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On Cultural Capital: Fine Tuning the Role of Barriers, Timing and Duration of Socialization, and Learning
Experiences on Highbrow Musical Participation
by
Lok See Ho
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Sociology University of Toronto
© Copyright by Lok See Ho 2012
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On Cultural Capital: Fine Tuning the Role of Barriers, Timing and
Duration of Socialization, and Learning Experiences on Highbrow
Musical Participation
Lok See Ho
Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Sociology
University of Toronto
2012
Abstract
Recent research in the sociology of culture has placed significant focus on musical taste and
practices. This research agenda has ushered an understanding of the relationship between social
class and cultural consumption, and particularly, the implications that patterns of cultural
preferences and practices have on social inequality. A frontrunner in this line of work is
Bourdieu (1984), who offers a sophisticated and useful theoretical framework—the Cultural
Capital Theory—to illuminate the role of culture and its consumption in society. Written as
three publishable papers, the chapters use empirical evidence to explore three issues surrounding
highbrow musical practices that enrich Bourdieu (1984)’s framework. The first paper (Chapter
2) examines the role of structural and personal barriers in blocking attendance to highbrow
concerts. It takes as a starting point Bourdieu (1984)’s argument that upper class individuals are
more likely to attend classical music and opera concerts than their lower class counterparts, and
questions whether these distinct patterns of participation are attributable to the different barriers
that each class faces. The second paper (Chapter 3) offers a sophisticated analysis of the impact
of socialization on highbrow concert attendance. By innovatively integrating the concepts of
timing and duration, hallmarks the Life Course Perspective, I map out the potentially dynamic
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nature of the socialization process. In doing so, I illustrate the varying implications that different
timing and duration of exposure has on later life highbrow concert participation. The last paper
(Chapter 4) investigates the process of socialization to understand what conditions present during
this crucial period in time encourage persistence in highbrow musical practices. I find that
engaging in interactions that allow one to experience positive emotional resonance, develop a
musical identity, and feel a sense of autonomy over musical decisions lead to the propensity to
remain engaged in musical activities throughout life.
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Acknowledgments
“It takes a village to raise a child” says an old cliché, and I argue that the same is true for
producing a PhD graduate in any discipline. What started as a childhood dream “to be a doctor”
became a grand, and sometimes unglamorous, project to which I—and, by association, many
others near to me--devoted six years. As a graduate student wrapped up in her own little bubble,
I rarely (if ever) openly expressed my gratitude to those very special people around me. Before
my work is done here, I shall to commit to paper my sincerest words of thanks.
Above all others, I thank my grandparents, parents, Wayne, and Uncle Kit & clan for
their enduring support for my pursuit of higher education. The PhD alone took six years, but my
family was with me from the first day I started preschool at Tung Wah Nursery School in Tai Po,
Hong Kong. Although they were at first unclear and unsure about my choice of sociology, my
loved ones never tried to steer me towards the practical (read: money-making, prestige-laden)
options of law or medical school. My family’s patience and unconditional support for my
academic choices, which (my dad reminds me) is atypical of Asian families, is the reason this
degree was a success.
Next, I express my gratitude to my committee: my dream team of Chairs. Someone told
me before I began the PhD that my enjoyment and success in the program depends largely on the
guidance I do (or do not) receive. Especially in moments of frustration, I am thankful for Shyon
Baumann, Blair Wheaton, and Ann Mullen. These super stars, who happen to be the respective
Chairs of the sociology departments at UTM, St. George, and UTSC, are accomplished and busy
academics who graciously guided me through my dissertation. I thank them for sharing their
expertise in the subject matter. I also thank them for embracing my high-strung and
(sometimes) demanding personality, while patiently doling out emotional support as needed. I
would also like to extend my deepest appreciation to my internal examiner, Julian Tanner, and
external examiner, Susan Dumais, who have taken the time to read this work. Finally, Brent
Berry deserves special acknowledgement for introducing the Survey of Public Participation in
the Arts to me in 2006. Fascinated by this survey, I was inspired to conduct my research with it.
In addition to my committee, I give thanks to particular members of the University of
Toronto sociology department at large. Eric Fong and Jeff Reitz deserve recognition for their
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mentorship and kindness; they continued to mentor me even long after I had moved away from
research in immigration and ethnicity, their areas of expertise. I also thank my entire cohort
(Sarah Knudson, Sarah Reid, Tara Fidler, Tara Hahmann, Jing Shen, Naoko Hawkins, Ellie
Hobuti and Nathan Innocente) for being there with me in Practicum, where this project was first
conceived and developed. Their support and critical feedback gave me confidence to pursue this
work for the next four years. I also owe a gigantic thank you to my Friend (Rachael Carson),
Boss (Paul Glavin), Office Mates (Shirin Montazer, Marisa Young, and Katie Stuart), and
graduate students before me (Rochelle Côté, Stella Park and Nadine Blumer) for their genuine
friendship throughout the years. Finally, I thank the Assistant to the Chair, Tina Colomvakos for
keeping me grounded with a daily evaluation of my fashion, hair, make-up, and nails in case
getting a PhD inflated my head or ego too much. Thank you, all, for making school so much fun.
Anyone who has done a graduate degree knows that the key to success is work-life
balance. My friends provided me with diversions and emotional support that allowed me to feel
refreshed (almost) every morning when I boot up my computer. I thank my best friend, Jade Vo,
for her love and unabashed criticism. No matter where she is in the world, she always makes
time to check up on me. I thank Michelle Lau for literally being there every day during the early
years of this degree. Often, I would come home from a frustrating day at work to a complete,
home-cooked Chinese meal ready for my consumption. I thank Jessica Yiu, who is a brilliant
sociologist in her own right, for her valued advice on everything from how to make a table to
present multinomial logistic data, to the personality flaws of my boyfriends, to what Chinese
soap to watch next. I tip my hat to Shivani Kaintura, who always makes time for me despite
having the hardest job in the world—raising two very young children. Ingrid Kittlaus and Krista
Banasiak deserve my sincerest thanks for being two of my first friends when I ventured alone to
Toronto for the Master’s program. Although both have long since moved away from the
department, we have always remained close as one another’s greatest cheerleaders in divergent
pursuits. Doris Chen and Kira Yeung, to whom I owe heartfelt gratitude, gave me support
during my (thankfully) brief quarter life crisis. Doris always made her magical couch available
while Kira frequently fed me nourishing meals. Rare in life are lasting friendships formed in
childhood and enduring into adulthood; I am lucky that I have such a person in my life, Patrick
Wong. Finally, I thank my sweeter half, Charles Chan, who came into my life during the messy
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middle of this degree (the part where you wonder if you have what it takes to finish) and gave me
enough love and support to last through the PhD and for the rest of my life.
I conclude by offering my sincerest gratitude to my interviewees for participating in this
project and to the Governments of Ontario and Canada for funding my studies. Without the
willingness of my interviewees to share their stories, this project would never have come to
fruition. Without the OGS and SSHRC, I would not have been able to focus on my research
while sustaining a vibrant lifestyle over the last six years. Finding interviewees and winning
scholarships seem unrelated, but they both gave me the confidence that the project that you are
about to read was a meaningful and worthwhile endeavor.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iv
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... vii
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. xi
List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xiii
List of Appendices ....................................................................................................................... xiv
Chapter 1 Introduction to the Dissertation ...................................................................................... 1
1 THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS ....................................... 4
1.1 Considering the Role of Barriers in Shaping Cultural Participation Patterns: Refining
Cultural Capital Theory ...................................................................................................... 5
1.2 Accounting for Temporal Dimensions of Socialization: Introducing the Life Course
Approach to Cultural Theory .............................................................................................. 7
1.3 Developing a Theoretical Framework to Understand Musical Persistence ........................ 8
2 OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION ................................................................................ 10
3 GOAL OF THIS DISSERTATION ......................................................................................... 11
WORKS CITED ........................................................................................................................... 13
Chapter 2 Examining the Role of Barriers in Explaining the Relationship Between Social
Class and Highbrow Musical Participation .............................................................................. 16
4 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 18
4.1 Barriers to participation .................................................................................................... 18
4.2 What is cultural capital? .................................................................................................... 21
4.3 The functions of cultural capital ....................................................................................... 23
4.4 What social factors influence cultural capital attainment? ............................................... 26
4.5 Education as a major determinant of cultural capital, and vice versa ............................... 27
4.6 The minor impact of income on cultural tastes ................................................................. 29
5 HYPOTHESES ........................................................................................................................ 30
6 DATA AND METHODS ......................................................................................................... 32
viii
6.1 Data Source ....................................................................................................................... 32
6.2 The Sample ....................................................................................................................... 33
6.3 Dependent Variable .......................................................................................................... 34
6.4 Independent Variables ...................................................................................................... 35
6.5 Control Variables .............................................................................................................. 37
6.6 Intervening Variables ........................................................................................................ 40
6.7 Methods ............................................................................................................................. 44
7 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................ 45
7.1 Class Affects Barrier Exposure ......................................................................................... 45
7.2 Class Shapes Highbrow Cultural Participation ................................................................. 48
7.3 Varying Effects of Barrier Exposure on Participation ...................................................... 51
7.4 Combined Effects of Class and Barriers on Participation ................................................ 53
8 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS.................................................................................... 57
WORKS CITED ........................................................................................................................... 66
Chapter 3 When and For How Long?: Introducing the Life Course Principles of Timing and
Duration to Understand the Impact of Musical Socialization on Highbrow Musical
Participation ............................................................................................................................. 80
9 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 81
9.1 The Bourdieusian Framework ........................................................................................... 81
9.2 Introducing the Life Course Paradigm to Cultural Research ............................................ 84
10 HYPOTHESES ........................................................................................................................ 88
10.1 Hypothesis 1: Bourdieu hypothesis ................................................................................. 88
10.2 Hypothesis 2: Life course timing hypothesis ................................................................... 89
10.3 Hypothesis 3: Life course duration hypothesis ................................................................ 89
10.4 Hypothesis 4: Own class mediation hypothesis ............................................................... 89
11 IMPLICATIONS...................................................................................................................... 90
12 DATA AND METHODS ......................................................................................................... 91
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12.1 Data Source ....................................................................................................................... 91
12.2 The Sample ....................................................................................................................... 92
12.3 Dependent Variable .......................................................................................................... 94
12.4 Independent Variable ........................................................................................................ 95
12.5 Control Variables .............................................................................................................. 99
12.6 Mediator Variables .......................................................................................................... 101
12.7 Methods ........................................................................................................................... 102
13 RESULTS .............................................................................................................................. 103
13.1 Describing the Effects of Overall Timing and Duration of Socialization on Concert
Attendance ...................................................................................................................... 103
13.2 Explaining the Effects of Individual Exposure Sequences on Concert Attendance ....... 105
13.3 Exploring the Effect of Individual Exposure Groups on Mediators ............................... 109
13.4 Specifying the Mediating Effects of Education and Income on Concert Attendance .... 111
14 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................... 113
WORKS CITED ......................................................................................................................... 118
FIGURE 1: POSSIBLE PATHWAYS FOR THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL CLASS,
TIMING OF SOCIALIZATION, AND DURATION OF SOCIALIZATION ON
HIGHBROW CONCERT ATTENDANCE ............................................................................... 130
Chapter 4 What Makes a Classical Music Lover?: Examining the Role of Socio-emotional
Resonance, Identity, and Choice in Determining Musical Persistence .................................. 131
15 LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................... 135
16 DATA AND METHODS ....................................................................................................... 138
17 PART A: SOCIO-EMOTIONAL RESONANCE ................................................................. 142
17.1 Emotional Investments in Perceptions of Ability ........................................................... 143
17.2 Emotional Connections to Other Instrumentalists .......................................................... 145
17.3 Emotions Arising from Performance .............................................................................. 148
18 PART B: IDENTITY ............................................................................................................. 152
18.1 Music as a Way of Life ................................................................................................... 153
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18.2 Music as a Part of Ethnic Identity ................................................................................... 159
18.3 Music as a Forged, Unfulfilled Parental Identity ............................................................ 165
19 PART C: CHOICE ................................................................................................................. 168
19.1 Autonomy to Start: Willful Starters ................................................................................ 169
19.2 Autonomy to Start: Forced Starters ................................................................................ 171
19.3 Autonomy to Practice: Willful Players ........................................................................... 177
19.4 Autonomy to Practice: Forced Players ........................................................................... 179
20 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS.................................................................................. 182
WORKS CITED ......................................................................................................................... 189
Chapter 5 Discussion and Conclusions ....................................................................................... 214
21 OVERVIEW OF THEMES AND CONTRIBUTIONS ........................................................ 214
21.1 Testing Barriers in the Relationship Between Class and Highbrow Musical
Participation .................................................................................................................... 214
21.2 Specifying the Impact of the Timing and Duration of Socialization on Highbrow
Musical Participation ...................................................................................................... 215
21.3 Developing Theory to Explain Musical Persistence ....................................................... 217
22 LIMITATIONS ...................................................................................................................... 218
23 FUTURE RESEARCH .......................................................................................................... 221
WORKS CITED ......................................................................................................................... 225
xi
List of Tables
FOR CHAPTER 2
Table 1a: Frequency Distribution of the Type and Combination of Highbrow Concert
Attended in the Last 12 Months ............................................................................ 34
Table 1b: Conversion of the education variable from qualitative to quantitative
categories .............................................................................................................. 36
Table 1c: Income variable categorizations ...................................................................... 37
Table 1d: Frequency Distributions of Focal Independent and Control Variables of
Study Sample, United States, 1997 ....................................................................... 38
Table 1e: Frequency Distribution of the Barriers Preventing Concert-Going in Study
Sample, Categorized by Latent Factors ................................................................ 41
Table 1f: Frequency Distribution of the Average Number of Barriers Faced,
Categorized by Latent Factor ................................................................................ 43
Table 2a: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Facing One or Two
Concert Specific Barriers Compared to None, by Education, Income, and
Control Variables .................................................................................................. 69
Table 2b: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Facing One or Two
Concert Logistic Barriers Compared to None, by Education, Income, and
Control Variables .................................................................................................. 71
Table 2c: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Facing One or Two
Personal Psychic State Barriers Compared to None, by Education, Income,
and Control Variables ........................................................................................... 72
Table 2d: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Facing One or Two
Personal Responsibility Barriers Compared to None, by Education, Income,
and Control Variables ........................................................................................... 73
Table 2e: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Facing the Health Barrier,
by Education, Income, and Control Variables ...................................................... 74
Table 3: Multinomial Logistic Regression Results: Likelihood of Attending Only
Classical Concerts, Only Opera Concerts, and Both Classical and Opera
Concerts Compared to Attending Neither Classical Nor Opera Concerts in the
Last 12 Months, by Class and Control Factors ..................................................... 75
Table 4: Likelihood of Attending Only Classical Concerts, Only Opera Concerts, and
Both Classical and Opera Concerts Compared to Attending Neither Classical
Nor Opera Concerts in the Last 12 Months, by Type of Barrier .......................... 77
xii
Table 5: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Attending Classical Only,
Opera Only, and Both Classical and Opera Compared to Neither Type of
Concert in the Last 12 Months, by Education, Income, Barrier and Control
Variables ............................................................................................................... 78
FOR CHAPTER 3
Table 1a: Frequency Distribution of the Type and Combination of Highbrow Concert
Attended in the Last 12 Months ............................................................................ 94
Table 1b: Categorization of Timing Sequences ................................................................ 98
Table 1c: Conversion of the education variable from qualitative to quantitative
categories .............................................................................................................. 99
Table 1d: Income variable categorizations ..................................................................... 101
Table 2: Types of Concerts Attended in the Last Twelve Months ................................. 122
Table 3: Raw Socialization Groups on Attendance Types ............................................. 124
Table 4: Raw Groups on Mediators ................................................................................ 126
Table 5: Exposure Groups on Attendance Types: Total Effects Only and Total Effects
with Class Mediation .......................................................................................... 128
xiii
List of Figures
FIGURE 1: POSSIBLE PATHWAYS FOR THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL CLASS,
TIMING OF SOCIALIZATION, AND DURATION OF SOCIALIZATION ON
HIGHBROW CONCERT ATTENDANCE ............................................................................... 130
xiv
List of Appendices
APPENDIX A: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE ....................................................... 196
APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW GUIDE ...................................................................................... 201
1
Chapter 1 Introduction to the Dissertation
In the last several decades, the study of musical taste and engagement has been an important
focus in the sociology of culture. As a forerunner in this area of research, Bourdieu (1984:18)
emphasizes the sociological implications of understanding musical consumption, declaring that
“nothing more clearly affirms one’s ‘class’, nothing more infallibly classifies, than tastes in
music.” Thus, music is more than a source of personal enjoyment; what musical genres people
engage in and how they do so shapes and maintains the order of a social structure that sorts
people into a social class hierarchy. Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory is the first attempt at a
comprehensive understanding of the relationship between social class position on the one hand
and musical tastes and practices on the other hand.
Before outlining the cultural capital theory, it is worthwhile to outline Bourdieu’s
conceptualization of social classes in France in the latter part of the 20th
Century, the space and
time from which his theoretical ideas emerged. Bourdieu proposes three social classes: working
class, middle class, and upper class, which can each be further divided into class fractions. More
specifically, the working class includes unskilled and skilled laborers, farmers and farm laborers.
The middle class is constituted of craftsmen, small shopkeepers, clerical and junior executives,
technicians, primary teachers, and the new petite bourgeoisie, the latter category of which itself
includes social and medical services, cultural intermediaries, art craftsmen and dealers,
secretaries and junior commercial executives. Finally, the upper class consists of executives,
engineers, professions, secondary and higher education teachers, artistic producers, and industrial
and commercial employees (see, for example, Bourdieu 1984:128).
Individual classes are defined by the total volume of capital they possess, i.e. the total
amount of “usable resources and powers—economic capital, cultural capital, and social capital”
(Bourdieu 1984:114). In general terms, the working class possesses the smallest total amounts of
these forms of capital and the upper class, the largest amount. But within classes, individual
fractions can be further distinguished from one another on the basis of the “different distributions
of their total capital” (Bourdieu 1984:114), in other words, by the variations in the volumes of
economic and cultural capital in their control, which can be symmetrical or asymmetrical to one
2
another. So, for instance, amongst the upper classes, some fractions have symmetrically high
cultural and economic capital (professions, executives, and engineers), others with
asymmetrically high cultural but lower economic capital (higher education and secondary school
teachers), and still others with asymmetrically lower cultural but high economic capital
(industrial and commercial employees) (see, for example Bourdieu 1984:128-29 for a visual
representation of classes and how they map onto the cultural and economic capital spectrum).
Understanding the distribution of economic and cultural capital amongst class fractions is
important because the different asset structure of each class fraction determines the social
reproduction strategies they will employ in order to “maintain or increase their assets” and to
“maintain or improve their position in the class structure” (Bourdieu 1984:130). Specifically,
for fractions high in economic capital, reproduction will hinge on parents’ ability to make
economic investments to secure their children’s future. For fractions high in cultural capital,
parents will depend on passing on cultural capital to ensure success in the educational system.
Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory, which has been empirically tested and supported by
his successors (e.g. DeNora 1991; DiMaggio and Mohr 1985; DiMaggio and Useem 1978)
outlines how the culturally rich fractions of the high class transmit their cultural capital to their
children as a strategy of social reproduction. From an early age, the children of upper class
parents with high cultural capital will be socialized in highbrow music. Their early musical
immersion, occurring through listening to recorded and live performances, through attending
concerts, and through learning to play an instrument, will result in an easy familiarity with
highbrow music and a deeply rooted taste for it. Conversely, lower class children, especially
those with parents possessing low levels of cultural capital, will receive little exposure to
highbrow music, and consequently, will not develop a taste for it.
Since cultural tastes and practices are ingrained in the habitus, an enduring structure that
shapes our perceptions of the social world and our possibilities within it (Markus and Ruvolo
1989 cited in Hallam 2002), these elements of cultural capital tend to remain stable throughout
life. Thus, the differential opportunities in childhood for musical socialization result in disparate
class-based preferences and practices that persist from childhood into adulthood; these patterns
have consequences for social reproduction. The culturally rich use their high cultural capital,
exemplified by their highbrow taste to earn social advantages for their children. For instance, by
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demonstrating their cultural tastes and talents, culturally rich children appeal to higher education
admissions boards and secure themselves enrollment to the most prestigious universities
(Stevens 2007). The successful conversion of cultural capital into educational capital reproduces
their high position in the social hierarchy. In contrast, lower class children deprived of early
immersion in music are unable to develop their cultural capital to the extent of their upper class
counterparts. Unlike the culturally rich, they cannot increase their appeal to university
admissions offices by virtue of their cultural savoir-faire. They are, thus, unable to use
demonstrated high capital as a way to secure social advantages and upward mobility.
Because of the rigid differences in cultural tastes across the classes and the implications
they have for social reproduction, tastes become a legitimate social marker, the basis upon which
symbolic boundaries can be drawn (Lamont and Molner 2002:168) between the classes. A
symbolic boundary allows “social actors to categorize objects, people, practices, and even time
and space” for the purpose of “separating people into groups.” So, by using their exclusive
jurisdiction over highbrow music, the higher classes maintain their elite position and distinguish
themselves from those below them in the class hierarchy.
