of concerted cultivation, interviewees, young and old, demonstrate discernment and a highly developed aesthetic sensibility, often running right across the general register of culture. Some make overt disinterested statements on cultural taste and cultural forms; others quietly draw social boundaries, making implicit and quiet social judgments on others.
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Notes
- 1.
This is an acronym for Philosophy, Political Science, Economics and Sociology (P.P.E.S.) undergraduate degree programme which is modelled on Oxford’s PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) and Cambridge’s PPS (Politics, Psychology and Sociology).
- 2.
The Irish box is a musical instrument like a small accordion.
- 3.
Fleadh Cheoil is an Irish music competition run by Comhaltas Ceoltóirà Éireann. There are various stages to the competition. In Ireland there are county and provincial competitions leading to the All-Ireland Fleadh.
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McCall Magan, K. (2022). A Nation Highly Engaged. In: Cultural Participation. Palgrave Studies in Cultural Participation . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18755-1_5
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