Recently, researchers (Fisher and Preece 2003; Peterson and Kern 1996) have challenged
cultural capital theory by proposing the omnivorousness theory, arguing that musical
consumption is beginning to blur across social class boundaries. While elites used to consume
classical music exclusively, they now enjoy both high and low class genres, supplementing
outings to the symphony with pop and rock shows. The lower classes, traditionally more
univorous in their musical tastes, are also slowly developing a preference for highbrow music
(Peterson and Rossman 2006). Indeed, the Survey of Participation in the Arts 1997 shows that
even those in the low income bracket of $10 000-20 000 participate in classical music at a rate of
nearly 10%. Thus, omnivore theorists argue that since class-based differences in genre
preferences and consumption are dissipating, musical taste can no longer serve as symbolic
boundary between the classes. However, sociologists such as Johnston and Baumann (2007:197)
have recently argued that rather than eroding into nonexistence, “boundaries between legitimate
and illegitimate culture are redrawn in new, complex ways.” To replace boundaries based on
genre preferences, higher classes may be relying on new symbolic boundaries to distinguish
themselves from their lower class counterparts. Unfortunately, research in these areas is
4
currently underdeveloped (for a first attempt at understanding voraciousness as a boundary, see
Katz-Gerro 2007). I venture that although a symbolic boundary may no longer be solely based
on exclusive tastes across the classes, other aspects of music continue to define boundaries. That
higher classes distinguish themselves by preferring more musical genres than the lower classes
suggests that diversity of tastes has become the new social marker. Thus, the social boundary
has shifted from being defined on the basis of distinctive tastes to being drawn on the basis of
number of genres preferred.
In short, cultural capital theory argues that class-based variations in musical preferences
create and maintain symbolic boundaries, while omnivorousness theory suggests that these class-
based preferences are actually beginning to blur, and so boundaries are eroding. Despite these
fundamental differences in premise, at heart, the crux of the analysis for both theories is that
symbolic boundaries are formed on the basis of music and they have implications on social
structure and relationships between the social classes. Using the standpoint of cultural capital
theory as a point of departure, and thus, taking for granted that music continues to create and
maintain symbolic boundaries despite some recent signs of the blurring of tastes across classes,
the focus of this dissertation is to examine the factors and processes shaping highbrow musical
consumption. Understanding the development of highbrow tastes and practices provides us with
a firmer grasp of the content of these symbolic boundaries, which is of concern to both the
cultural capital theory and omnivorous theory camps. Specifically, I focus on how the barriers to
participation, the timing and duration of socialization, and the inter-subjective experiences of
learning an instrument influence highbrow musical consumption. In theorizing about these
processes, this dissertation enriches current sociological understanding of the relationship
between personal cultural practices and social structure, and the implications they have on each
other.
1 THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
While sociology has made some headway in the study of music as an expression of culture, some
blind spots persist. First, the relationship between class and highbrow musical consumption has
5
thus far been assumed to be a direct one, with no attention to the possibility of mediating factors.
Theorizing and testing potential mediators would allow us to gain a better understanding of the
mechanisms, if any, through which the effect of class on highbrow musical engagement is
channeled. Another gap in research is the tendency to conceptualize socialization in highbrow
music as a time-bound process that occurs primarily in childhood. The problem with this
approach is that socialization does not always occur in childhood nor is it necessarily continuous.
Finally, the quantitative nature of most empirical studies conceptualizes musical socialization
and participation as dichotomous variables; these phenomena are seen as either present or absent
in the individual’s life. Scant effort has been made to understand the nuances of socialization,
including individual subjective experiences with musical engagement.
This dissertation makes several contributions to address these research fissures. Three
main research questions guide my inquiry, each addressed by one of the substantive chapters: 1.
Acknowledging that highbrow musical participation is more prevalent in the higher social classes
than the lower social classes, to what degree is this variation attributable to the class-based
differential exposure to barriers? I test for the effect of a variety of personal and structural
barriers on mediating the relationship between class and participation. 2. Coming from the
previously neglected standpoint that musical socialization is a dynamic process that can begin,
end and restart at any time, what effects do the temporal dimensions of the timing and duration
of music lessons have on later life highbrow musical participation? 3. Granted that many people
who are offered music lessons in childhood and/or adolescence disengage from highbrow music
participation in later life (Cooper 2001), what social factors encourage persistence in highbrow
musical consumption? Outlined below are the specific theoretical and methodological
contributions of this dissertation.
1.1 Considering the Role of Barriers in Shaping Cultural Participation Patterns: Refining Cultural Capital Theory
Bourdieu (1984) provides, to date, the most comprehensive theoretical framework to explain
class-based variations in cultural participation. He argues that education, income, occupation,
gender, and age have a combined effect on shaping cultural consumption, including individual
musical tastes and practices. Specifically, he puts forth the argument that people of higher
classes are more engaged with highbrow music such as opera and classical genres than their
6
lower class counterparts, and this engagement is expressed through listening to the radio or
recordings, attending concerts, and playing one or more instruments. Corroborating Bourdieu’s
arguments are scores of empirical studies (see, for example, North and Hargreaves 2007; Lopez
Sintas and Katz-Gerro 2005; Bryson 1997; Marsden et al. 1984), suggesting that higher class
individuals have more cultural capital, and therefore, an increased likelihood of consuming
highbrow culture. While Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory is well-developed and supported, one
possible oversight is its assumption that the relationship between class and cultural capital on the
one hand and cultural consumption on the other hand is direct. More specifically, the theory is
silent on the possibility that there may be factors that mediate this relationship. In this
dissertation, I consider just one of these possible mediators: barriers to highbrow concert
attendance. I question whether or not the effect of class on consumption is channeled through
barriers, that is, whether high class people with high cultural capital are more likely to attend
highbrow concerts than lower class people because they face fewer barriers to concert
attendance. I examine the effects of personal and structural barriers, comparing and contrasting
their effects. Personal barriers refer to personal difficulties specific to individuals themselves
that prevent them from attending highbrow concerts. The six that I explore are being unable to
afford tickets, feeling uncomfortable at events, finding no one to attend events with, suffering
from poor health, having childcare obligations, and lacking time for participation. Conversely,
structural barriers are obstacles presented by the concert itself that prevent people from
attending. The five examined are: tickets are sold out, performances are infrequent or are of poor
quality, and venues are in unsafe or in inconvenient locations.
Investigating the role of barriers as a possible mediator in the relationship between social
class and cultural participation offers a possible refinement of existing cultural theory. Knowing
whether or not differential exposure to barriers explains the increased likelihood of higher
classes to consume highbrow music highlights whether we should account for barriers in existing
cultural capital theory. This endeavor also invites the future consideration of other factors
through which the effect of social class on cultural consumption could potentially be channeled.
7
1.2 Accounting for Temporal Dimensions of Socialization: Introducing the Life Course Approach to Cultural Theory
As mentioned above, Bourdieu’s (1984) theoretical framework explains how cultural tastes are
acquired, and what the possession of these tastes mean for the creation and maintenance of
symbolic boundaries between the social classes. At the crux of Bourdieu’s argument is the idea
that cultural tastes are developed in childhood and engrained in the habitus, which is constituted
of a taken-for-granted “matrix of perceptions, appreciations, and actions” (Bourdieu 1977:92). A
defining feature of the habitus is its endurance throughout life, serving as a lens through which
people understand and act towards culture in a myriad of social contexts (Harker 1984; Bidet
1979; Reay 2004). Following this line of argumentation, high class children who were immersed
in highbrow music from a young age through listening to classical music in the home or at
concerts, watching their parents play instruments, and/or learning to play music themselves will
have, etched in their habitus, an appreciation for highbrow music that carries over into
adulthood. That is, in later life, they will continue to enjoy highbrow music and will manifest
their appreciation for it by attending classical and opera concerts on a regular basis. Conversely,
lower class individuals for whom classical music played a minimal role in their childhood will
not fully develop a taste for it. A habitus formed in childhood devoid of an understanding and
appreciation of highbrow music will endure through adulthood, informing musical choices. As a
result, instead of engaging with classical music and opera like their higher class counterparts,
these lower class individuals will prefer lower brow genres such as pop and rock.
Although Bourdieu’s theoretical framework was comprehensive, he overlooked the
temporal dimension of socialization—namely the timing and duration of lessons. Consideration
of these two factors allows us to acknowledge the dynamic nature of the socialization process,
which can begin, end, and restart at any time. Granted, Bourdieu discusses the difference
between “the domestic learning and the scholastic learning of culture” (Bourdieu 1984:74); the
former, superior type, refers to immersion in high culture that occurs in high class homes and the
latter, inferior type, describes pedantic socialization in high culture that occurs in schools. The
mention of this distinction suggests an attempt to differentiate early from later onset of
socialization. However, Bourdieu does not articulate how the separate but related effects of
timing and duration of socialization shapes tastes and practices. Because timing and duration are
8
not formally considered, the possibility that the socialization process can be continuous or
discontinuous, and can occur at any point in the life course, could not be theorized.
In order to investigate the role of these temporal dimensions of socialization as individual
and interacting effects shaping later life highbrow cultural participation, I introduce principles
from the life course approach to revitalize the current cultural theory. Developed by Glen Elder
(see, for example, Elder 2003), the life course approach is a theoretical orientation that considers
individuals’ roles and experiences from birth to death, with a particular emphasis on how their
lives are connected to one another and to the social context. Emphasized in the orientation is
individual agency; that is, the notion that individuals can and do make decisions that impact the
trajectory of their life courses, albeit within a defined social structure. Adopting these principles
allows us to consider how, within the opportunities and confines of a specific social context,
individuals make decisions to begin or end music lessons throughout their lives. This approach
allows for the consideration of how the temporal dimensions of socialization impact later life
highbrow cultural consumption. As far as I know, the convergence of the life course approach
with Bourdieu’s cultural theory has never been attempted.
1.3 Developing a Theoretical Framework to Understand Musical Persistence
In the last twenty years, sociologists and ethnomusicologists have made some pivotal
contributions to the understanding of musical socialization. Most of these studies have focused
on who engages with music lessons and how they come to the decision to do so. The former
group of studies builds directly on Bourdieu’s work and is generally quantitative in method,
featuring descriptive and regression analyses demonstrating that members of higher social
classes are more likely than their lower class counterparts to be offered socialization
opportunities (e.g. Manturzewska 1990). The latter group of studies is usually qualitative, based
on interviews with individuals, which delve specifically into the reasons why they initially began
formal training in music. The findings show that adult beginners have a very different set of
reasons for starting lessons than individuals who learned to play as children. While adult
beginners cite personal pleasure and skill development as the major reasons for enrolling in
lessons, young beginners typically began lessons because their parents made this decision for
them. Parents typically rationalize that a musical background would improve their children’s
9
academic performance and chances of university admission (Louie 2004; Dai and Shader 2001).
Complementing these descriptive studies on the initiation of lessons are a subsidiary of works
that have explored the persistence of musical engagement beyond initial exposure. Why does
participation carry over into adulthood for some people but not for many others? Exploring
some of the factors encouraging and discouraging persistence is the focus of these studies.
Although research on persistence has broadened our knowledge about the possible
trajectories of socialization after its initiation, they are not theoretically-anchored and do not
build on one another in a cohesive way. These twin shortfalls make it difficult to interpret or
abstract the results. Most of the works on persistence has taken a mechanical approach, whereby
the author lists several factors to explain why people persist with music lessons (e.g. Howe and
Sloboda 1991; Ho and Chong 2010) or why they drop out (e.g. Sloboda 2001). The majority of
these studies rely solely on respondents’ self-identified reasons for continuation or termination
(e.g. Griffin 2009; Sloboda 2001). This approach allows us to understand how respondents
rationalize their choice to carry on or end musical participation, but disarms us from
independently generating a set of predictive explanations that can be abstracted beyond the case-
at-hand to illuminate patterns of socialization occurring in other social contexts.
A thorough understanding of musical persistence requires the development of a
theoretical framework that takes into account the social context and embedded social
interactions, which work together to frame and shape the socialization experience. Using data
from in-depth interviews, I abstract self-identified reasons for persistence or drop out into three
abstract factors: emotional resonance, identity, and choice. I argue that individual experience
with each of these factors during the socialization process influences decisions about continuing
or discontinuing their lessons, as well as current attitudes and practices vis-à-vis highbrow
music. Generating a theoretical framework to make sense of individual musical trajectories is a
first attempt at developing a theory to explain musical persistence.
10
2 OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION
This dissertation draws on quantitative survey data from the US Survey of Public Participation in
the Arts published in 1997 and qualitative in-depth interview data that I conducted in Toronto in
2010-11. The piece in its entirety includes three independently publishable papers and the
present common introductory chapter. Each of these papers can be considered independent
projects, but together, they capture a picture of musical participation by exploring key themes
such the barriers to musical participation, the temporal considerations of socialization, and the
decision to persist with musical engagement. Using quantitative data, the first paper questions
the extent to which personal and structural barriers prevent people from attending highbrow
musical concerts. It suggests that barriers do not mediate the relationship between class and
highbrow musical participation, and that high class membership either has a direct effect on
highbrow concert attendance or that its effect is channeled through another, yet unspecified,
factor. With the same dataset, the second paper tests another set of possible mediators of the
relationship between class and highbrow musical participation, the temporal dimensions of
socialization. Specifically, it asks whether high class individuals’ tendency to consume
highbrow music is attributable to these individuals’ increased likelihood to be socialized in
music early in life. Furthering this argument, this paper examines whether the relationship
between the timing of socialization and consumption is, itself, mediated by one’s own social
class independent of parents’ class. In developing this argument, this paper introduces, for the
first time, principles of the life course paradigm into cultural theory as conceptualized by
Bourdieu, and empirically tests these two approaches against one another. The final paper draws
on 21 in-depth qualitative interviews to illuminate some additional aspects of musical
participation that could not be adequately addressed with the quantitative dataset. In particular, it
explores how the inter-subjective experiences of musical participation shape individual decisions
to persist or discontinue with musical training and engagement. The findings account for how
socio-emotional resonance, identity, and choice—shaped through individuals’ interactions with
significant others during initial musical socialization—work together to determine musical
persistence in later life.
11
3 GOAL OF THIS DISSERTATION
Two main goals were at the helm of this research. First, this paper offers rare insight into the
factors that shape participation in highbrow music. An investigation into this social activity is
important because most people recognize the social value of highbrow music, regardless of
whether or not they enjoy it. For instance, in a survey cited in the American Music Conference
1997, 90% of Americans believe that all schools should offer instrumental music training in the
curriculum (Cooper 2001). Furthermore, many people have had some exposure to this social
activity at some point in their lives, most commonly through public school music classes that
have a decidedly classical focus (Sloboda 2001; Griffin 2009; Lamont et al. 2003) or, amongst
the more privileged, through private music lessons (Manturzewska 1990; Cooper 2001). But
despite both the social value placed on highbrow music and the pervasiveness of its exposure,
disengagement from classical music in adulthood is a common occurrence. Researchers have
found that many who take lessons drop out of lessons by adolescence (Cooper 2001; Lawrence
and Dachinger 1967). Complementary to this trend, DiMaggio and Mukhtar (2004) offer
evidence for a decline in highbrow concert attendance in recent years. Untangling this social
paradox, my dissertation explores the role of barriers, temporal factors of socialization, and
experiences with socialization on shaping attitudes towards and engagement with highbrow
music. In doing so, it addresses one of the greater goals of sociology, which is to demonstrate
how social structures shape personal practices, and vice versa. By exploring how micro-level
interactions influence broader cultural practices and how macro-level constraints determine
individual musical participation, this dissertation highlights the tensions between the macro and
micro levels of society in shaping social phenomena.
Second, while the targeted audience of this piece is cultural sociologists and
ethnomusicologists, the findings can be instructional to members of the general public who are
interested in fostering music appreciation in themselves or in others. The dissertation offers
some guidelines on the conditions that facilitate lifelong musical participation, which parents and
music educators will find useful. For instance, these groups will benefit from knowing that
offering lessons later in childhood, giving children autonomy over musical decisions, and
providing emotional support will result in a higher likelihood of musical appreciation and
persistence. Thus, the aims of this dissertation are to serve as a resource for cultivating highbrow
12
musical appreciation and, more importantly, to make a theoretical and empirical contribution to
the sociological literature on cultural practices.
13
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Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Translated by
Richard Nice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bryson, Bethany. 1997. “What about the univores? Musical dislikes and group-based identity
construction among Americans with low levels of education.” Poetics 25:141-56
Cooper, Thelma L. 2001. “Adults’ Perceptions of Piano Study: Achievements and
Experiences.” Journal of Research in Music Education 49.2:156-68.
Dai, David Y. and R. Schader. 2001. “Issues in the Development of Individuals with Gifts and
Talents: Parents’ Reasons and Motivations for Supporting Their Child’s Music Training.”
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DeNora, Tia. 1991. “Musical Patronage and Social Change in Beethoven’s Vienna.” American
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DiMaggio, Paul and T. Mukhtar. 2004. “Arts Participation as cultural capital in the United
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DiMaggio, Paul and J. Mohr. 1985. “Cultural Capital, Educational Attainment, and Marital
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DiMaggio, Paul and M. Useem. 1978. “Social Class and Arts Consumption: The Origins and
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Shanahan. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
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Fisher, Timothy C.G. and Stephen B. Preece. 2003. “Evolution, extinction, or status quo?
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Griffin, Shelly M. 2009. “Listening to children’s music perspectives: in- and out-of-school
thoughts.” Research Studies in Music Education 31.2:161-77.
Ho, Pauline S.K. and S.N.Y. Chong. 2010. “The talent development of a musically gifted
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Hallam, Susan. 2002. “Musical Motivation: Towards a model synthesizing the research.”
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Howe, Michael and J.A. Sloboda. 1991a. “Young Musicians’ Accounts of Significant Influences
in their Early Lives. 1. Family and the Musical Background.” British Journal of Music
Education 8:39-52.
Lamont, Alexandra, D.J. Hargreaves, N.A. Marshall and M. Tarrant. 2003. “Young people’s
music in and out of school.” British Journal of Music Education 20.3:229-41.
Lawrence, Sidney J. and N. Dachinger. 1967. “Factors Relating to Carryover of Music Training
into Adult Life.” Journal of Research in Music Education 15.1: 23-31.
López Sintas, Jordi and T. Katz-Gerro. 2005. “From exclusive to inclusive elitists and further:
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33:299-319.
Louie, Vivian S. 2004. Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education, and Opportunity among
Chinese Americans. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.
Manturzewska, Maria. 1990. “A Biographical Study of the Life-Span Development of
Professional Musicians.” Psychology of Music 18:112-39.
Marsden, Peter V., J.S. Reed, M.D. Kennedy, and K.M. Stinson. 1982. “American Regional
Cultures and Differences in Leisure Time Activities.” Social Forces 60.4:1023-49.
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North, Adrian C. and David J. Hargreaves (2007). “Lifestyle correlates of musical preference: 2.
Media, leisure time, and music.” Psychology of Music 35, 179-200.
Peterson, Richard A. and Roger.M. Kern. 1996. “Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to
Omnivore” American Sociological Review 61:900-07.
Peterson, Richard A. and Gabriel Rossman. 2008. “Changing arts audiences: capitalizing on
omnivorousness.” Pp. 307-42 in Engaging Art: The Next Great Transformation of America’s
Cultural Life, edited by S. Tepper and B. Ivey. New York: Routledge.
Reay, Diane. “It’s all becoming a habitus: beyond the habitual use of habitus in educational
research.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 25.4:431-44.
Sloboda, John A. 2001. “Emotion, Functionality and the Everyday Experience of Music: where
does music education fit?” Music Education Research 3.2:243-53.
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Consumers.” European Sociological Review 23:123-37.
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Chapter 2 Examining the Role of Barriers in Explaining the Relationship
Between Social Class and Highbrow Musical Participation
What determines whether or not someone will attend cultural events? Similarly, what influences
which types of cultural events someone will attend? Common wisdom holds that our tastes
determine our cultural choices. Both theoretical writings (Bourdieu 1984) and empirical work
(see, for example, North and Hargreaves 2007; Lopez Sintas and Katz-Gerro 2005; Bryson 1997;
Marsden et al. 1984) in the sociology of culture have suggested that tastes, in turn, are influenced
by level of education, income, age, and gender. These scholars generally agree that those with
more education have higher cultural capital, which translates to a greater likelihood of preferring
and engaging in highbrow arts and leisure activities such as attending classical and opera
concerts, playing a classical instrument, visiting high art galleries, and enjoying ballet. The
wealth of previous findings have been important in broadening our knowledge about how social
position influences cultural preference and participation. However, neglected is the possibility
that intervening factors can complicate this relationship. For instance, although scholars have
long established the link between social class and cultural participation (Bourdieu 1984;
DiMaggio 1982), untapped is the role that barriers may play in mediating this association.
Examining how social class influences the types of barriers people face, and how these barriers
in turn affect cultural participation is the goal of this paper.
Many types of barriers exist; some are personal obstacles while others are related to the
cultural event itself. Personal barriers include being unable to afford tickets, feeling
uncomfortable at events, finding no one to attend events with, suffering from poor health,
shouldering childcare obligations, and having no time for participation. Cultural events
themselves can also create obstacles when tickets sell out, when performances are infrequent or
of poor quality, and when venues are in unsafe or inconvenient locations. Previous research has
yet to consider the role of barriers in producing variations in the expression of cultural capital
across the social classes, specifically, in terms of cultural preferences and/or behaviours. Is it
possible that elites, who have greater economic, social, and cultural capital than their lower class
17
counterparts, face fewer barriers? As a result, are elites more readily able to participate in
cultural events? Or, are barriers irrelevant to class variations in cultural behaviours, meaning
that the effect of class on highbrow participation occurs directly or channels through an entirely
different and unspecified source?
Examining the role of barriers in mediating the relationship between social class and
cultural capital on the one hand, and cultural involvement on the other hand, is important
because it improves our understanding of how cultural capital works. In the grander scheme of
sociology as a discipline, this project is worthwhile because cultural capital is intimately related
to social stratification. Previous research from three sub-strands of the field delineates this
pivotal relationship. Bourdieu (1984)’s cultural capital theory, empirically tested by successors
such as DeNora (1991), argues that the higher classes’ exclusive practice of socializing their
children in classical music enables these offspring to maintain their elite position and reinforce
social boundaries in the future. Musical knowledge serves as a symbolic boundary (Lamont and
Molner 2002:168) that allows “social actors to categorize objects, people, practices, and even
time and space” for the purpose of “separating people into groups.” Taking a more optimistic
view, other researchers of the social mobility tradition have proposed that even if lower class
people did not have the privilege of early cultural socialization, participation in later life can
advance their educational attainment and social status (Aschaffenburg and Maas 1997;
DiMaggio 1982a). Middle class children could use their musical knowledge to infiltrate elite
circles and eventually achieve higher social positions than their parents. Recently, researchers
(Fisher and Preece 2003; Peterson and Kern 1996) have challenged these earlier theories with the
omnivorous theory, arguing that rather than dividing people of different socioeconomic
backgrounds, music blurs social class boundaries. While elites used to listen exclusively to
classical music, they now enjoy both high and low class genres (Peterson and Rossman 2008).
However, even as omnivorousness blurs some boundaries, new boundaries become salient
(Johnston and Baumann 2007). For instance, although elites may now be listening to popular
music, they may continue to distinguish themselves by being selective about the particular artists
(e.g. Norah Jones versus Britney Spears) they enjoy and the concert venues (a concert hall versus
a seedy bar) they frequent. These sub-strands of research demonstrate the intricate link between
cultural capital and stratification. The present research, which delves into how barriers affect the
18
expression of cultural capital across social classes, will develop our knowledge of how culture
produces and reinforces social stratification.
Using the 1997 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, this study explores the extent
to which the different classes’ varied exposure to barriers explains their differential rates of
highbrow music concert attendance. To set the stage, I begin with a literature review on the state
of cultural capital research.
4 LITERATURE REVIEW
4.1 Barriers to participation
A literature review of the field of highbrow cultural participation shows that researchers have
paid minimal attention to the notion of barriers, despite its potential in mediating the relationship
between class and artistic involvement. Convinced of the theoretical relevance of barriers, I
broadened my scope of research and examined the lifestyles and leisure literature for clues on
how barriers function to prevent behavioral outcomes. Reviewing government surveys on
leisure behaviour in France, Hantrais (1986) makes two arguments pertinent to my current
research. First, she suggests that social origin impacts people’s time use, expectations of leisure
activities, and access to leisure facilities. In other words, people’s class positions determine
whether or not, and to what extent, they face barriers to participation in leisure activities. People
of lower social strata have less time to spend on leisure activities and have more difficulty
accessing places of leisure than their upper class counterparts. They are also less likely to expect
leisure as part of everyday life rather than as an aspect of holidays only. These barriers to leisure
participation leads Hantrais (1986) to conclude that lower class laborers are “resigned to poor
quality leisure”, while white collar workers express “satisfaction both with their work and their
leisure” (130). Second, Hantrais (1986) illuminates that the likelihood of facing barriers to
quality leisure is contingent upon gender. She argues that young women, irrespective of their
mothering status, have richer leisure lives than their older counterparts. French governmental
policies since the 1960s, (e.g. childcare provisions) have encouraged these young working
women to enjoy quality leisure time outside of their work and home lives. In contrast, older
19
French women who tended not to have careers were not privy to these policies that encouraged
leisure away from domestic duties. I examine the roles of social origin and gender on facing
barriers to highbrow musical participation.
Since research on the barriers to highbrow musical participation is sparse, I again
examined literature in lifestyles and leisure in order to understand how the notion of barriers is
conceptualized and theorized. Looking at sports participation, several theoretical parallels to
musical participation surfaced. First, the literature corroborates Hantrais (1986)’s argument that
social origin affects the intensity and types of barriers that people face; this is a theoretical notion
that could be translatable to highbrow musical participation. For instance, Skille et al. (2006)
argues that although most people participate in organized sport during the childhood and
adolescent years, many lower class individuals and women drop out of these activities by high
school. Examining physical activity in Australia, Cortis (2009) shows that the trend of low
sports participation among females extends into adulthood, especially among racial and cultural
minorities. These two studies demonstrate the extent to which certain groups, by virtue of their
social origin, are prone to experiencing obstacles to sports participation.
Second, a review of the sports literature was useful in developing a conceptual
framework to understanding the different types of barriers that people can face. All of the
authors mention barriers to access as one of the key factors preventing participation. The most
commonly cited problems of access are related to time and money. For instance, one of the
reasons why lower class Norwegian youth drop out of conventional sports is because their
parents can neither afford program fees nor adhere to rigid training schedules (Skille 2006).
Similarly, minority women in Australia cite the lack of time and money as reasons barring them
from greater physical participation (Cortis 2009). While time and money barriers are proven to
prevent sports participation, they may also work to obstruct other types of activities such as
highbrow musical concert attendance. I plan to test these and other barriers in this paper.
Sports scholars highlight a second category of barriers, those related to responses based
on beliefs and cultural values ingrained in the habitus. Certain groups of people restrain or
reduce their exercise regime because they feel uneasy about some aspect of physical activity.
Discomfort towards sports participation can stem from one’s own value system, generated from
20
personal beliefs about the meaning of sports in one’s life and the appropriate presentation of self.
For instance, Cortis (2009) explains that one of the main reasons why the Indian, Japanese,
Italian, Iraqi, and Afghan participants in her sample have low involvement in sports is because
these women come from cultures where sports are devalued. Growing up in their home
countries, this group of women has adopted the traditional belief that sports are a frivolous aspect
of life, rather than an activity that is vital to health and well-being. Thus, it is unsurprising that
these women do not prioritize sports in their current lives. Low participation is also attributable
to these minority women’s ideas of how they should physically present themselves to the world.
Some Muslim, Indian, and Christian women explain that the dress codes required in some sports
are incompatible with their accustomed way of dress. Sports such as swimming necessitate more
revealing uniforms, which certain groups of women feel uncomfortable wearing. Therefore,
these women may avoid participation in these sports.
These two aspects of personal discomfort that obstruct sports involvement also militate
against highbrow music participation. For instance, certain socio-economic or cultural groups
may not place high value on classical or opera music. These groups may not see an importance
in attending these types of concerts. Amongst those who do attempt to participate, certain
aspects about etiquette may be unfamiliar and off-putting. For example, opera goers tend to
dress impeccably at concerts. Some neophytes, especially those of lower class origin, may find
this practice alone too expensive or socially awkward; as a result, they may avoid participation.
Discomfort towards sports participation can also originate from sources outside the self.
As in the realm of highbrow music, sports as a field can be a site of exclusion. In order to
participate, people have to conform to certain norms, which sometimes impede diversity.
Sometimes, dominant groups use sports participation as a way to draw group boundaries against
certain groups; in and out groups are established on the basis of who is and is not allowed to
participate in particular sports. The sports literature highlights the role of racism from other
players in excluding the participation of visible minority groups. Cortis (2009)’s describes
incidences of explicit and implicit racism. One black girl explains that her white peers will make
a point of not passing her the ball, thereby explicitly ostracizing her from the game. An Indian
woman highlights that sometimes, racism is more implicit. Although no one stopped her from
joining the cricket team, she sensed that her new team mates were hesitant.
21
Research in highbrow music shows that, in contrast to the realm of sports, explicit racism
is not one of primary mechanisms through which dominant groups draw boundaries against
subordinated groups (e.g. Bourdieu 1984 and his successors do not consider the processes of
racism). However, the latent process of exclusion is just as valid a barrier against highbrow
musical concert attendance as it is against sports involvement. While exclusion is manifested
through racism in the sports field, this same process occurs through the control of musical
content and production in the music hall. DiMaggio (1982)’s study of the 19th
Century Boston
Symphony Orchestra shows how elites monopolized all aspects of the orchestra, from funding to
the selection of musicians and performance pieces. Although no explicit rule barred the
involvement of lower class individuals in these concerts, the fact that elites seized complete
control of the concert hall was a definite indication that non-elites were unwelcome on the
executive boards. Even as audience members, non-elites would have felt shunned. To lower
class people who wanted to venture into the highbrow musical realm, these implicit messages of
exclusiveness were barriers against participation.
4.2 What is cultural capital?
Previous work in the sociology of culture examines how cultural capital, which varies by class,
influences patterns of cultural consumption. However, neglected from this analysis is the role
that intervening factors may have in producing variations in the types of culture people are
interested and engage in. The present paper examines how barriers as an intervening factor
might mediate the relationship between cultural capital and cultural consumption. In order to
garner a better understanding of the theoretical starting point, I first present a brief review of the
literature.
The concept of cultural capital originates from Pierre Bourdieu’s extensive writings. He
notably distinguishes three types of cultural capital (Bourdieu 1986): embodied, objectified, and
institutionalized. First, embodied capital refers to “a set of generic transposable characteristics—
dispositions, skills, sensibilities, embodied knowledges concerning the body, beauty, creativity,
individuality, achievement and so on—that together compose the habitus of cultural elites” (Holt
1997:96-97). In short, embodied capital constitutes those intangible dispositions that allow
22
people to understand, interpret, and appreciate culture. Bourdieu (1984:86) argues that “the
transmission of cultural capital is no doubt the best hidden form of hereditary transmission of
capital”. Children seamlessly and unconsciously absorb cultural capital from their parents and
use it throughout their lives. Whenever one enters cultural experiences or beholds cultural
objects, he or she will use as an interpretive lens the embodied cultural capital inculcated in
childhood. The main stipulation for earning cultural capital is the freedom from worrying about
economic necessities, which affords the individual time away from paid labour to experience
culture at leisure. The satisfaction of this condition occurs most easily in higher class families.
Since families are the source of cultural capital transmission, it follows that the offspring of the
higher classes tend to earn more cultural capital than their lower class counterparts.
Second, objectified cultural capital include those “material objects and media, such as
writings, paintings, monuments, instruments, etc., [that are] transmissible in [their] materiality”
(Bourdieu 1986:246). Even though cultural objects are transmissible, physical ownership of
objects does not necessarily enable people to freely appropriate and employ them to their
intended potential. Full appreciation and usage is only available to those who possess embodied
cultural capital. For instance, one may inherit a grand piano and thus possess a valuable cultural
object. But without the embodied cultural capital of knowing how to play the piano, the person
cannot exploit the piano as a means for interpreting and composing music. Contrary to popular
perception, objectified cultural capital is not exclusive to fine art objects like pianos. As Holt
(1997) suggests, American elites find pleasure in activities such as interior design, vacations,
fashions, and sport; these are all arenas outside of the high art realm that provide objects on
which to practice discriminating taste. For example, both equestrianism and hockey are sports,
but participation in the former suggests refined, distinguished, and highbrow taste much more so
than the latter. Thus, many activities and material items could become cultural objects. In order
to achieve cultural object status, agents must invest in and appropriate that item, using it as a
stake in the struggles between social classes. In other words, the value of the cultural object rests
on the eagerness of social classes to maintain their exclusive access to and enjoyment of it. One
such example is abstract art by Jackson Pollock, many pieces of which elite members exclusively
and privately own. The worth of a Pollock painting as objectified cultural capital lies in people’s
willingness to struggle over and attain it (Van Alphen 2008). If people stopped using Pollocks as
23
a stake for struggles, it would become worthless as a cultural object and be cast aside as a canvas
of splattered paint.
Finally, cultural capital in the institutionalized state refers specifically to educational
qualifications “confer[ring] on its holder a conventional, constant, legally guaranteed value with
respect to culture” (Bourdieu 1986:248). Having institutionalized capital means that one does
not have to continually prove his or her social worth to others; people will widely recognize that
the holder possesses cultural capital. Institutionalized capital has two important usages. First, it
renders possible the comparison between two or more people holding the same institutionalized
capital. For instance, in a hiring situation, an employer can compare the merits of two candidates
with the same educational degree. Second, institutionalized capital allows people to convert
cultural capital into economic capital, thereby establishing the value of their cultural capital.
Again, this situation is apparent when people invest in university degrees and secure themselves
well-paying jobs. Although I outline the three types of cultural capital, the current study will
only focus on the first two types, embodied and objectified capital, exemplified by highbrow
music concert attendance.
4.3 The functions of cultural capital
Having defined cultural capital, I now explore some of its social purposes. First, people use
cultural capital as a way to enhance cohesion with others in the same social class. Through
collective participation in arts events, people of the same social class establish and maintain
social ties to one another (DiMaggio and Useem 1978). These networks, in the form of kinships,
friendships, and work partnerships coheres the class by necessitating frequent interaction and
association. Even in a situation where there is no direct contact among class members, a sense of
belonging can develop. If one enjoys a certain type of art and is aware that others from a certain
social class shares the same interests, one can feel a sense of solidarity with that class and begin
to identify with it. Thus, artistic interests, tastes, and practices define and intensify group
membership.
24
Related to the function of group cohesion, cultural capital is also useful for social
exclusion. As mentioned, people of the same social class use their shared artistic tastes to
solidify in-group membership. But this practice means that those who do not share the same
tastes are consequently excluded from the group. Thus, artistic taste is a powerful tool with
which people draw symbolic boundaries, classifying themselves and others into separate social
classes. Bourdieu (1984) famously states that:
…nothing more clearly affirms one’s ‘class’, nothing more infallibly classifies, than
tastes in music. This is of course because, by virtue of the rarity of the conditions
acquiring the corresponding dispositions, there is no more ‘classificatory’ practice than
concert-going or playing a ‘noble’ instrument (activities which, other things being equal,
are less widespread than theatre-going, museum-going or even visits to modern-art
galleries). (Bourdieu 1984:18).
Whether music classifies better than all other types of art is open to debate. But as Holt (1997)
suggests, the proposition that people use musical taste to draw exclusive status boundaries holds
true across a range of empirical research (Katz-Gerro; 1999; Peterson and Kern 1996; Peterson
and Simkus 1992; Van Eijck 2001). Working in the omnivorousness tradition, these workers
find that class rigidly structures musical tastes. People from higher social classes are more likely
to be omnivore consumers, i.e. they hold diverse tastes ranging from lowbrow to highbrow
music. In contrast, those from lower classes tend to be univorous, meaning that they prefer a
limited number of genres. Bryson (1996) qualifies the omnivorous mapping of elite boundaries
by suggesting that the highly educated do not include all types of music indiscriminately into
their diverse taste boundaries. Instead, elites are actually more likely than other groups to dislike
the musical genres associated with low education, which include rap, heavy metal, country, and
gospel music. Thus, these studies corroborate Bourdieu (1984)’s argument that different social
classes have distinct music tastes. The homology between class and cultural consumption
renders music a useful identifier and classifier of class.
Because of the classificatory powers of taste, elite classes attempt to maintain exclusive
jurisdiction over the enjoyment of and participation in highbrow arts. DiMaggio and Useem
25
(1978:4) rationalize that the upper classes “exclude other classes from acquiring its artistic
interests as a means of preserving elite boundaries and dominance from generation to
generation.” Although the maintenance of group boundaries is seemingly abstract and symbolic,
these practices yield tangible socio-economic consequences for the lower classes. For instance,
since elites use classical music concert attendance to define group boundaries, they exclude from
their group many lower class individuals who do not share an enjoyment of this music and/or do
not have access to orchestral halls. Because lower class people cannot infiltrate elite social
groups through shared interests in classical music and frequent interaction at performance
venues, they fail to access the socio-economic resources of the elite circles. Denied access to
upper class social circles means that lower class individuals miss opportunities to interact with
managers, CEOs, university deans, and other organizational gatekeepers who hold the key to
high-paying jobs. Consequently, socio-economic resources remain within the elite class, whose
members use it to reproduce their privilege from one generation to the next.
Since cultural capital serves the purpose of establishing exclusive group membership, it is
unsurprising that many people use cultural capital for the oppositional function of transgressing
social boundaries. While the upper fractions monopolize artistic interest to maintain their
exclusive social dominance, ambitious members from the lower classes will subvert this cause,
actively accumulating cultural capital to climb up the social ladder. Social climbers will frequent
cultural venues to educate oneself in highbrow culture, hoping to use “familiarity with the arts
[to gain] acceptance into elite circles” (DiMaggio and Useem 1978:154). Having transgressed
into elite social circles, they can gain access to “the social capital of acquaintances and
connections, and social capital can in turn be used to accumulate economic capital” (DiMaggio
and Useem 1978:154). Using art to garner social status and wealth sounds almost crude and
calculating. However, parents often enroll their children in cultural activities to “enhance[e]
their prospects for upward social and economic mobility” (DiMaggio and Useem 1978:155). In
a study of parental motivations for enrolling their children in piano lessons, Dai and Shader
(2001) finds that some parents invest in lessons in order to increase their children’s chance of
entering university. Many other parents hope that piano lessons will help their children develop
intelligence and discipline, which will help them reap social and economic rewards in adulthood.
While Dai and Shader (2001) focuses solely on parental aspirations for the usefulness of cultural
capital, Stevens (2007) and DiMaggio and Mohr (1985) document some of the actualized
26
benefits of cultural taste and familiarity. Stevens (2007:19) explores the extent to which
“wealthy parents invest heavily in the extracurricular enrichments through which extraordinary
athletic and artistic talents are developed”. He argues that these investments are justified, in light
of “[c]onsiderable evidence” showing that “athletic talent, especially, is systematically rewarded
by selective college admissions offices” (Stevens 2007:19) By providing extracurricular
opportunities for their children, these affluent parents are making a concerted effort to facilitate
their children’s entrance into prestigious liberal arts colleges that focus on cultural development.
In turn, the acquisition of high cultural capital will help to secure social reproduction. Stevens
(2007) findings corroborate the earlier work of DiMaggio and Mohr (1985), which shows that
cultural capital enhances high school students’ educational attainment and college attendance,
especially among those whose fathers only have a high school education. Thus, along with
establishing group cohesion and exclusive boundaries, cultural capital serves the important
function of enabling social mobility.
4.4 What social factors influence cultural capital attainment?
Accompanying the theoretical contributions to the field of cultural capital are empirical
developments, many of which details the impact of certain social factors on cultural capital
attainment. Thus far, the social factors of interest include education, income, and social origins.
This line of empirical research is complementary to theoretical work on homology, which
suggests that structural position is related to cultural consumption (Gans 1974; DiMaggio and
Useem 1978; North and Hargreaves 2007; Katz-Gerro 1999; Marsden et al. 1982 North and
Hargreaves 2007).
Several recent studies provide a general map of the lifestyles of highbrow consumers,
which serve as a broad point of departure for our discussion on the relationship between
education, income, and social origin on the one hand and high cultural capital on the other hand.
Using a UK survey of 2532 individuals, North and Hargreaves (2007) and discover that those
who enjoy highbrow music have lifestyles typical of higher social classes, whereas people who
partake in lowbrow music live lower class lifestyles. Specifically, the authors suggest that fans
of opera and classical music are more likely to have graduate degrees and high income compared
27
to fans of lower brow music such as pop. Katz-Gerro (1999) corroborates these results, and
further adds that highbrow music listeners are more likely to be women, be older in age,
religious, and hold white-collar careers. Some studies find that perhaps these social factors do
not specifically influence highbrow cultural consumption; rather, they bring about higher rates of
participation in cultural activities of all brows. Marsden et al. (1982) confirms that high
education, wealth, older age, residence in a large city, being married, and not living in the
American south increases one’s likelihood of cultural participation in general.
4.5 Education as a major determinant of cultural capital, and vice versa
While the aforementioned studies provide a general mapping of the relationship between lifestyle
correlates and cultural participation, other research details how several of these variables impact
cultural capital attainment. Of particular focus is the relationship between education and cultural
capital. Previous research unanimously suggests that education is a major factor for predicting
cultural tastes and participation, beginning with Bourdieu (1984:13) who argues that a “basic
fact” established in Distinction is “the very close relationship linking cultural practices (or the
corresponding opinions) to educational capital.” Over twenty years later and scores of research
in between, Lizardo (2008:19) cites Chan and Goldthorpe 2007b and Silva 2006 to make the
identical point that “educational attainment (and being a member of occupations for which high
levels of ability to manipulate symbols and abstract codes is a requirement) is today the best
predictor of both embodied appreciation of fine arts and the acquisition of artistic objects”.
Thus, having withstood the test of numerous studies, we can confidently conclude that education
increases cultural capital attainment.
Research has moved beyond tracing the relationship between education and cultural
capital to theorizing about how it occurs. First, Bourdieu (1984) argues that schools define
legitimate culture (Bourdieu 1984:24), inculcating and imposing it (1984:23). He finds support
for this argument in a small empirical study demonstrating that those with higher education,
compared to those with lower education, are consistently better able to identify the composers of
musical works (1984:13-14). Second, Bourdieu (1984) suggests that the advantage of education
28
on cultural capital attainment lies in the school’s cultivation of the pure gaze in students. The
pure gaze involves a break from the ordinary. Those possessing the gaze reject the ordinary
emotions that common people attach to their world, refusing all that which are “generic, i.e.,
common, ‘easy’ and immediately accessible, starting with everything that reduces the aesthetic
animal to pure and simple animality, to palpable pleasure or sensual desire.” (Bourdieu 1984:32).
Thus, pure gazers reject familiar types of art such as sunsets and communions that serve the
function of stirring expected emotions of delight and awe in common people. Instead, they
distance themselves from objects, deriving appreciation from form as separate from function.
The separation between form and function allows pure gazers to find artistic merit in seemingly
mundane objects, such as tree bark, cabbages, or a butcher’s stall. In order to inculcate the pure
gaze in students, schools teach discursive and linguistic techniques that enable students to
discuss art in a distant and disinterested way. These tools reinforce that students should
appreciate art for the sake of its form rather than its more easily accessible function.
While education is shown to increase cultural capital, the inverse relationship is also true.
That is, inherited cultural capital acquired in the home can translate to higher educational
success. Bourdieu (1984:80) argues that a function of the education system is to “conver[t]…
cultural capital into educational capital”. In particular, “[t]he fractions richest in cultural capital
do in fact tend to invest in their children’s education as well as in the cultural practices likely to
maintain and increase their specific rarity”1 (Bourdieu 1984:122). Because culturally rich
fractions rely on inherited cultural capital to generate high educational capital, Bourdieu’s
(1984:122) observation that schools at the top of the academic hierarchy are largely populated by
students coming from the culturally rich fractions of the privileged classes is unsurprising.
The acquisition of educational capital is important because it has implications for social
class positions. Bourdieu (1984:133) argues that “academic qualifications and the school system
which awards them thus become one of the key stakes in an interclass competition”. Culturally
1 Bourdieu argues that fractions rich in economic capital, such as industrial and commercial employers are more
likely to make economic rather than educational investments in their children (Bourdieu 1984:120). That said, the
new bourgeois and private sector executives are beginning to make both economic and education investments in
their children (Bourdieu 1984:132). But, overall, the point is that the culturally rich fractions of the dominant class
focus more on educational investments than the economically rich fractions (Bourdieu 1984:120).
29
rich upper class individuals engage in social reproduction by using their superior cultural capital
to secure a spot at prestigious institutions, which enables them to “maintain the relative scarcity
of their qualifications and, consequently, their position in the class structure” (Bourdieu
1984:133). Conversely, culturally poorer but economically rich members of the upper class will
rely more on the conversion of their economic capital to educational capital (Bourdieu
1984:137), perhaps turning some of their economic capital into cultural capital (e.g. through
investing in music lessons) and then using the acquired cultural capital to secure educational
capital. Because of the inextricable link between education and cultural capital, the current study
on cultural practices considers education as one of the focal independent variables.
4.6 The minor impact of income on cultural tastes
Although research overwhelmingly supports education as a primary factor influencing cultural
tastes, the same is not true for income. The impact of income on cultural tastes and preferences
is contentious. Some argue that material and economic resources impact people’s tastes,
discourses, and practices (Ollivier 2008), but many others show that income fails to predict
cultural capital. DiMaggio and Useem (1978:147) are of the latter camp, arguing that education
is a better independent predictor of theatre, symphony, opera, and ballet participation than
income. They support this claim with evidence that “within income levels, the percentage
difference in theatre exposure rates between low and high education levels is 22 percent or more,
whereas the difference between income groups within education levels is 11 percent or less.” In
their study in the area of omnivorous musical consumption, Chan and Goldthorpe (2007)
similarly asserts that income fails to predict whether one will be a univore (listen only to
lowbrow music), a true omnivore (both attend and listen to high and lowbrow music), or an
omnivore listener (listen to high and lowbrow music). In this study, education is again a more
powerful predictor of taste patterns. The higher one’s education level, the more likely he or she
will have omnivorous, rather than univorous tendencies. Despite the wealth of studies showing
the minuscule effect of income on cultural participation, newer studies suggest that further
investigation is necessary. For instance, Warde and Cayo-Cal (2009) show that although income
itself has little influence on people’s engagement in a variety of cultural activities (including
films, books, music, paintings, and sports), social class does play a role in producing
omnivorousness, at least in relation to music and paintings. Similarly, in their study of Dutch
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preferences in visual art, Berghman and Eijck (2009) find that higher income individuals are
more likely to have omnivorous tastes, enjoying both modern and classical forms of painting.
That both of these studies demonstrate the importance of economic resources in shaping cultural
participation is theoretically unsurprising. Learning about music and art requires money, as does
maintaining this taste through attending concerts and exhibitions.
Taken as a whole, studies suggesting the weak, but increasingly important, association
between income and cultural capital are in line with Bourdieu’s (1984) argument. As mentioned
in the previous section, Bourdieu (1984) states that compared to the culturally rich, the
economically rich fractions of the dominant class traditionally rely less on cultural capital (and
its conversion into educational capital) for social reproduction. Instead, they are more likely to
make economic investments in their children. However, in recent times, the economically rich
fractions (e.g. private sector executives), like their culturally rich counterparts, have begun to
make cultural investments in their children (Bourdieu 1984:120). The new interest of the
economically rich in the cultural domain, previously dominated by the culturally rich, has
resulted in an intensified competition for academic qualifications and a change in the relationship
between qualifications and jobs. (Bourdieu 1984:132) Responding to the new cultural
investments of the economically rich, culturally rich fractions that have exclusively relied on
cultural capital for reproduction have had to “step up their investments so as to maintain the
relative scarcity of their qualifications and, consequently, their position in the class structure”
(Bourdieu 1984:133). In light of the shifting emphasis on cultural investments amongst the
economically rich, it follows that some of the newer literature documents a strengthened
relationship between income and cultural capital. The inclusion of income as a factor for the
current study is, thus, warranted.
5 HYPOTHESES
The above literature review indicates that scholars have undertaken a wealth of research to define
cultural capital and to demonstrate how cultural capital manifests to cultural consumption
patterns. Unanimous support has been established for the role of education and social origin,
and mixed support exists for the role of income, in influencing cultural tastes and practices.
However, in all of the above studies, the assumption is that these social factors are independent
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variables that have a direct effect on the dependent variable of cultural capital. In none of the
surveyed studies did researchers consider intervening factors in the causal model. One such
neglected factor is exposure to barriers to participation, which may include, but is not limited to,
not being able to afford concert tickets, having no time to attend events, or feeling uncomfortable
at cultural venues. Further, these barriers could work through certain mechanisms, or indirect
effects, to prevent participation. For example, to the extent that income has been shown to
correlate with reduced participation in highbrow arts, it may be that the effect works through the
mechanism of not being able to afford tickets, which in turn, actualizes the barrier of tickets
being too expensive. Or, low income individuals might encounter the barrier of inconvenience
through the mechanism of living in lower-income areas where cultural events rarely happen.
Thus, the argument is that higher class people encounter fewer barriers, or their resources allow
them to fend off the mechanisms that make potential barriers an actualized obstruction to cultural
participation. A potentially large number of mechanisms can work through any particular barrier
to affect the outcome of attendance, and unfortunately, mechanisms are not specifically
measured in my dataset (e.g. there is no data for proximity to highbrow cultural venues).
Therefore, although I do attempt to account for mechanisms in a preliminary way when
interpreting my results, my work mainly focuses on measuring the direct effect of barriers while
holding constant education and income. I leave more explicit theorization and measurement of
mechanisms for future work. My research question is: To what extent is the relationship
between cultural capital as it varies by class on the one hand, and cultural consumption on the
other hand, mediated by barriers? Using class as an input for cultural capital2, I investigate the
degree to which class variation in highbrow concert attendance is a result of the different barriers
that each class faces.
2 Using class as an input for cultural capital may come with its own sets of problems. The literature review
demonstrates that while education is intimately correlated with cultural capital, income has a weaker relationship
with this factor. Further, Bourdieu (1984) makes explicit that not everyone in the upper class has equally high
cultural capital. Some fractions have higher cultural capital; other fractions have higher economic capital.
However, the general sense is that people in upper class fractions are generally better educated and wealthier, and
therefore, have higher cultural capital than people in the various fractions of the lower class (see Bourdieu 1984:128
for a visual representation). For lack of better or more comprehensive measures for cultural capital, I use class—and
specifically, education and income—as a input for cultural capital.
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Two hypotheses ensue from this research question. Both hypotheses take for granted
Bourdieu’s theoretical suggestions that the various social classes have unequal amounts of
cultural capital, and they express their cultural capital through different tastes and participation
patterns. Hypothesis 1 suggests that barriers mediate the relationship between class and cultural
participation. Hypothesis II states that barriers do not affect this relationship. In this latter case,
two scenarios for future consideration are possible. Class and cultural capital may have a direct
relationship with participation, or this relationship is attributable to another intervening variable
unspecified in this study.
6 DATA AND METHODS
6.1 Data Source
My analysis is based on data from the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) [1997],
a questionnaire funded by the National Endowment of the Arts to investigate people’s
preferences and participation in a variety of art and cultural activities in selected cities across the
United States. This survey is the fourth wave in a series of surveys; the others were conducted in
1982, 1985, 1992, and 2002. The 1997 installment is unique in two respects. First, while the
previous waves were appended to other larger national surveys, the 1997 wave was conducted as
a stand-alone study. Second, rather than sampling all households and interviewing all adults in
residence, as was the case in previous waves, only households with telephones were sampled and
only one randomly-selected person in the selected household was interviewed in 1997.
Even though the 1997 data are not the most current, several advantages encouraged me to
select this particular survey over the more recent waves. First, the 1997 wave was not appended
to another extensive survey, as was the case with other cycles. Research has shown that
respondents can suffer fatigue and become disengaged with the survey if they are given a large
number of questions to consider, which could have been the case with earlier waves featuring
multiple long surveys. The 1997 cycles circumvents the problems of fatigue and disengagement
because this stand-alone survey focused the participants’ attention uniquely on questions about
cultural attitudes and participation. The shortened length of the responding process helps to
33
retain the participants’ interest and attention span, possibly increasing the thoughtfulness and
detail of the responses. Second, a survey of other datasets in North America has confirmed that
the 1997 wave offers unparalleled insight into the cultural preferences and participation of a
large segment of the population.
Granted these advantages, we should note several drawbacks. Because the sample was
composed solely of people who owned telephones, this survey does not tap into the cultural
participation of people without phones, who are more likely to be of a lower income and/or rural
demographic. Furthermore, the administrators focused on people residing in the larger and more
populated states of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio,
Michigan, Illinois, Texas, and California. Except in the case of California, no attempt was made
to distinguish the different metropolitan and rural regions within these large states. Furthermore,
the more sparsely populated states were either left out of the study or were lumped together in
vaguely categorized regions such as “Mountain” or “Remainder Pacific”. We are thus unclear as
to which areas were omitted or included; consequently, we cannot to compare and contrast data
from rural and metropolitan respondents. This sampling technique sparks a host of problems,
one of which is that it muddles the role of regional differences in determining people’s exposure
and accessibility to certain cultural events. Doubtless, it is much easier for those who live in or
near cities than those in the country to learn about and visit cultural events. Both the advantages
and disadvantages of this survey are important to bear in mind when interpreting the results.
6.2 The Sample
The 1997 cycle samples 12349 Americans on their cultural tastes and practices. However, the
survey was administered in separate sections and participants did not answer every section. All
12349 people indicated their education and income, from which the independent variable was
derived, and responded to questions about attendance to music concerts in the past year, the basis
of the dependent variable. The same 12349 people were asked demographic questions such as
age, gender, and ethnicity, from which my control variables were derived. However, a sub-
sample of only 3518 people answered questions about barriers to participation, the responses
from which I create my intervening variable. Because all of these measures are central to my
34
study, I constrained my sample to people who have responded to all of these sections of interest.
This meant that I deleted any cases where individuals failed to provide a valid response to all of
the independent, dependent, control, and barrier variables3 I use. According to recommendations
provided in the codebook, I applied a final sample weight to my sample in order to reduce
sampling bias. My final sample included 2403 individuals between the ages of 18 and 93.
6.3 Dependent Variable
The dependent variable for this study is attendance to classical and opera concerts in the last
twelve months. Participation in one or both of these genres is generally agreed to be a sound
proxy of highbrow cultural participation. Two survey items operationalize classical and opera
attendance: 1. [With the exception of elementary, middle, or high school performances] Did you
go to a live classical music performance such as symphony, chamber, or choral music during the
last 12 months?; and 2. [With the exception of…] Did you go to a live opera during the last 12
months? Using the responses to these items, I created a highbrow concert attendance variable
with four levels: 1. attendance to neither classical nor opera concerts in the last 12 months; 2.
attendance to only classical concerts in the last 12 months; 3. attendance to only opera concerts
in the last 12 months; and 4. attendance to both classical and opera concerts in the last 12
months. Table 1a presents the frequency distribution of the four levels of the dependent variable.
Table 1a: Frequency Distribution of the Type and Combination of Highbrow Concert Attended in the Last 12 Months
Type of Concert Attended Frequencies in N Frequencies in %
Classical Only 418 17.39
3 So, for instance, if someone provided an answer to facing the barrier childcare responsibilities but did not provide
a response to the barrier health problems, then he or she was deleted from the sample.
35
Opera Only 66 2.75
Both Classical and Opera 125 5.20
Neither Classical Nor Opera 1794 74.66
Total 2403 100.00
Source: Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, 1997: [United States]
6.4 Independent Variables
Previous studies on cultural participation have used class as the focal independent variable,
operationalized by the combination of responses on the education, income, and occupational
status items (DiMaggio and Useem 1978; Katz-Gerro 1999). Unfortunately, the data for
occupational status were not available in this survey, preventing me from replicating the
comprehensive measure of class as my independent variable. Instead, I consider the two
variables of education and income as proxies for class position. I operationalized the first
independent variable of education with the survey question asking individuals to indicate their
highest level of education achieved. I then grouped the responses together into a series of
ordinal dummy variables categorizing the highest degree attained: less than high school (the
reference group), a high school degree, some college, a university degree, and experience with
postgraduate studies. I chose to code education in an ordinal fashion, as opposed to treating it as
a continuous variable because the impact of each additional year of education is not the same.
For instance, the difference between grade 8 and grade 9 is one grade in high school, but the
difference between 11 and 12 years of education is a high school diploma. Table 1b denotes the
recoding of the education variable.
36
Table 1b: Conversion of the education variable from qualitative to quantitative categories
Qualitative education category
(original)
Quantitative years of education
(recoded)
7th
grade or less
Less than high school
8th
grade
9th
to 11th
grade
12th
grade but no diploma
High school diploma or equivalent High school
Vocational/technical program Some college
Some college but no degree
Associate’s degree
Bachelor’s degree University degree
Graduate or professional school, no
diploma
Postgraduate studies
Master’s degree
Doctorate
Professional (Medicine/MD;
Dentistry/DDS)
Source: Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, 1997: [United States]
37
I operationalized the second independent variable of income with an item measuring
household income in eight categories. Although previous studies generally use dummy coding, I
tried both the dummy and linear midpoint coding of the income variable and found no significant
difference. Therefore, I use the income midpoints, rather than the range, for simplicity. The
chart below shows the original household income categories and how I translated each into a
midpoint category. I divided the midpoints by 10 000 before running analyses for ease of
interpretation. Table 1c shows how the original income categories were recoded into midpoint
categories.
Table 1c: Income variable categorizations
Original Household Income Categories Recoded Midpoint Categories
$10 000 or less $5000
$10 001 to $20 000 $15 000
$20 001 to $30 000 $25 000
$30 001 to $40 000 $35 000
$40 001 to $50 000 $45 000
$50 001 to $75 000 $62 500
$75 001 to $100 000 $87 500
Over $100 000 $112 500
6.5 Control Variables
Control factors are those that precede and share a relationship with both the dependent variable
of highbrow concert attendance and the independent variables of education and income. There
38
are two sets of control variables in this study: demographic and family background. The
demographic control variables are age, sex, and ethnicity. Sex is a dummy variable with male as
the reference category. Ethnicity is also a dummy variable with the categories of Hispanic,
Black Non-Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and White Non-Hispanic; the latter category is the
reference group. The original sample included the additional category of Native Indian/Alaskan
Native, but only 1.2% of all respondents fell into this category. Because the sample size of these
individuals was so small, these ethnic groups were not included in the final analysis.
The second set of control variables address family background, which include father’s
education and mother’s education. While father’s education is commonly considered as a
control variable in studies of this nature, most research does not account for mother’s education.
This is problematic, because the mother is traditionally the primary caregiver and transmitter of
family culture; her education level could translate to important effects in the individual’s
educational and income attainment as well as cultural tastes. I operationalized both father’s and
mother’s education with questions asking the respondent to indicate their parents’ highest level
of education4 out of the same 13 possible responses used to categorize self’s education. Table 1d
provides the frequency distributions for the independent and control variables in this study, with
sample weights applied.
Table 1d: Frequency Distributions of Focal Independent and Control Variables of Study Sample, United States, 1997
VARIABLE Proportion Mean SD
Focal Independent Variables
Education 6.07
Less than high school (reference) 22.82
4 I treated parents’ education as a continuous variable rather than a series of dummy variables for ease of
interpretation. Previous trials using the dummy coding format yielded very similar results.
39
High school 32.34
Some college 22.03
University graduate 16.58
Postgraduate
Income (US dollars, divided by 10 000) 5.16 3.11
Control Variables
I. Demographic
Age (years) 42.65 14.87
Sex (male is the reference)
Female 55.86
Ethnicity (White is the reference)*
Hispanic
Black
11.35
7.40
Asian 3.53
II. Family Background
40
Father’s Education (years) 12.19 3.80
Mother’s Education 12.08 3.14
Number of Cases 2403
6.6 Intervening Variables
The intervening variables in this study are the types of barriers that prevent people from
participating in cultural events. I operationalized this concept through participant self-reports on
a measure of eleven barriers that prevented them from participating in musical performances or
art museums as often as they would like5. These eleven possible barriers are as follows: 1.
tickets sell out before they have a chance to buy them; 2. tickets are too expensive; 3. there are
not many performances held/art museums or galleries in their area; 4. they feel uncomfortable or
out of place at events; 5. they have no one to attend events with; 6. they have child care
responsibilities; 7. they have a health problem or disability; 8. the location is not convenient; 9.
the location is not in a safe area; 10. the quality of performances/exhibitions are poor; 11. and
they find it difficult to make time to go out. Using LISREL, I conducted a factor analysis and
5 The measure of barriers I use denotes the blockage of overall cultural participation, rather than classical and opera
attendance in particular. This method may present theoretical drawbacks, but it was an empirical choice I made in
order to retain an adequate sample size. If I were to constrain my sample to individuals who mentioned that barriers
prevented them from attending classical and opera concerts in particular, the sample will be no more than 300
people, a meagre size that would have posed problems to statistical interpretation. To support my empirical choice,
I ran some tests to demonstrate that the measure of barriers for cultural events in general is not significantly different
from the measure suggesting specific blockage to classical and opera attendance. The results show that there are no
differences between these two measures—that is, the effects of the barrier variables are the same whether we
consider participation in general or classical and opera participation in particular. In light of these findings, I chose
the less restrictive measure, allowing me to achieve a sample size of over 2000 individuals.
41
found that these 11 items constitute five latent factors; the first two relate to characteristics of the
concert and the last three describe personal difficulties in attending events6.
The first latent barrier describes obstructions to participation that are specific to the
concert; these include tickets being sold out, tickets being too expensive, and the concert being
of poor quality. The second latent barrier is also related to the concert, but with respect to the
venue than the concert itself. These logistics-specific hurdles preventing participation include
finding few performances in the area, experiencing inconvenience accessing the location of the
concert, and feeling unsafe at the venue of the concert. The third latent factor describes personal
barriers associated with one’s emotional or psychic state, namely feeling uncomfortable/out of
place or alone at a concert. Although they exist entirely in one’s mind, these factors can prevent
one from attending musical concerts. Another dimension of personal barriers, personal
responsibilities, constitutes the fourth latent factor. This factor is different from the personal
psychic state barrier because it describes the obstructions outside of one’s emotional state of
mind, denoting one’s concrete obligations to work and family. The items that form the
responsibility barrier include having childcare responsibilities and having no time to go out.
Finally, the health variable describes a personal obstacle that is unrelated to any of the other two
personal factors. It, thus, stands alone as a separate factor mediating participation. Table 1e
provides the frequency distributions of each of the eleven barriers grouped into their respective
latent factors.
Table 1e: Frequency Distribution of the Barriers Preventing Concert-Going in Study Sample, Categorized by Latent Factors
Latent Factor Proportion
6 I have run each of these barriers separately as well as combined into the five latent factors. The differences are not
significant, so I decided to combine factors together for ease of interpretation.
42
Concert characteristics
Tickets are sold out 16.22
Tickets are too expensive 53.14
Concerts are of poor quality 8.03
Concert logistics
Few performances in the area 52.57
Location is in an inconvenient area 45.34
Location is in an unsafe area 17.17
Personal psychic state
You feel uncomfortable of out of place 7.78
No one would go with you 21.16
Personal responsibilities
Child care responsibilities 20.53
No time to go out 65.16
Health problems/disability 7.23
43
After grouping the 11 factors into latent categories, I ran frequencies to find the
distribution of the number of barriers faced, by latent factor. Because several of these factors
had a large range of outcomes (e.g. the concert specific barrier had five possible outcomes: 0, 1,
1.57, 2, and 3 barriers faced), I combined the 1 with the 1.5 responses and 2 with the 3 responses,
as the differences between these levels were insignificant. As a result, for both the concert
characteristics and concert logistics barriers, the outcomes ranged from 0 to 2. The personal
psychic state and personal responsibilities variables only had 3 outcomes, (facing 0, 1, or 2
barriers) so I did not have to combine and reduce the number of outcomes. With only one
variable, the health problems barrier only has 2 outcomes (facing 0 or 1 barrier). Table 1f shows
the frequency distributions of the numbers of barriers faced, after adjustments to the response
categories.
Table 1f: Frequency Distribution of the Average Number of Barriers Faced, Categorized by Latent Factor
Latent Factor Count of Barriers Faced
0 1 2
Concert
characteristics
39.73 44.89 15.38
Concert logistics 34.58 55.69 9.73
Personal psychic
state
74.36 22.36 3.2
7 People who were assigned a number of 1.5 by SAS answered 2 out of 3 concert-specific barrier questions (i.e.,
they answered “don’t know” for one of the questions) and indicated they faced both of these obstacles.
44
Personal
responsibilities
31.92 50.50 17.58
Health 92.77 7.23 N/A
6.7 Methods
The ensuing analysis involves four phases of multinomial logistic regression models performed
with SAS. In the first stage of analysis, I estimate the effects of education and income, my
proxies for class, on the likelihood of facing each of the five types of latent factors. Because
each latent factor offers more than one outcome barrier, it is necessary to use the multinomial
model to contrast the likelihood of facing 0 barriers, versus 1 barrier, versus 2 barriers. The
health barrier only has the two outcomes (having a health problem or not); therefore, a simple
logistic regression suffices. In the second step, I predict whether education and income also
impacts attendance to highbrow concerts in the last 12 months. Multinomial regression models
are again necessary to predict this 4-level outcome, specifically, the likelihood of attending
classical concerts only, versus opera only, versus both classical and opera concerts, versus
neither classical nor opera concerts. Third, having mapped out these two sets of relationships, I
interrogate the link between barriers and attendance; specifically, I ask to what extent the various
barriers impact highbrow concert attendance in the last twelve months. Finally, I amalgamate all
the components from the first three stages of analyses and examine the combined effect of class
and barrier variables on the likelihood of attendance. If the effect of class decreases with the
addition of barriers, then we can infer that class has an indirect relationship with attendance. In
this scenario, the effect of class on participation is transmitted through barriers; that is, class
influences the likelihood of facing barriers, which, in turn, affect the chances of attendance. If,
on the other hand, the effect of barriers decreases while the effect of class remains the same, then
we can suggest that class has a direct relationship with attendance. In this alternative, the
spurious relationship between barriers and participation is explained by the third factor of class.
Class does not influence attendance through barriers; rather, its effects are channeled either
directly or through factors yet unspecified in the current study. In this case, further research
45
could examine how cultural capital mediates the well-established relationship between class and
cultural participation.
7 RESULTS
7.1 Class Affects Barrier Exposure
The first step in disentangling the relationship between class, barriers, and participation is to
understand whether class influences the likelihood of facing barriers to cultural participation.
Tables 2a-e show the logistic regression results of the effect of the focal independent variables,
education and income, on each of five latent barrier factors. Due to space considerations, the
model building process is not reflected in the tables. Instead, I first present the main effects
models featuring the two focal independent variables (Models 1 and 2 in each sub-table of Table
2) and then fast-forward to the full model of all the focal and control variables (Model 3 in each
sub-table of Table 2).
First, consistent with previous research, Tables 2a-e suggest that education generally has
an inverse effect on barriers. Specifically, higher education mitigates the likelihood of facing
most barriers, but this effect is partially or completely explained by income. For example, for
concert-specific issues at the two-barrier level, a university degree and experience with
postgraduate studies decreases the logged odds of experience concert-specific barriers by -1.529
and -1.165 (Table 2a). After considering income, the effects are attenuated to the logged odds of
-1.063 for university degree holders and -.638 for postgraduates. This could be because upper
class individuals have better defenses against the mechanisms through which concert-specific
barriers work. For instance, the specific issue of tickets being expensive works through the
mechanism of being unable to afford tickets, against which these upper class individuals are
protected due to their income. Similar to the concert-specific barriers case, having a university
degree and experience with postgraduate studies lowers the likelihood of facing two concert
logistics barriers by the logged odds of -1.752 and -1.422, respectively (Table 2b). After
considering income, however, the effect of these higher level degrees completely disappears.
Examining the logistics factor more closely, the largest number of affirmative responses is found
46
for the specific barriers of ‘few performances in the area’ and ‘location is in an inconvenient
area’. The mechanisms through which these barriers work is that the individual might not live in
a cosmopolitan area with a nearby concert hall and that the individual might not have access to a
car to drive to the venue. These mechanisms are circumvented by income; affluent people have
the means to live in cultured cosmopolitan areas and/or have easy access to transportation taking
them to concerts. Taken together, these results show that protection against barriers we attribute
to education is sometimes due to higher income. And the way that income protects against
barriers could be through blocking the mechanisms through which the barrier can become
actualized.
Given the above interpretation, it is unsurprising that the results specifically show an
inverse relationship between income and barriers. For instance, each increment of increase in
income lowers the chances of facing concert-specific barriers by the logged odds of -.067 for the
one-barrier threshold, and -.078 for the two-barrier threshold (Table 2a). The effect of income is
even more pronounced in the case of the concert logistics and psychic issues at the two-barrier
level (Table 2b and Table 2c). Each increment of increase in income decreases the likelihood of
facing these barriers by the logged odds -.204 and -.120, respectively. Again, the interpretation
is that income blocks the mechanisms through which these barriers could be actualized.
One notable exception to the general inverse relationship between income and barriers
occurs in relation to facing one personal responsibility barrier (Table 2d). In this case, income is
associated with a greater incidence of experiencing one of either the time constraints or child
care responsibilities barriers by the logged odds of .068. The positive effect of income itself
remains even with the inclusion of all control variables. This pattern suggests that higher income
people have more personal responsibility barriers that could hinder concert attendance. These
barriers work through the mechanism of having full-time careers with a high level of
responsibility, making them more likely to feel pressed for time or overwhelmed with child-care
responsibilities than their lower income counterparts with less demanding jobs.
Notably, control variables share important relationships with some barriers. As people
age, they are less likely to experience personal responsibility barriers but are more likely to face
health barriers. In particular, each year of increase in age decreases the likelihood of facing two
47
personal responsibility barriers by the logged odds of -.042 (Table 2d), but each year also
increases the chances of facing health barriers by the logged odds of .068 (Table 2e). These
results are expected, as older people are less likely to still be in the workforce or have young
children, which frees up their time for concert attendance. However, old age brings a host of
health problems that may also hinder cultural participation. Gender also has an impact on the
chances of encountering multiple barriers; specifically, women are more likely than men to
encounter the two barrier threshold of all barriers except for psychic issues (women are still more
likely than men to face one psychic barrier) and health problems (gender is not significant). For
instance, being female rather than male increases the chances of facing two concert-specific
(Table 2a) and personal responsibility (Table 2d) obstacles by the logged odds of .498 and .612,
respectively. Ethnic background has varying effects on the likelihood of facing barriers. The
overall story is that blacks are less likely to experience multiple logistic and responsibility
barriers8, while Hispanics and Asians are more likely to encounter multiple concert-specific
barriers than whites. That Hispanics and Asians have an increased chance of facing concert-
specific barriers makes sense, since more than half of those responses can be attributed to tickets
being too expensive. Since this barrier only works through the mechanism of not being able to
afford tickets (someone is more likely to think that a ticket is too expensive if he or she cannot
afford it), I ran some correlations (not shown) between income and ethnicity. The results show
that Hispanics tend to have lower income than whites; therefore, it follows that they are more
likely to encounter the barrier of expensive tickets than the reference group. The correlations
between Asians and income are insignificant, due possibly to the very small N of this ethnic
group, so similar conclusions cannot be made. Overall, the findings with respect to ethnicity are
difficult to interpret with confidence due to the fact that each individual ethnic group makes up
such a small proportion of the sample. Finally, parents’ education has some effect on mediating
barriers. Father’s education has an inverse relationship to facing barriers relating to the concert
logistics. These results could mean that children with educated fathers tend to live in affluent
neighbourhoods with more cultural performance venues (Table 2b). Mother’s education also
buffers the chances of encountering concert logistics barriers, but only at the 2-barrier level.
8 There is no significance for “Black” on facing a single logistic or responsibility barrier.
48
More interestingly, however, is that mother’s education lowers the chances of the respondent
feeling two psychic stress boundaries. Each year of increase in mother’s education lowers the
likelihood of encountering psychic barriers by the logged odds of -.155 (Table 2c). Highly
educated mothers might teach their children the proper conduct and etiquette to exercise at
cultural events, decreasing their likelihood of feeling uncomfortable at concerts.
An important point to keep in mind when interpreting the various iterations of Table 2 is
what the variations in the one- versus two-barrier thresholds mean, given the different
frequencies for specific barriers within each latent factor. The first set of models for the one-
barrier threshold likely picks up most of the variation for the specific barrier with the highest
response rate, while and the two-barrier threshold picks up the variation for the remaining
barrier(s). For example, people for whom psychic barriers were an issue were more likely to
specify the problem of being alone (21.16%) rather than feeling uncomfortable (7.78%).
Consequently, the results for experiencing psychic barriers at the one-barrier threshold likely
speak to the problem of having no companion, as this is the barrier with the higher affirmative
response rate. Applying this logic to the data (Table 2c), the positive coefficient for female
gender in the one-barrier psychic issues factor (.379) mostly represents women who reported
wanting to go to a concert, but cannot find a companion. In the two-barrier threshold, the
coefficient for gender disappears, probably because once women are at a cultural event, they do
not feel any more uncomfortable than men. A more detailed analysis of the difference between
one- and two-barrier thresholds will require individual analysis of each of the barriers, which can
be accomplished in future research.
7.2 Class Shapes Highbrow Cultural Participation
Having demonstrated that class does have an effect on the barriers variables, we now determine
the relationship that it shares with the dependent variable of participation in highbrow culture.
Table 3 reports three sub-tables showing multinomial logistic regression models of the effects of
education and income on the likelihood of having attended a classical, opera, and both classical
and opera concerts in the last twelve months, compared to attending neither of these concerts.
The first model of each sub-table focuses on the first focal independent variable of education.
49
Congruent with previous research, I find that education is a significant positive factor for
participation in classical music concerts, and also for our combined measure of classical and
opera concert attendance. For instance, compared to having less than a high school education,
having some college education, a university degree, and experience with postgraduate studies
increase the logged odds of attending a classical concert incrementally and significantly, by
1.430, 2.001, and 2.338. Interestingly, the difference between having some high school
education and a high school diploma is negligible in terms of impacting classical music
performance. This could be because a complete high school education does not transfer the
amount or kinds of cultural capital required for an interest in attending classical music concerts.
The effect of education on attendance sharpens with post-secondary experience, as demonstrated
in the case of attendance to both types of concerts. Although having a high school degree and
some college experience has no effect on the likelihood of attending both classical and opera
concerts in the last year compared to our reference group, having achieved a university degree or
experience with postgraduate studies has a very large and significant impact on increasing
attendance by the logged odds of 2.395 and 2.871, respectively. Interestingly, education does
not seem to have an impact on opera education. It could be that education, and the cultural
capital presumably transferred through it, has less impact on opera attendance. If so, this would
lend support to Benezecry (2009:136) who found that opera fanatics come from a variety of
social positions, including the lower rungs of the middle class in low cultural capital occupations
(e.g. debt collector). However, because only 66 people in my sample reported having
exclusively attended opera in the last year, this interpretation is made with caution. Overall, I
support Bourdieu (1984)’s arguments that formal education plays a role in cultivating people’s
cultural tastes and preferences.
The second model demonstrates that income has a significant positive effect on
participation except for in the case of opera only. For instance, each additional increment of
income leads to an increase in classical and both classical and opera attendance by the logged
odds of .070 and .080, respectively. These findings make sense because highbrow concerts
50
usually require admission fees; people with high income are in a better position to purchase
tickets9.
Model 3 in each sub-table is the full model accounting for all the main effects and control
variables. The key finding of these results is that even with the addition of all the controls, the
effect of education remains significant for classical only and both classical and opera attendance.
Some college education, a university degree and experience with postgraduate studies continues
to increase the logged odds of classical concert attendance by 1.045, 1.437, and 1.689. Similarly,
a university degree and experience with postgraduate studies positively affects attendance to both
types of concerts by the logged odds 1.584 and 2.031. These numbers are comparable to the
education coefficients in Model 2, which features just the main effects of income and education.
Similarly, the impact of income remains significant for classical only concerts after the addition
of controls in Model 3. With each level of increase in income, people are the logged odds of
.062 more likely to attend classical concerts. In general, then, the findings indicate that
education and income are important predictors of concert attendance, above and beyond the
explanatory potential of the control factors.
The full model speaks to the impact of some of the control variables, but these effects are
small in comparison to those of education and income. Congruent with previous research, older
age augments the likelihood of classical music attendance. With each year of increase in age
comes an increase in the likelihood of classical concert attendance by the logged odds of .013.
Gender appears to have no effect on attendance. Similarly, ethnicity does not seem to matter;
Asians, Blacks and Hispanics do not have significantly different attendance from Whites in any
of the categories. The non-significance of ethnicity is likely attributable to the small and
unrepresentative sample of ethnic groups, rather than to actual ethnic variations in cultural
behaviour.
9 The item I used to operationalize the dependent variable excludes classical concerts attended at schools, which
tend to be free or lower cost than professional concerts. It is safe to assume, then, that at least a substantial
proportion of the highbrow concerts that this dependent variable refers to cost money to attend. Unfortunately, there
is no variable measuring concert cost to verify this information.
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Finally, parents’ education has some effect on classical and opera only concert
attendance. In particular, each year of increase in father’s education leads to a rise in the chance
of attending classical concerts by the logged odds of .054. This could mean that high status
fathers, who likely have been socialized in classical music, encourage their children’s attendance
to these concerts. Mother’s education seems to have a larger effect on opera attendance, as each
additional year that one’s mother had spent in school is associated with an increase in opera
attendance by the logged odds of .143. To understand this finding, we must bear in mind that
opera is a much more specialized cultural taste than classical music. Whereas everyday cultural
media, such as films and commercials, expose people to classical music, opera is not as
mainstream. Therefore, an appreciation of opera cannot be “picked up”, as is the case for
classical music; rather, targeted exposure to instill appreciation needs to occur. As Bourdieu
(1984) suggests, mothers are often responsible for high cultural socialization for children.
Highly educated mothers, compared to their less educated counterparts, have more cultural
capital to instill in their children. Therefore, it is not surprising that mother’s education matters
for opera attendance. Although it appears that father’s education only influences classical
attendance while mother’s education only impacts opera attendance, each parent’s education may
actually matter for attendance to both types of concerts. Educated people tend to marry one
another. Therefore, any effect that an educated mother may have on classical concert attendance
may be overshadowed by the even larger effect of father’s education. Similarly, father’s
education may have an impact on opera attendance, but because the effect of mother’s education
is so high, its effects are hidden. In any case, these findings show that parents’ education does
explain some variance in highbrow music attendance.
7.3 Varying Effects of Barrier Exposure on Participation
Having specified a relationship between class and barriers as well as class and participation, the
next step is to determine the relationship between barriers and participation. This process is
crucial as it confirms whether or not exposure to barriers obstructs highbrow concert attendance.
Again using multinomial logistic regression analysis, I uncover the varying effects of different
types of barriers on attendance to classical only, opera only, and both classical and opera
concerts, compared to neither classical nor opera in the last twelve months.
52
Table 4 reports the effect of each one of the latent barrier factors on the likelihood of
having attended highbrow concerts in the last 12 months. With the exception of the concert-
specific barriers, most of the factors generally have an inverse effect on highbrow music
attendance, a finding that is consistent with expectations. Concert logistics, personal
responsibility and health barriers all have prominent negative effects on classical concert
attendance. The negative impact of barriers extends to the attendance of both classical and opera
concerts. Facing logistical, psychic, and health barriers decreases the likelihood of attendance to
those concerts by the logged odds of -.535, -.485, and -2.659 respectively. For attendance to
opera only, the relationship between barriers and participation shows some important differences
compared to the other two categories of attendance. Notably, concert logistics, personal psychic
and responsibility barriers have no effect on opera only attendance. The explanation may be that
opera attendees are different from classical concert attendees in their degree of knowledge in and
appreciation of their preferred genre. On the one hand, classical music is a familiar part of
mainstream culture, albeit a refined segment of it. Many lay people with little knowledge of the
genre still venture into these concerts. On the other hand, opera is a highly specialized genre to
which lay people are rarely exposed. Opera-goers are a select group that have a deep
understanding of the genre, and may be serious attendees. Familiar with the music and the
etiquette surrounding performances, they may not feel psychic barriers to participation. It might
also be the case that this specialized group makes a concerted effort to attend performances;
personal responsibility and concert logistic issues fail to bar their attendance. However, again, it
is important to note that only 66 people attended opera concerts exclusively so these
interpretations of the results should be used with caution.
Given these expected trends, some surprises lie in the results. The concert-specific latent
barrier actually increases the logged odds of classical only, opera only, and both classical and
opera concert attendance by the logged odds of .193, .384, and .532, respectively. Separately
examining each of the barriers constituting this latent barrier reveals that tickets selling out and
concerts being of poor quality are jointly responsible for these positive results; tickets being
expensive has no significant effect in this equation. One explanation for the higher rates of
concert attendance when tickets sell out is that certain individuals, especially those with high
economic capital, become attracted to performances by virtue of the fact that they are popular.
Knowing that many people are going to see a show motivates them even more to land a ticket.
53
Therefore, that tickets sell out does not prevent people from attending concerts; rather, it
encourages them to attend. Alternatively, attendees rich in economic capital are also likely to
have higher cultural capital, which corresponds with a greater desire to attend cultural events.
Given their musical tastes and the kinds of concerts they want to attend, upper class individuals
may be more likely than their lower class counterparts to try to buy tickets to the most popular
events and then find them sold out. However, these points are difficult to ascertain because we
do not have data on the specific shows people attended and whether or not they were indeed sold
out.
Poor quality concerts is another barrier that contributes to the concert-specific latent
factor, which predicts higher participation in classical only and both classical and opera concerts.
To explain this pattern, we may theorize about the behavioral patterns of people who do not have
specialized knowledge in music or economic capital. Perhaps tickets for poor quality
performances sell for cheaper prices, thereby allowing this group of people to justify attendance.
Moreover, lower calibre concerts may be less intimidating or off-putting for people with little
cultural or economic capital. Whereas in high quality events, people may feel implied pressure
to understand the refined codes of audience conduct and the artistic nuances of the performance,
lower quality events occur in casual settings and do not stipulate a high level of artistic
familiarity. People of lower socio-economic status may feel at ease in lower quality settings and
may be more likely to attend these concerts.
7.4 Combined Effects of Class and Barriers on Participation
Having established a relationship between class and barriers, class and participation, and barriers
and participation, the final step of our analysis is to link all of these processes together to
determine the overarching relationship between class, barriers, and participation. This final
model invokes class as the independent variable, barriers as the intervening/explanatory variable,
and participation as the dependent variable. Our analysis will provide support for one of the two
hypotheses stated in the outset of our study. Recall, Hypothesis I argues that class has an indirect
effect on participation that is completely channeled through barriers. In this case, class
influences the likelihood of barrier exposure, which in turn determines participation rates.
54
Conversely, Hypothesis II posits that the effect of class on participation does not channel through
barriers. Instead, class either impacts concert attendance directly or through other factors
unspecified in this model.
Table 5 presents the multiple logistic regression analysis of barrier and class variables on
the likelihood of having attended a classical concert, an opera, or both a classical and opera
performance versus neither of these types of concerts in the last twelve months. Again, due to
space limitations, the table only reports the full models rather than showing the addition of each
set of controls as a separate step. We notice that the positive direction and significant effects of
our education and income variables remain stable from the full model of Table 3, which shows
the relationship between class and attendance with controls considered, to Table 5, which depicts
the combined effects of class and barriers on attendance. Furthermore, the coefficients barely
shift across the two tables. Specifically, in Table 3, having some college education, a university
degree and experience with postgraduate studies increase the likelihood of attending a classical
concert by the logged odds of 1.045, 1.437, and 1.689. Similarly, having a university degree and
experience with postgraduate studies positively impacts attendance to both types of highbrow
concerts by the logged odds of 1.584 and 2.031. Each additional increment of income increases
participation in classical concerts by the logged odds of .062 (the impact of income on opera
only and both classical and opera attendance was insignificant). After the addition of barriers as
an intervening variable in Table 5, the coefficients diminish very slightly. Now, having some
college education, a university degree and experience with postgraduate studies increases the
likelihood of attending classical concerts by the logged odds of 1.086, 1.473 and 1.689,
respectively. For attendance to both types of concert, having a university degree no longer has
an effect, but having experience with postgraduate studies still increases the likelihood of
attendance by the logged odds of 1.759. Similarly minute is the shift in the effect of income;
each increment of increase in earnings boosts the logged odds of classical only attendance by
.065, which could be due to a very small suppression effect occurring with one of the control
variables. These data, processed collectively, allow us to reject Hypothesis I. Barriers fail to
mediate the relationship between class and cultural participation. Instead, class either directly
affects participation, or works through another factor unspecified in this model. In other words,
it is not because people of different classes face different barriers that there is class-based
55
variation on cultural participation. The reason for this variation remains unclear, and is a project
for future studies.
To uncover what role, if any, barriers have on explaining attendance rates, we look closer
at the five barrier variables. Comparing the barrier coefficients in Table 5 to those in Table 4,
where class and controls are absent, we find that the effects of the concert logistics and health
barriers have attenuated. Specifically, without considering class, facing concert logistic barriers
decreases the chance of attendance to both classical and opera concerts by the logged odds of
-.535 (Table 4). After adding class into the equation, this large negative effect diminishes; facing
this barrier is no longer significant for lowering attendance to both types of concerts (Table 5).
The case is similar for health on participation in classical only concerts. Having a health
problem decreases the logged odds of attending classical performances by -.832 (Table 4). But
after the addition of the class variables, the inverse effect of health problems becomes blunter;
facing health barriers only lowers classical attendance by the logged odds of -.693 (Table 5).
With respect to opera, a health problem has no effect on opera attendance without the class
variables (Table 4), and continues to be insignificant in the full model (Table 5). These findings
demonstrate that class explains some of the effects of the logistics and health barriers.
While the concert logistics and health barrier coefficients decrease after the addition of
class and control variables, this trend does not hold for all barriers. Notably, the effect of
concert-specific and personal responsibility barriers on attendance intensifies from the main
effects to the full model. The process of suppression explains the upward shift in coefficients for
these cases. As Table 4 indicates, the effect of concert-specific barriers alone on participation is
positive. Facing this barrier increases the logged odds of attending classical, opera, and classical
and opera concerts by .193, .384, and .532, respectively. After adding the class variables in
Table 5, these effects are even larger. Now, encountering concert-specific barriers increases the
logged odds of attendance to classical concerts by .370, to opera by .618, and to both classical
and opera by .757. These results indicate a suppression effect, the source of which is the
Hispanic variable. Examining the correlation matrix and bivariate associations, we find that the
Hispanic variable shares a positive relationship with concert-specific barriers and a negative one
with musical participation. A positive effect multiplied by a negative effect becomes a negative
effect. In the bivariate relationship between concert-specific variables and musical participation
56
(Table 4), this negative effect is hidden. But once we specifically parcel out the effect of the
Hispanic variable in the full model (Table 5), the positive effect between concert-specific
barriers and participation increases. We can conjecture, then, that the source of the inflation in
the concert-specific effect after the addition of controls is the Hispanic variable.
A suppression effect occurs also with respect to the personal responsibilities barrier and
musical attendance. Table 4 indicates a negative effect between these two variables; specifically,
facing this barrier decreases the logged odds of having attended a classical concert by -.258.
With the addition of control variables in the Table 5, however, this negative effect of personal
responsibilities on classical attendance becomes even more negative, by the coefficient of -.286.
The effect of this barrier on opera attendance, which was insignificant in Table 4, also becomes
significant after the addition of control variables. In Table 5, facing personal responsibilities
decreases the logged odds of opera attendance by -.326. This means that the control variables
fail to explain away the negative relationship, but seemingly intensify it. The source of
suppression in this case is likely the age variable. Each additional year of age decreases the
likelihood of facing personal responsibility barriers, but it also decreases the likelihood of
attending opera concerts. The multiplication of two negative effects yields a positive one. This
positive effect remains hidden, however, when we only examine the bivariate relationship
between personal responsibilities and opera attendance (Table 4). By specifying the effect of age
in the full model (Table 5) we parcel out the positive effect it shares with both personal
responsibilities and opera attendance. With the positive effect specified elsewhere, the effect
between personal responsibilities and opera attendance seems even more negative.
One question that might arise is the possibility for confusion between the roles of some of
the variables in the final model. For instance, I treat the personal psychic state as a barrier, but
one might argue that it is more appropriate as an indicator of cultural capital. Feeling
uncomfortable at a highbrow concert might indicate that an individual does not know the proper
concert etiquette, a sign of having low cultural capital. Education, as I am treating it in this
paper, is also an indicator or input for cultural capital. The concern might be that these two
variables are conflated with one another. However, looking at Tables 4 and 5, it is apparent that
the role of the psychic barrier remains consistently insignificant across the classical and opera
models even after education is considered. The role of education, in Table 5, has an effect over
57
and above this barrier. Therefore, I argue that psychic barriers and education have a distinct role
in the causal model; they do not both indicate cultural capital, at least not in the same way.
Education has a positive effect on classical concert attendance, while psychic barriers have no
effect. What I achieve in this paper is a test of the role of barriers holding constant education and
income, two factors that have been shown to have an effect on highbrow attendance. Now that
we see that certain barriers have an effect on attendance (in particular, concert characteristics,
responsibility, and health), the next step might be to understand whether any of these barriers are
indeed indicators for other concepts (e.g. cultural capital) and whether we can pinpoint some of
the mechanisms through which these barriers work.
8 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The main purpose of this paper was to consider the theoretical and empirical significance of
barriers in mediating the relationship between class and cultural capital on the one hand and
cultural participation on the other hand, an avenue of research previously neglected in cultural
capital research. The findings corroborate previous research suggesting a positive relationship
between these factors, and show that barriers are indeed important to consider in causal
modeling. Similar to prior studies, we find that the members of the dominant class are more
likely to attend highbrow concerts. Each incremental rise in income leads to an increase in the
likelihood of attending the same concerts. In the same vein, highly educated people are more
likely to attend classical and both types of concert. As expected, having some college
experience, a university degree, and experience with postgraduate studies translates to
incrementally higher likelihoods of classical concert attendance, perhaps because more and more
cultural capital is achieved at each level of schooling. Interestingly, having a high school degree
has virtually no impact on attendance to classical and both types of concert. This finding means
that the cultural capital transferred in high school is minimal compared to the amount achieved in
higher education institutions. The level of cultural capital attained at the end of high school is
not significantly more than what is cultivated with just a few years of high school.
When examining the education results, it is important to keep in mind that the reference
group is less than high school. This means the significance of the coefficient for each category
of education in the classical music model is determined in comparison to the less than high
58
school group. The findings in Table 5 say nothing about the differences between adjacent
educational levels. In order to better understand how each additional educational milestone
affects attendance, and whether there is a point where further higher education no longer brings
about improved chances of classical music engagement, I ran some post-hoc tests (not shown) to
investigate the differences between education categories. The tests show that the difference
between having some postgraduate experience a university degree categories is insignificant.
This means that the effect of higher education on classical music attendance reaches its greatest
yield at a university degree; having additional postgraduate experience does not translate to
further returns for this type of highbrow participation. However, for lower levels of education,
additional attainments appear to make a significant difference in increasing the likelihood of
classical music attendance. In other words, university graduates are more likely than people with
some college experience to go to classical concerts, and likewise, this latter group of individuals
is more likely than high school graduates to participate. Again, high school graduates do not
attend classical concerts significantly more than high school drop outs, suggesting that the high
school years as a whole do not cultivate a taste for the highbrow.
I additionally map out the significance of barriers in the overall relationship between
class and cultural involvement, demonstrating that women face more barriers and higher class
people face fewer barriers. Women are more likely to face multiple counts of every barrier
explored except for health problems (no effect of gender) and psychic barriers (women are more
likely to face one psychic barrier but they are not more likely than men to face more than one
psychic barrier). These findings corroborate the work cited in the literature review (Cortis 2009)
demonstrating how women’s discomfort in the realm of sports obstructs their participation. The
notion of discomfort in sports is comparable to the concert-related discomfort explored by my
psychic barrier; women tend to face this problem more often than men. The wealthy and
educated are significantly less likely to encounter concert characteristic, concert logistic, psychic,
and health barriers than their lower class counterparts. This negative association between class
and barriers is important, as facing barriers generally lowers the chances of attending highbrow
concerts.
Although the findings point to the theoretical and empirical importance of barriers, I find
that exposure to barriers fails to explain the relationship between class and cultural participation.
59
Granted, education protects people from encountering concert-specific, logistical, psychic and
health barriers. What warrants further investigation, though, is the role of mechanisms in this
causal model. Does education protect people from facing barriers because it helps them to
overcome the mechanisms that make these barriers an actualized problem? Similarly, income
lowers people’s likelihood of encountering all types of barriers except personal responsibility.
Further work should untangle whether this protection works because high income can block
certain mechanisms that make the barrier a reality.
However, despite the powerful role of class on barriers, barriers do not account for the
well-established positive impact of class on highbrow concert attendance in the overall causal
model. Adding barrier variables minimally decreases the effect of education and income on
concert attendance. Thus, these results support Hypothesis Two, which suggests that the effect
of class on cultural participation does not channel through barriers and possible mechanisms.
These findings suggest that class may channel its impact through a yet unspecified factor.
The weak explanatory potential of barriers in the overall relationship between class and
cultural capital on cultural participation does not mean that this project was fruitless. Instead, the
specification of this factor was necessary, as it confirms that previous projects, which ignore the
role of these barriers, did not neglect an important theoretical and empirical component. The
findings of the current project provide several avenues for future research. First, that we
eliminated the explanatory potential of eleven barriers does not mean that other types of barriers
do not play an intervening role in the focal relationship. Future work can examine other types of
barriers unspecified here; for instance, language difficulties or lack of access to concert
information. To complement the current quantitative project, further work on barriers should
consist of a qualitative component where researchers speak with respondents about their cultural
experiences. These interviews will help us better understand the relationships between different
barriers and identify their possible sources, questions that are difficult to address in surveys.
More importantly, however, qualitative research will reveal whether and how respondents cope
with barriers to cultural participation. Do people allow barriers to reduce/eliminate their cultural
activities? Or, are people actively trying to overcome their barriers in order to lead culturally-
richer lives? Which groups of people retaliate against barriers and which groups concede?
60
Further, although barriers do not seem to explain the relationship between class and
highbrow participation in the present study, a question of interest that arises is whether barriers
operate in the same way for people of low and high cultural capital backgrounds. For individuals
in higher classes who possess a habitus that suggests that highbrow participation is within reach,
what type of effect would facing barriers have on that taken-for-granted entitlement to
participation? Conversely, if individuals from the lower class, who consequently have lower
cultural capital, have been raised with a habitus that classical music and opera are outside the
realm of the possible, would facing barriers affect whether or not they end up participating in
highbrow concerts? In other words, since lower class people might not want to go to concerts,
does that mean they do not have barriers to participation or that barriers do not matter to them?
Answering these questions first requires us to theorize about the relationship between the
habitus and barriers. Because the items in the survey ask respondents to indicate, in their
opinion, whether or not they have faced particular barriers, it is logical to presume that we are
measuring the perception of barriers, which could be formed through actual encounters with real
barriers. The perception of barriers, I argue, can be considered a function of the habitus. If one is
raised with a habitus that considers highbrow participation within the realm of possibility, then
perhaps one also believes in the potentiality of overcoming any actual barriers that arise, by
drawing on cultural and other types of capital. In other words, even if these high class
individuals identify potential barriers (e.g. a concert may be very far away), they are confident
that they could depend on other resources to nullify the problem and attend the desired concert
(e.g. by purchasing a plane ticket and flying down to the distant venue), thereby rendering the
barrier a non-issue. Conversely, if one’s habitus foresees highbrow participation as impossible,
then it is likely that perceived barriers could effectively prevent participation. In fact, the
perception of barriers could be used in the overall justification, to self and to others, for why
highbrow concert attendance is not an activity to legitimately partake in. An important point to
keep in mind, though, is that perceived barriers might not work in isolation to prevent
participation. Rather, the perception of barriers may result from encounters with real obstacles
(e.g. lower class people actually do have less disposable income to spend on concerts), which
could mean that lower class people perceive more barriers. That being said, the flip side of that
argument is that the perception of barriers may also be shaped by initial motivations to attend
concerts in the first place, which is shaped by a habitus that dictates whether or not concerts are
61
within reach. Because lower class individuals might care less about attending concerts, they
might actually perceive fewer barriers. It is the ambiguity around "real" barriers and
"motivations" that combine to give us perceived barriers, and these vary by cultural capital or
class background. The ways in which perceived barriers, actual barriers and habitus work in
tandem to variously shape the highbrow participation patterns of various social classes should be
investigated in a future project.
Beyond refining the notion of barriers, a second avenue of future research could build on
how cultural participation is conceptualized. The current study considers cultural participation in
one way only—attendance to opera and classical music concerts in the last twelve months.
Different results can ensue when we examine other types of cultural attendance. For instance,
we can develop a more comprehensive measure of cultural activities by creating an index
featuring musical, visual arts, dance, and cinematic attendance. In addition to broadening the
range of cultural activities under study, refinements to the notion of cultural participation itself
are also worthwhile. Researchers can extend their inquiry beyond examining attendance rates,
and explore more passive (e.g. listening to music at home, watching dance shows on TV) and
active (playing musical instruments to an audience, creating art for exhibitions) forms of cultural
involvement.
Third, future studies should account for the effect of geographical location on barrier
exposure and cultural participation. I did not control for the state and rural/cosmopolitan region
of origin of the respondent, which is problematic because participation patterns vary across
different parts of the United States. Also using data from the 1997 Survey of Public
Participation in the Arts, Schuster (2000) reports that Massachusetts and New York have higher
overall participation rates than Texas, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Variations exist for different
types of cultural activities, but in terms of the highbrow art forms such as ballet, classical music,
and opera, these geographically-based trends generally hold true10
. Schuster (2000) suggests
that the explanations for these trends lie in the number of arts and cultural organizations per
capita and the percentage of the state population residing in metropolitan areas. Given these
10 The major exception is that in respect to opera, participation rates for Massachusetts fall just slightly above the
country’s average. Along with New York, California is most engaged with opera (Schuster 2000:18)
62
findings, a future study on barriers would benefit from accounting for geographical location; if
participation patterns differ across states, it is possible that the barriers faced might also vary.
Finally, since barriers did not prove to be a significant intervening factor for the
relationship between class and cultural participation, future research can test for the mediating
potential of other factors. For instance, although cultural scholars such as Bourdieu (1984) have
accorded theoretical attention to the role of childhood socialization in influencing later life
cultural tastes, few studies have empirically tested the impact of this factor. Future studies can
examine whether higher class individuals tend to be socialized in higher brow culture, and
subsequently become more likely to participate in higher brow cultural activities. This line of
inquiry embeds socialization as an intervening factor in the causal map relating class and cultural
participation. It asks whether socialization can explain away the positive association between
these two factors.
A comprehensive conceptualization of socialization is difficult to manage, as cultural
learning can include a wide range of activities and instillation formats. On a direct level, parents
can enroll their children in a variety of music, art, and drama lessons. Socialization can occur at
a specific point in life for a discrete time period (e.g. piano lessons from age 6-9), or it can come
and go in waves (e.g. piano lessons from 6-9, no music lessons from 9-13, high school band from
14-19). To complicate matters, socialization can also occur indirectly, through taking children to
cultural performances, listening to music at home, pointing out cultural figures in the news, and
cultivating a positive attitude towards art—just to name a few possibilities. For these types of
activities, it is even more difficult to deduce the issues of timing and duration or socialization.
These various ways of conceptualizing socialization, none of which researchers have sufficiently
exploited, render this a ripe field for further investigation. The existing theoretical groundwork
suggests that socialization holds promise to explain the relationship between class and cultural
participation, but only empirical work can flesh out its mediating capacity.
The current project contributes to cultural capital theory by providing an unprecedented
test of how barriers impact the expression of cultural capital. Although we find that barriers fail
to mediate the overarching relationship between class as an input for cultural capital on the one
hand and cultural participation on the other hand, the value of this project lies in its introduction
63
of the possibility of intervening variables in the causal model. Much of the current literature in
cultural capital theory takes for granted that class influences cultural participation without
empirically detailing how this process works. Bourdieu (1984) offers some explanation by
suggesting that higher and lower classes socialize their children in culture differently, resulting in
class-based variations in cultural tastes and practices in adulthood. These theoretical insights
are promising, but have been under-tested. The current project opens the door to further
empirical investigations into socialization and other factors that could explain the relationship
between class and culture.
64
65
66
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Table 2a: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Facing One or Two Concert Specific Barriers Compared to None, by Education, Income, and Control Variables
One Concert Specific
Barrier Faced
Two Concert Specific
Barriers Faced
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Main Effects
Education
High school -.541** -.446* -.449* -.984*** -1.055*** -.822***
Some
college
-.296 -.147 -.195
-1.371 -1.357*** -1.123***
Univ. grad -.457* -.192 -.243 -1.529*** -1.063*** -.813**
Post grad -.283 .017 .018 -1.165*** -.638* -.405
Income -.067*** -.052** -.078** -.037
Control
I.Demographic
Age -.005 .003
Female .498***
70
*** p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
.602***
Hispanic .417* .983***
Black .007 .251
Asian .259 1.106**
II.Family
Father’s
education
.012
-.032
Mother’s
education
.010
.000
Intercept .397* .586** .105 .155 .372 -.265
N 2406 2406 2406 2406 2406 2406
71
Table 2b: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Facing One or Two Concert Logistic Barriers Compared to None, by Education, Income, and Control Variables
*** p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
One Concert Logistic Barrier
Faced
Two Concert Logistic Barriers
Faced
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Main Effects
Education
High school .087 .192 .225 -.154 .122 .262
Some college -.335 -.178 -.113 -.810** -.399 -.080
Univ. grad -.505** -.233 -.119 -1.752*** -1.015 -.592
Post grad -.457* -.150 -.002 -1.422*** -.609 -.264
Income -.069*** -.062*** -.204*** -.174***
Control
I.Demographic
Age -.003 .008
Female .040 .499**
Hispanic -.131 -.173
Black -.151 -.706*
Asian .047 .354
II. Family
Father’s
education
-.072***
-.079*
Mother’s
education
-.030
-.074*
Intercept .794*** .991*** 1.556*** -.391 .149 .962
N 2406 2406 2406 2406 2406 2406
72
Table 2c: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Facing One or Two Personal Psychic State Barriers Compared to None, by Education, Income, and Control Variables
One Personal Psychic
Barrier Faced
Two Personal Psychic
Barrier Faced
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Main Effects
Education
High school -.551** -.455* -.407* -1.460*** -1.223*** -1.084***
Some college -.774*** -.627** -.590** -2.501*** -2.139*** -1.877***
Univ. grad -1.198*** -.930*** -.879*** -3.128*** -2.448*** -2.094***
Post grad -1.116*** -.817** -.747** -2.582*** -1.843*** -1.444**
Income -.072*** -.051* -.120*** -.210***
Control
I.Demographic
Age -.004 -.016
Female .379** -.453
Hispanic .198 -.562
Black .322 -.336
Asian .559 .699
II. Family
Father’s
education
-.016
-.010
Mother’s
education
-.002
-.155**
Intercept -.474** -.273 -.319 -1.063*** -.544* 2.037*
N 2406 2406 2406 2406 2406 2406
*** p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
73
Table 2d: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Facing One or Two Personal Responsibility Barriers Compared to None, by Education, Income, and Control Variables
One Personal Responsibility
Barrier Faced
Two Personal
Responsibility Barriers Faced
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Main Effects
Education
High school -.222 -.320 -.359 -.317 -.367 -.402
Some college .194 .046 -.048 -.249 -.322 -.443
Univ. grad .209 -.057 -.089 -.150 -.287 -.307
Post grad -.032 -.329 -.123 -.670* -.822** -.507
Income .068*** .063** .036 .048
Control
I.Demographic
Age -.042*** -.062***
Female .065 .612***
Hispanic -.039 .255
Black -.127 -.783**
Asian .211 .352
II. Family
Father’s
education
-.015
.017
Mother’s
education
-.002
-.045
Intercept .521** .336* 2.353*** -.265 -.306 2.173***
N 2406 2406 2406 2406 2406 2406
*** p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
74
Table 2e: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Facing the Health Barrier, by Education, Income, and Control Variables
*** p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
One Health Barrier Faced
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Main Effects
Education
High school -.853*** -.615** -.642**
Some college -1.177*** -.809** -.612**
Univ. grad -2.284*** -1.604*** -1.562***
Post grad -1.365*** -.620 -.968**
Income -.201*** -.146**
Control
I.Demographic
Age .068***
Female .109
Hispanic .067
Black .104
Asian -.336
II. Family
Father’s
education
-.013
Mother’s
education
-.052
Intercept -1.413 -.902*** -3.806***
N 2406 2406 2406
75
Table 3: Multinomial Logistic Regression Results: Likelihood of Attending Only Classical Concerts, Only Opera Concerts, and Both Classical and Opera Concerts Compared to Attending Neither Classical Nor Opera Concerts in the Last 12 Months, by Class and Control Factors
Classical Only Opera Only Both Classical and Opera
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Main Effects
Education
High school .697 .590 .401 12.179 12.041 12.800 -.521 -.644 -1.013
Some college 1.430*** 1.271*** 1.045** 13.527 13.326 13.969 1.045 .861 .437
Univ. grad 2.001*** 1.725*** 1.437*** 14.090 13.749 14.434 2.395*** 2.077** 1.584*
Post grad 2.338*** 2.034*** 1.689*** 13.784 13.407 14.219 2.871*** 2.519*** 2.031**
Income .070** .062** .084 .076 .080* .072
Control
I.Demographic
Age .013* -.015 .004
Female .233 .275 .363
Hispanic -.250 -.297 -1.149
Black -.099 -.447 -.777
Asian -.851 -1.539 .089
II Family
Father’s
education .054* -.074 .059
Mother’s
education .023 .143* .001
Intercept -3.067*** -3.265*** -4.523*** -16.614 -16.844 -17.834 -4.350*** -4.579*** -5.088***
76
N 2403 2403 2403 2403 2403 2403 2403 2402 2403
*** p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
77
Table 4: Likelihood of Attending Only Classical Concerts, Only Opera Concerts, and Both Classical and Opera Concerts Compared to Attending Neither Classical Nor Opera Concerts in the Last 12 Months, by Type of Barrier
Barrier Classical Only Opera Only Both Classical and
Opera
Concert Characteristics .193* .384* .532***
Intercept -1.808*** -3.657*** -3.326***
N 2403 2403 2403
Concert Logistics -.323** -.408 -.535**
Intercept -1.420*** -.3048*** -2.495***
N 2403 2403 2403
Personal Psychic State -.159 -.258 -.485**
Intercept -1.591 -3.240*** -2.702***
N 2403 2403 2403
Personal
Responsibilities -.258*** -.199 -.097
Intercept -1.344*** -3.096*** -2.745***
N 2403 2403 2403
Health Problems -0.832** -1.355 -2.659*
Intercept -1.608*** -3.276*** -2.785***
N 2403 2403 2403
*** p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
78
Table 5: Multinomial Logistic Regression: Likelihood of Attending Classical Only, Opera Only, and Both Classical and Opera Compared to Neither Type of Concert in the Last 12 Months, by Education, Income, Barrier and Control Variables
Classical
Only
Opera
Only
Both Classical
and Opera
Main Effects
Education
High school .412 12.751 -1.143
Some college 1.086** 13.955 .277
Univ. grad 1.473*** 14.420 1.370
Post grad 1.689*** 14.148 1.759*
Income .065** .084 .067
Control
I. Demographic
Age .011* -.017 .007
Female .204 .201 .279
Hispanic -.317 -.354 -1.220
Black -.184 -.520 -.786
Asian -.946* -1.666 -.139
II. Family
Father’s
education .054* -.076 .058
Mother’s
education .020 .139* .010
Barriers
Concert
Characteristics .370*** .618** .757***
Concert
Logistics -.160 -.267 -.286
Personal
Psychic State .074 -.008 -.226
Personal
Responsibilities -.286*** -.326* -.146
Health
Problems -.693* -.609 -2.216
79
Intercept -4.225*** -17.515 -5.141***
N 2403 2403 2403
*** p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
80
Chapter 3 When and For How Long?: Introducing the Life Course
Principles of Timing and Duration to Understand the Impact of Musical Socialization on Highbrow Musical Participation
Music is an important social aspect of everyday life. Many people spend their leisure time
listening to music, watching music videos, attending concerts, or playing musical instruments,
sometimes alone but often with significant others. While musical engagement is a constant in
many people’s social lives, their personal musical tastes and behaviors are ever-evolving. For
instance, as an illustration of changing tastes, those who loved top-40 pop music in their teens
might begin to favor the jazz in adulthood. Similarly, in terms of behaviors, those who played in
the school band in high school might stop their lessons in university, only to restart them in later
life. Patterns of musical preferences and habits vary greatly not only across individuals, but also
within individual life courses. (Benezecry 2009; Sloboda 2001).
Previous research by Pierre Bourdieu (1984) provides a theoretical framework for
understanding the cultivation of musical taste. Besides being one of the first pieces of research
to investigate tastes (see, also Gans 1974), the importance of Bourdieu's fundamental argument is
that socialization in music generally occurs in childhood, and this time-bound process determines
musical tastes that will endure for the rest of one's life. Focusing on highbrow music, he more
specifically claims that early exposure to this genre occurs among bourgeois11
children will lead
11 Throughout his work, Bourdieu (1984) uses the term “bourgeois” or “dominant class” (e.g. 1984:75) to refer to
upper class individuals. However, he specifies that the dominant class is not a homogenous group, but is constituted
of seven occupational fractions: teachers, public sector executives, professions, engineers, private sector executives,
industrial employers and commercial employers (see for example, 1984:118). These fractions vary in the amount of
economic and cultural capital they possess (1984:128). Some have high cultural and economic capital (professions,
private-sector executives, engineers), others have high cultural capital but lower economic capital (teachers and
public sector executives), and still others have lower cultural capital but high economic capital (industrial and
commercial employers). Because I am testing Bourdieu’s theories, I aim to cohere as closely as possible to his
definitions. As he clearly maps out in his space of social positions diagram (1984:128), highbrow music culture,
such as piano and opera are activities in closest relation to the fractions of the dominant class that is high in both
cultural and economic capital. Thus, when I refer to the dominant or upper class in this paper, I focus on those with
high cultural and economic capital; in particular, those individuals in professions, private-sector executives and
engineers, to use Bourdieu’s categorizations. Granted, current literature such as Stevens (2003) argue that upper
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to a lifelong fondness of it. Bourdieu's cultural theory is supported by a number of empirical
studies (Boal-Palheiros and Hargreaves 2001). However, one vital aspect of taste development
that Bourdieu leaves under-theorized is the dynamic nature of the socialization process, which
can start, end, and restart at any time. In this paper, I use principles from the life course
approach to revitalize research on this topic; specifically focusing on how the timing, duration,
and patterns of musical socialization influence later life orientation towards highbrow music. As
far as I know, the convergence of these two fields of study has not been previously attempted.
Acknowledging that what constitutes highbrow music can change historically (DeNora 1991),
the definition I use here is consistent with Bourdieu’s work and current social understanding, and
includes opera and classical music. Using quantitative data from the Survey of Public
Participation in the Arts (1997), a large-scale survey administered in the continental US, I
examine how parental social class, personal social class, and the timing of musical socialization
affect the likelihood of having attended classical and opera music concerts in the last year. In so
doing, I test Bourdieu’s cultural theory, which focuses on how early socialization predicts
musical participation, against the life course approach, which additionally considers the effects
of varying durations and later onset of socialization on this relationship.
9 LITERATURE REVIEW
9.1 The Bourdieusian Framework
Bourdieu’s framework is an appropriate theoretical starting point for this paper, as it offers the
most developed conceptualization of modern cultural taste and behavior. Although there have
class parents, who may have high economic capital but not necessarily high cultural capital, spend “thousands of
dollars” on lessons and camps “dedicated to nurturing their children’s athletic and artistic skills”, in hopes of
shaping their children into “ ‘talented’ athletes and musicians favored by admission offices at the nation’s most
selective schools” (Stevens 2007:244). It is, therefore, possible that parents from other fractions of the dominant
class who might not have high cultural capital but have an abundance of economic capital, now offer early musical
immersion to their children too. However, just because other fractions of the dominant class are now immersing
their children in music does not mean that the culturally and economically rich no longer do so. Therefore, I believe
that the practice of early musical immersion—though it may now be shared among families with lower cultural
capital—continues to be a valid indicator of high family cultural and economic capital, as used in Bourdieu (1984)
and in this paper.
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been newer cultural theories (e.g. Peterson et al. 1992's omnivorous thesis) that aptly theorize
cultural preferences and practices, thus far, none has examined the social determinants of taste to
the level of sophistication and complexity as Bourdieu’s theory. Bourdieu’s argument that
higher class individuals are predisposed to classical music as a result of early childhood
socialization deserves some attention here. According to Bourdieu (1984:63), the primary agent
of cultural socialization is the family. And every family, as Harker (1984:121) suggests, has “a
set of objective conditions in the material world which tend to have a structuring effect on family
sociali[z]ation practices.” Because of their high economic and cultural capital, higher class
families effortlessly reproduce highbrow cultural knowledge and “instinctive” taste in their
offspring through a process Bourdieu terms "mondain" socialization (1984:68-69). Higher class
parents, who often have both the financial resources to spend on non-essential activities
(1984:55) and a level of fluency with a musical instrument (Bourdieu 1984:75; Ho 2009), expose
their children to classical music in a variety of ways, such as by listening to highbrow music at
home on the radio and performed live by the “musical mother” (Bourdieu 1984:75). Bourdieu
(1984:75) also specifically notes that in addition to aural exposure to music, the bourgeois “child
is introduced at an early age to a ‘noble’ instrument—especially the piano.” Although the
meaning of “introduced” might at first be vague, and may be taken to mean being introduced to
listening to a noble instrument only rather than being introduced to playing the instrument as
well, excerpts in other parts of Bourdieu (1984) have convinced me to work with the latter
interpretation. In particular, when describing the differences in art reception between the classes,
Bourdieu (1984:19) contrasts the lower classes’ “belated knowledge [of musical works] through
records” with the upper classes’ practice of “playing the piano, the bourgeois instrument par
excellence”. The emphasis on playing confirms that when Bourdieu (1984:75) describes
bourgeois children’s introduction to the piano, he is implying that they do learn to play in the
process. Since learning how to play music on an instrument typically requires formal instruction,
I venture that bourgeois children are provided with music lessons as part of their mondain
socialization. The exposure of these upper class children to these lessons is natural and taken-for-
granted.
These activities—listening to classical music and learning to play an instrument—
unquestioningly accepted as integral to family life, ensure that children develop an appreciation
of highbrow music. The understanding and preference for this genre becomes part of the child's
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habitus--his or her taken-for-granted "matrix of perceptions, appreciations, and actions"
(Bourdieu 1977:92). The habitus, formed through childhood socialization, is a metaphorical lens
that colours “perceptions, appreciations, and actions” towards culture throughout life (Harker
1984; Bidet 1979; Reay 2004). Bourdieu (1984:75) comments that the early immersion of
bourgeois children into the world of highbrow music has the effect of “producing a more familiar
relationship to music” that endures throughout life. This early immersion and resulting lasting
familiarity has implications for class relations, as embedding a love of highbrow culture in the
habitus of high class youth guarantees the reproduction of these tastes among these privileged
members of society.
Conversely, lower class families have neither the financial resources nor the fluency and
respect for high culture to begin socializing their children in highbrow music from a young age.
These parents rarely engage with highbrow music at home, and are unlikely to enroll their
children in music lessons. Only when these lower class individuals are older might they
purposefully enroll themselves in some form of highbrow music education, perhaps as a strategy
to increase their social status. This type of “pedantic” socialization, less rigorous and occurring
later in life, does not encourage a deep understanding and appreciation for highbrow culture
(Bourdieu 1984:68-69). Pedants never quite develop a refined highbrow taste, especially not for
works outside “‘scholastic’ culture” (Bourdieu 1984:65). Thinking in terms of habitus, lower
class children who are not socialized in highbrow music are unlikely to develop a taken-for-
granted disposition for it. Even if some knowledge of highbrow music is achieved, their
relationships to music will be “always somewhat distant, contemplative, and often verbose”
(Bourdieu 1984:75). Under-socialized in highbrow culture, some lower class children might
even believe that a taste for the fine arts is outside their realm of possibility, as other authors
suggest (Reay 2004; Swartz 1997). In other words, they will think that the fine arts are not for
them to legitimately enjoy. Because the habitus is an enduring lens through which one views the
self in relation to the world, these individuals are unlikely to venture into highbrow culture, even
in later life. The self-selection against highbrow culture leads to a reproduction of lower brow
taste amongst the lower classes, meanwhile, guaranteeing the consumption and enjoyment of
highbrow arts exclusively amongst the higher classes.
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Empirical studies conducted since the time of Bourdieu's theory lend support to its
robustness. For instance, some researchers use survey data to demonstrate the importance of the
family tradition in cultural reproduction. In his study of students in Hong Kong, Ho (2009) finds
that parental influence is very important in children's musical education. Amongst parents who
play an instrument, about two-thirds of their offspring also play an instrument. More recently,
qualitative studies have found that these early opportunities for musical exposure, provided
through the family, lead to an increased tendency of enjoying highbrow music in later life. In
interviews with seniors, Carr (2006) found that those who continue to play music in retirement
strongly attribute their current musical activity to exposure in early childhood. Most respondents
remember their families’ involvement in their musical immersion, citing parental efforts to listen
to classical music at home. Taken together, these studies illustrate Bourdieu’s argument that
“mondain” socialization, occurring in high class families, has implications on both the likelihood
of experiencing early musical training and later life musical engagement.
Although Bourdieu’s focus on the enduring effects of childhood exposure is soundly
articulated and well-supported, an important theoretical fissure lies in his inattention to the
possibility of discontinuous socialization, and furthermore, to the impact of socialization during
the transitional stages in life (e.g. adolescence and early adulthood). Individuals’ musical
trajectories can take varied and dynamic forms; socialization can start, stop and restart at any
time and can occur for any duration of time. Bourdieu’s focus on childhood prevents us from
answering one pivotal question: How does starting socialization at different points in the life
course, for different durations of time, affect musical tastes? To find the answer, I look to the
life course tradition for research tools.
9.2 Introducing the Life Course Paradigm to Cultural Research
The life course paradigm is “a theoretical orientation that guides research on human lives within
context” (Elder 2003). More specifically, this approach examines the ordered “sequences of
roles and experiences” (Elder 2003:8) from birth to death, while focusing on how individual
lives are connected with both the lives of significant others and with the broader social-historical
context. A primary assumption is that individual lives can take a myriad of trajectories, and
these divergences result from individuals selecting options “that construct their life course within
the constraints of particular worlds” (Elder et al. 251). For instance, the positive experiences of a
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65 year-old male in the retirement phase in life is attributable to the education, career and family
decisions he was able to make while growing up in a typical nuclear family home during a
climate of post-war economic boom. Thus, the life course approach emphasizes the role of
human agency in determining individual life courses; personal well-being in later life depends on
the types of decisions people were able to make, given the constraints and opportunities
presented through personal social ties and the broader social-historical context, at transitional
points in earlier life (Jackson 2004).
Given that this approach focuses on experiences and roles spanning across individual
lives, attention to the various dimensions of temporality is vital. Wheaton and Reid (2008:196)
argue that “[d]uration, timing, and sequence are the cornerstone concepts of the life course
perspective”. Timing refers to “the specific attendant social circumstances that apply at the time
of a life transition, event, or change”, duration is defined as “the length of time in a given state”,
while sequence is “the order of events or roles, regardless of timing” (196). In other words,
timing specifies when an event or role occurs, duration describes how long it lasts for, and
sequence explores the order of its occurrence in relation to other markers in the life courses.
Because this paper examines only one particular event, socialization, sequence is less important
to my analysis. Instead, I focus on timing and duration.
The attention to timing and duration makes the life course paradigm particularly useful in
illuminating the effects of musical socialization. Borrowing these concepts opens up the
possibility of conceptualizing musical socialization as a lifelong process, where the timing and
duration of the learning experience can impact later life musical tastes. Whereas Bourdieu’s
approach assumes that the timing of the musical socialization is usually located in childhood, the
life course paradigm allows us to conceive of the possibility that individuals decide to start, end,
and restart at any point in life. Over the last forty years, the life course and social psychology
literatures have highlighted the over-emphasis of previous work on the importance of childhood
socialization. Researchers have alternatively argued that socialization occurring in later life, in
particular during transitions, or stages where individuals experience a change in status (George
1993), has as great of an importance as early life socialization on the development of personality
and the fulfillment of roles in adulthood (Punyodyana 1971:232). The logic is that childhood
socialization alone is inadequate in preparing individuals for new and changing adult roles; to
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meet new expectations and challenges, individuals must rely on later life socialization (Brim and
Wheeler 1966, cited in Punyodyana 1971). The vitality of and dependence on later life
socialization during the life course, thus, leads me to argue that it has even more permanent
implications than early socialization. Given these findings, the assumption is that with respect to
musical socialization, individuals who were first exposed to music lessons during the teenage or
adult years will be more likely to prefer highbrow music in adulthood than those first trained
during childhood.
In addition to enabling the specification of timing, the life course approach allows for the
consideration of how duration of musical training matters for eventual musical outcomes.
Because people can start and stop lessons at any time, individuals tend to experience varying
lengths of musical exposure occurring at continuous or discontinuous spurts. The life course
assumption is that individuals who received lessons for a longer cumulative period of time are
more likely have persistent highbrow musical tastes than those who trained for a shorter, finite
period of time.
To the best of my knowledge, research in the area of musical socialization has not
explicitly considered the issue of temporality in a systematic way, although a small corpus of
literature in the area of music taste and behavior demonstrates that individual musical
preferences evolve over time. Conducting a survey among elementary school students, Crowther
and Durkin (1992) discover that as children move from second to sixth grade, they become
increasingly interested in music education, including singing and instrument-playing. These
findings complement research on teenage musical habits, which also attest to elevated interest in
music over time. For instance, Nuttall (2008) and Miell and Littleton (2007) both demonstrate
how, over time, teenagers can become increasingly engaged in and serious about music,
considering it an important aspect of their lives. While for many, adolescence is an opportune
time to delve into learning and playing music, other individuals do not begin their musical
endeavors until the college years. Price (1988) and Price and Swanson (1990) show that the first
year of college is when a sizeable number of students begin their first classical music
appreciation classes. After only a year of instruction, these students tend to develop favorable
opinions of classical music (Price and Swanson 1990), especially if they did not hold such
preferences before the course (Price 1988). Examining the effects of music appreciation courses
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that focused on jazz and rock, Jumpeter (1985) similarly discovers that college students’
enjoyment of these musical genres increased at the conclusion of the course. The effectiveness
of late onset socialization in impacting musical taste is once again confirmed in a study about
opera-goers. While Bourdieu (1984) argues that the taste for opera results through early
immersion in childhood, Benezecry (2009) finds that a group of devoted opera attendees in
Buenos Aires developed a love for the art through socialization in later life. The process to
becoming a fanatic occurred through informal bits of conversation with others, through opera
classes, and through observing the behavior of other connoisseurs; all of these activities
exclusively took place in adulthood. These studies contradict Bourdieu (1984)'s argument that
early childhood socialization is incorporated into a rigid habitus, which determines taste and
practices for the rest of one's life. Instead, they corroborate the life course principle that
socialization can occur in later life, resulting in a reshaping of the habitus, and therefore, musical
tastes and behaviors.
While studies envisioning socialization as a lifelong process generally focus on the
development of new cultural preferences and practices as people age, several scholars point out
that individuals can also disengage from previous cultural practices over time12
. For instance,
although musical training both within and outside of school is a popular activity among
elementary school children, many disengage from this activity as soon as they enter high school
(Sloboda 2001; Baol-Palheiros and Hargreaves 2001). Using two vignettes, Sloboda (2001)
explains that children quit lessons because they find music boring, feel that their musical
achievements were no longer important in high school, and want to spend more time with their
friends. Baol-Palheiros and Hargreaves (2001) adds that the overwhelming focus on the classical
tradition within schools is incompatible with students' preferred genres of popular and rock;
therefore, children and adolescents lose interest. These findings, which suggest overall apathy
towards music after elementary school, are further corroborated in studies showing that
instrument playing at home declines between elementary and high school (Lamont et al. 2003).
Although older children do listen to music at home (Nutall 2008; Hargreaves 1995), they tend to
be less diverse in their tastes than their younger counterparts (Hargreaves 1995). Thus, these
12 Granted, it is not clear whether or not tastes remain once participation ceases.
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studies demonstrate the possibility that previously established musical behaviors can change as
people age, which partly contradicts Bourdieu’s argument that cultural habits endure. However,
it is possible that individuals’ tastes remain intact despite behavioral disengagement, but this
issue was not further explored in the cited studies.
Collectively, evidence for the dynamism of musical engagement and disengagement
illuminates that socialization is not rigidly bounded by childhood, nor are tastes necessarily
enduring. In reworking Bourdieu’s theory, Reay (2004) and DiMaggio (1979) argue that later
life changes in the material condition and cultural exposure can reshape the habitus. Offering an
even more volatile perspective on the habitus, Sulkunen (1982) suggests that even individuals’
daily practices can sculpt the habitus. These recent theoretical contributions, along with the
above-cited empirical studies, speak to the instability of the socialization and taste development
process. The life course approach enriches and extends Bourdieu’s theory of taste by allowing
for the examination of how socialization in later life works with or bypasses childhood
socialization to produce diverse outcomes for musical engagement.
10 HYPOTHESES
This paper will test the Bourdieusian and the life course perspectives on the determinants of
highbrow concert attendance. Figure 1 represents a set of possible pathways for the effect of
parental class, timing of socialization, and duration of socialization on attendance. Four
hypotheses are depicted.
[Figure 1 about here]
10.1 Hypothesis 1: Bourdieu hypothesis
The Bourdieu hypothesis illustrates Bourdieu’s theory that parental membership in the dominant
class determines the likelihood of early childhood music education, which in turn affects later
life highbrow concert attendance. It predicts that high class parents, in particular, those with
high economic and cultural capital, will enroll their children in music lessons at a young age.
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Early exposure to highbrow music guarantees that these individuals will appreciate and include
this taste as a taken-for-granted part of their habitus. Bourdieu believes that the habitus is
enduring, so the enjoyment of classical music will carry over from childhood into adulthood and
lead to an increased likelihood of classical and/or opera attendance.
10.2 Hypothesis 2: Life course timing hypothesis
The timing hypothesis tests the importance of the timing principle of the life course approach.
This hypothesis illustrates the possibility that current attendance to highbrow concerts depends
on when socialization first occurs, specifically, whether music lessons initially began in
childhood or in later life. It predicts that socialization in the transitional stages in life has the
most powerful effects on learning outcomes. Therefore, this hypothesis predicts that compared
to early onset of music training, later life onset has a greater effect on present day highbrow
concert attendance. Furthermore, this hypothesis suggests that the superior effect of late onset of
socialization holds true when comparing across single period and multiple period duration of
socialization.
10.3 Hypothesis 3: Life course duration hypothesis
The duration hypothesis tests the second principle of the life course approach, the impact of
duration. This hypothesis predicts that the total length of time spent in musical training matters
for predicting current attendance to highbrow concerts, meaning that multiple period exposure
has a greater effect than single period exposure on the measured outcome. The hypothesis
predicts this pattern to hold true when across early and late onset of socialization.
10.4 Hypothesis 4: Own class mediation hypothesis
The final hypothesis, which I refer to as the own class mediation hypothesis, suggests that the
timing and duration of socialization determines highbrow concert attendance but this effect is
90
mediated by one’s own social class; that is, the social class position that the individual achieves
through education and work, which could be different from the social class of his or her parents.
In other words, this hypothesis explains that cultural capital gained from musical socialization
will have differential effects on shaping one’s own social class. More explicitly, musical fluency
might increase one’s chance of being admitted into prestigious universities, and consequently,
attaining higher education and landing a high-status job. In turn, one’s own social class
membership will determine the likelihood of current highbrow concert attendance, with higher
classes attending at a higher rate than lower classes. Put simply, this hypothesis predicts that
personal class explains away the relationship between socialization and concert attendance.
11 IMPLICATIONS
Social scientists study musical tastes because it illuminates how cultural stratification is
intimately related to social stratification (Tanner et al. 2008). Bourdieu repeatedly demonstrates
that elite groups use culture to maintain and reproduce their own social status as well as to
exclude others from penetrating their social realm (Bourdieu 1984; Swartz 1997; Lamont and
Lareau 1988). The relationship between culture and structure hinges on the mechanism of the
habitus, which, argues Bourdieu (1984) is at once a “structuring structure” and a “structured
structure”. People use the habitus to organize their cultural perceptions and practices towards
culture; therefore, the habitus structures the world. But the habitus is itself structured to
correspond to the existing social hierarchy. Because the shape and form of the habitus depends
largely on the economic and social realities of day-to-day life, those from the same social class
share similar habituses. Conversely, those from different social classes tend to have varying
habituses. In this way, cultural tastes are entangled with social positioning.
In addition to providing further insight into the connection between culture and structure,
the current research examines how the timing and duration of socialization affect tastes.
Although previous work has uncovered how social factors impact taste, theoretical work thus far
has ignored the role of age, life stage, and time-bound patterns of socialization on taste
development. For instance, Bourdieu (1984) considers the effects of socialization during the
broadly defined period of childhood on cultural tastes in the equally vague life stage of
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adulthood. But the blanket approach to the issue of timing and duration of socialization bars us
from answering some important questions. For instance, does duration of socialization have an
effect on the development of highbrow taste, and does this effect vary depending on age of initial
(and subsequent) socialization? To what extent do individual tastes in adulthood differ across
those who have been socialized in music during different life stages? Finally, how does taste for
highbrow music compare across people who experience socialization in different periods
throughout the life course (e.g. beginning during childhood, stopping during the adolescent
years, and then resuming in adulthood; versus beginning in adolescence and stopping in
adulthood; versus beginning only in adulthood, etc.). By borrowing from the life course
approach, the current paper aims to address the effects of the timing and duration of socialization
on later life highbrow musical participation.
12 DATA AND METHODS
12.1 Data Source
My analysis is based on data from the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) [1997],
a questionnaire funded by the National Endowment of the Arts to investigate people’s
preferences and participation in a variety of art and cultural activities in selected cities across the
United States. This survey is the fourth wave in a series of surveys about cultural tastes and
behaviors; the others were conducted in 1982, 1985, 1992, and 2002. The 1997 installment is
unique in two respects. First, while the previous waves were appended to larger national
surveys, the 1997 wave was conducted as a stand-alone study; this characteristic gave it an
advantage over other waves. Research has shown that respondents can suffer fatigue and
become disengaged with the survey if they are given a large number of questions to consider,
which could have been the case with earlier waves featuring multiple long surveys. The 1997
cycle only asked questions about cultural attitudes and participation. The shortened length of the
responding process could have retained the participants’ interest and attention span, possibly
resulting in more thoughtful and detailed responses. Second, an examination of other datasets in
North America has confirmed that the 1997 wave offers unparalleled insight into the cultural
preferences and participation of a large segment of the population.
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Granted these advantages, we should note several drawbacks. Because the sample was
composed solely of people who owned telephones, this survey does not tap into the cultural
participation of people without phones, who are more likely to be from a lower income and/or
rural demographic. Furthermore, the administrators only focused on people residing in the larger
and more populated states of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida,
Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Texas, and California. Except in the case of California, no attempt was
made to distinguish the different metropolitan and rural regions within these large states. The
more sparsely populated states were altogether left out of the study or were lumped together in
vaguely categorized regions such as “Mountain” or “Remainder Pacific”. As a result of these
categorization decisions, it is unclear which areas were omitted or included. Consequently,
comparison between rural and metropolitan respondents’ experiences with participation,
especially in respect to the differential access to cultural events, was impossible. Both the
advantages and disadvantages of the design of this survey are important to bear in mind when
interpreting the results.
12.2 The Sample
The 1997 survey cycle samples 12349 Americans on their artistic and cultural tastes and
practices. However, the survey was administered in separate sections so participatns were not all
asked the same questions. All 12349 were asked questions about attendance to music concerts in
the past year, which is my dependent variable. These individuals also answered socio-economic
status and demographic questions, from which I derived my control variables. However, a sub-
sample of only 5467 people responded to the two questions about music lesson history: “First,
have you ever taken lessons or classes in music—either voice training or playing an instrument?”
and “Did you take these lessons or classes when you were: a. less than 12 years old?; b. 12-17
years old?; c. 18-24 years old?; d. 25 or older?”, the items from which I created my focal
independent variable of the timing of socialization. Because information about the timing of
socialization is pivotal in my study, only those who responded to these questions were
considered for the final sample. Furthermore, because the socialization questions addressed
lesson enrollment up to the age of 25, I only included people over 25 at the time of the survey in
order to ensure that the responses are meaningful.
93
Unfortunately, the survey did not specifically distinguish the genre of music lessons
taken, which could affect the findings and the strength of my conclusions. While academic
sources suggest that piano lessons are the most common type of individualized music lessons
amongst children in the US (Duke et al.1997), I can only assume that the genre of music most
commonly studied is classical. Of course, there are individuals who learn other genres of music
(e.g. contemporary, jazz, folk, etc.) besides or in addition to classical music, on the piano or
another instrument. This is an important point to acknowledge because classical music holds
higher cultural capital than other genres of music (Bourdieu 1984). Therefore, if some
individuals in the sample learned other types of music, it is possible that they have acquired
different amounts of cultural capital compared to those who had an exclusively classical training.
The results need to be interpreted with this data limitation in mind. Specifically, what is
interpreted here as the effect of classical socialization on highbrow concert attendance may
actually be the effect of any type of socialization on highbrow concert attendance. In other
words, the results may not accurately reflect how the cultural capital attained from classical
socialization in different points and through various durations in life affect highbrow concert
attendance. Instead, they may speak more generally to how the comfort, familiarity, and
competence with music in general can impact highbrow concert attendance. Unfortunately,
without data that differentiate between genres, it is difficult to argue with certainty whether the
results are amplified or attenuated because of this limitation.
Because the survey was administered in parts to different individuals, there were some
missing values in my target sample. In order to fill in the gaps in data, I used the proc mi and
mianalyze functions in the SAS statistical package. The first procedure performs five rounds of
imputations that the second procedure averages and enters in place of the missing values.
However, each imputation produces a slightly different sample size. As a result, my N ranges
between 4925-4932. Note that a final weight is applied to the sample before analysis, according
to the recommendations of the survey designers, in order to reduce sampling error and to obtain
estimates that are representative of the population surveyed (SPPA 1997).
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12.3 Dependent Variable
The dependent variable for this study is attendance to classical and opera concerts in the last
twelve months. Participation in one or both of these genres is generally agreed upon to be a
sound expression of an individual’s high cultural capital. Two survey items operationalize
classical and opera attendance: 1. [With the exception of elementary, middle, or high school
performances] Did you go to a live classical music performance such as symphony, chamber, or
choral music during the last 12 months?; and 2. [With the exception of elementary, middle, or
high school performances] Did you go to a live opera during the last 12 months?
Using the responses to these items, I created a highbrow concert attendance variable with
four levels: 1. attendance to neither classical nor opera concerts in the last 12 months (the
reference group); 2. attendance to only classical concerts in the last 12 months; 3. attendance to
only opera concerts in the last 12 months; and 4. attendance to both classical and opera concerts
in the last 12 months. Table 1a presents the frequency distribution of the four levels of the
dependent variable.
Table 1a: Frequency Distribution of the Type and Combination of Highbrow Concert Attended in the Last 12 Months
Type of Concert
Attended
Frequencies by N
(range across five
imputations)
Frequencies by
Percentages^
Classical Only 788-790 16%
Opera Only 106-107 2%
Both Classical and
Opera
188-188 4%
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Source: Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, 1997: [United States]
^Frequencies are approximations calculated using the highest number in the range, divided by the highest possible
total (4932)
*Total Used is 4505
12.4 Independent Variable
Table 1b illustrates the various levels of the timing of socialization, the independent variable. I
operationalized this variable with two questions in the SPPA (1997) that asked for respondents'
music lesson histories. Again, these questions were : “First, have you ever taken lessons or
classes in music—either voice training or playing an instrument?” and “Did you take these
lessons or classes when you were: a. less than 12 years old?; b. 12-17 years old?; c. 18-24 years
old?; d. 25 or older?”
To process the responses to this set of questions collectively, for the purpose of creating a
comprehensive picture of the respondent’s overall musical trajectory throughout the life course, I
coded the responses to each question as either 0 (no) and 1 (yes). Thus, each individual’s music
history can be described with a 4-digit binary code. For instance, 0011 depicts the experience of
someone who did not have lessons under age 12 nor between 12 and 17, but did take lessons
between 18 and 24 and after 25. This coding method revealed 16 possible training sequences.
Using theoretical reasoning for guidance, I abstracted these 16 trajectories into more
manageable conceptual categories. First, I combined 0001 and 0010 to form one category named
Adult Only, which describes a one-time exposure experience beginning in adulthood. A second
amalgamation involved grouping 0101 and 0110 together to form the Teen Recur group. These
sequences refer to the same theoretical concept of exposure beginning in the teenage years and
Neither Classical Nor
Opera
3843-3849 78%
Total Read* 4925-4932 100%
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reoccurring at one other period in time. The third amalgamation combined the sequences of
1001, 1010, 1011, 1100, and 1101 to form the Child Recur category. This category describes a
socialization experience beginning at childhood and reoccurring in at least one other time period.
The remaining categories consist of a single sequence describing a theoretically distinct
socialization experience. None (0000) describes zero exposure to any form of musical
socialization at any point in life. It serves as a reference category against which all of the
exposure sequences are compared. At the other end of the spectrum, all (1111) illustrates the
experience of lifelong musicians. Child Only (1000) and Child Successive (1110) both illustrate
socialization that begins in childhood. The difference is that the former sequence describes
exposure in this early time period only; the latter sequence refers to exposure spanning across
childhood, adolescence, and into early adulthood. The later-start counterpart to the previous two
categories is Teen Only (0100) and Teen Successive (0111). Teen Only depicts socialization
bound within the teenage years, while Teen Successive suggests socialization beginning in
adolescence but extending through early and later adulthood. Finally, Adult Recur (0011)
describes lessons beginning in adulthood that recur for a second period time.
Having created a set of 10 conceptual categories, I further abstracted them into four
distinct timing and duration typologies that reflect my hypotheses (Table 1b). The first two
typologies test the effects of early versus late timing of socialization. First, early timing
illustrates the Bourdieu hypothesis that musical socialization beginning in childhood has the
greatest effect on later life highbrow musical engagement. Child Only, Child Recur, Child
Successive, and All, are the exposure sequences categorized under the early timing typology
because they all describe socialization that begins in childhood. Second, late timing addresses
the timing hypothesis that socialization occurring in the later, transitional stages in life has an
important effect on learning outcomes. This typology combines Teen Only, Teen Recur, Teen
Most, Adult Only, and Adult Recur, which all describe socialization initiated after childhood.
The third and fourth typologies tests for the effects of long-term versus short-term
socialization. The third typology combines Child Only, Teen Only, and Adult Only to describe
socialization occurring in one time period only in the life course. Conversely, the last typology
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includes Child Recur, Child Successive, Teen Recur, Teen Successive, Adult Recur, and All,
which depict socialization taking place in multiple periods in the life course.
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Table 1b: Categorization of Timing Sequences
Individual
Music Lesson
Socialization
Profiles
N (range
across five
imputations)
Categorization of Socialization Sequences into
Timing/Duration Types
Early Timing Late Timing One Period
Only
Multiple
Periods
None 2358-2364
Child Only 432-434 X X
Child Recur 885-888 X X
Child
Successive
224-225 X X
Teen Only 447-449 X X
Teen Recur 160-160 X X
Teen
Successive
31-32 X X
Adult Only 200-201 X X
Adult Recur 35-35 X X
All 118-119 X X
*N’s are calculated after the proc MI procedure
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12.5 Control Variables
Control factors are those that share a relationship with both the dependent variable of highbrow
concert attendance and the independent variable of socialization. There are two sets of control
variables in this study: social-economic origins and demographic factors. First, previous studies
on cultural participation have operationalized socio-economic origins, or parent social class, by
the combination of responses on parental education, income, and occupational status questions
(DiMaggio and Useem 1978; Katz-Gerro 1999). Unfortunately, parents’ income and
occupational status were not available in this survey, preventing me from replicating this
comprehensive measure of class. Instead, I consider parental education as the proxy for socio-
economic origin.
To construct a parental education variable, I relied on two items asking for mother’s and
father’s highest education level. The importance of including this control is that individuals
coming from a higher social class may be offered more opportunities for musical socialization
and may be more likely to attend highbrow concerts in later life. Table 1c shows how the
education variable was recoded from nominal categories into a continuous “years of education”
variable. This allows for a more intuitive interpretation, as the independent variable can be
presented as a stand-alone variable instead of a cumbersome series of twelve dummy variables.
Paredmax13
is the highest level of education in years attained by either the father or the mother.
Table 1c: Conversion of the education variable from qualitative to quantitative categories
Qualitative education category Quantitative years of education
(recoded)
13 I also experimented with creating a variable standing for the mean of father’s and mother’s education, which
yielded similar results.
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(original)
7th
grade or less 6
8th
grade 8
9th
to 11th
grade 10
12th
grade but no diploma 12
High school diploma or equivalent 12
Vocational/technical program 13
Some college but no degree 14
Associate’s degree 14
Bachelor’s degree 16
Graduate or professional school, no
diploma 17
Master’s degree 18
Doctorate 20
Professional (MD/DDS) 20
Source: Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, 1997: [United States]
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In addition to socio-economic origin, I considered the demographic controls of sex and age
category14
. Sex is a dummy variable with male as the reference category. Age describes the age
in years of the respondents in 1997, which is year the survey was administered. Previous studies
have shown that females are more likely to be socialized in music and attend highbrow concerts,
and elderly people are more likely to attend these concerts than the young (DiMaggio and
Mukhtar 2004).
12.6 Mediator Variables
I considered two mediator variables that might completely or partially explain the relationship
between the timing of socialization and concert attendance. The first mediator is one’s own
education level, operationalized with an item measuring the highest level of education achieved.
The response categories are identical to those provided in the items asking for father and
mother’s education and I recoded them in the same manner. The second mediator is income,
constructed from an item measuring the respondent’s household income in eight categories.
Although previous studies generally use dummy coding, I tried both the dummy and linear
midpoint coding of the income variable and found no significant difference. Therefore, I use the
income midpoints, rather than the range, for ease of interpretation. Table 1d below shows the
original household income categories and how I translated each into a midpoint category. I
divided the midpoints by 10 000 before running analyses.
Table 1d: Income variable categorizations
Original Household Income
Categories
Recoded Midpoint Categories
14 I originally included ethnicity as a control, but removed it after all tests showed insignificance.
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$10 000 or less $5000
$10 001 to $20 000 $15 000
$20 001 to $30 000 $25 000
$30 001 to $40 000 $35 000
$40 001 to $50 000 $45 000
$50 001 to $75 000 $62 500
$75001 to $100 000 $87 500
Over $100 000 $112 500
12.7 Methods
The purpose of this study is to determine how different trajectories of musical socialization
variously affect later life highbrow music concert attendance, while considering the extent to
which these differential outcomes can be explained by the mediating effects of personal
education and income. Highbrow concerts generally refer to both classical and operatic
performances, but opera is different from classical music in two main respects: first, the vocal
performance is foregrounded, and second, a story is visually represented. Because of these
differences, we cannot expect similar impacts of musical socialization on attendance to classical
and opera concerts. Thus, these attendance types were first considered separately and later
holistically as measure of general highbrow concert attendance. This approach allows me to
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compare how the different patterns of musical exposure influence attendance to only classical
concerts, only opera concerts, and both classical and opera concerts in the last year. In order to
make possible comparisons between different levels of outcomes, the statistical method I use is
multinomial logistic regression. All coefficients in the table and the analysis are presented in
logged odds.
13 RESULTS
13.1 Describing the Effects of Overall Timing and Duration of Socialization on Concert Attendance
The first set of results, illustrated in Table 2, compares the effects of early versus late timing and
multiple versus single period musical exposure. The first part of the table focuses on the effect
of timing on attendance to classical, opera, and both types of highbrow concerts. Recall from
Table 1 that early timing (ET) refers to lessons beginning in childhood; therefore, the sequences
included are Child Only, Child Recur, Child Successive, and All. Conversely, late timing (LT)
includes exposure starting in the teen or adult years, which are Teen Only¸ Teen Recur, Teen
Successive, Adult Only, and Adult Recur. Focusing first on the main effects data, we notice that
compared to no exposure, both ET and LT improves the chance of attendance to any type of
concert. However, the post-hoc tests show that when compared to one another, these timing
sequences share a similar effect on attendance. In fact, only in the case of classical concert
attendance does ET have a significantly larger effect than LT; there is no difference in the impact
of early compared to late timing for predicting opera and attendance to both types of concerts.
The findings suggest that individuals who are exposed to music in later life could just as easily
become opera-goers. This exception complicates Bourdieu’s claims that early exposure to music
is imperative for solidifying a highbrow taste in the habitus that encourages later life highbrow
cultural consumption.
The controls support the expected impact predicted in the literature. In particular,
parental education has a positive impact on concert attendance for classical and both types of
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concerts, increasing the likelihood of attendance by the logged odds of .220 and .289,
respectively, for each year of parental education. Age also has a positive effect on classical and
both types of attendance, as older people are more likely to attend classical and both types of
concerts. However, the interaction between age and parental education has no effect, except
minimally in the classical case, which means that the effect of parents’ education does not
decrease with age, as I had expected. Initially, I believed that as people age, their own
educational degrees allow them to adopt cultural practices that supersede the practices passed on
in the familial home, which were determined by their parents’ level of cultural capital; this was
not the case. Gender also has no effect on any of the attendance types, perhaps suggesting that
attendance occurs more in couples than as individuals. Considered collectively, the main effects
coefficients largely remain stable after controls, meaning that the effect of timing on concert
attendance is not attributable to the controls. One important note, though, is that after adding the
controls, early versus late timing makes no difference to the likelihood of classical concert
attendance. Therefore, while the controls do not explain away the effect of exposure in general
on concert attendance, they do explain away any difference between early and later timing,
refuting Bourdieu’s argument that early life “mondain” exposure is superior to later life
“pedantic” exposure in determining lifelong highbrow consumption.
The second set of results from Table 2 compares multiple periods (MP) versus one period
only (OO) exposure. Recall that MP includes exposure occurring in childhood and recurring, in
childhood and successive periods, in the teenage years and recurring, in the teenage years and
successive periods, in adult years and recurring, and in adult years and successive periods, while
OO refers to exposure occurring in childhood only, teenage years only, and adult years only.
The findings show that exposure across multiple periods compared to a single period has a much
greater effect on shaping attendance to all three types of concerts. For instance, experiencing
MP compared to no exposure increases the likelihood of classical and opera attendance by the
logged odds of 1.655 and 1.218. Conversely, OO increases classical concert tendencies by the
logged odds of .936, but it is not significantly different from no exposure for determining opera
attendance. Compared against one another in the post-hoc tests, MP and OO are shown to be
significantly different from each other, with MP having a superior effect over OO on the
outcome. These findings lend support to the life course duration hypothesis, which claims that
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sustained exposure over a long duration of time has a greater effect on shaping attendance
behavior than exposure occurring in a single time-bounded period in time.
The controls have a similar effect on the duration main effects model as they did on the
timing main effects model. Parental education and age again have a positive effect on attendance
to classical and both types of concerts. Gender has no effect, and the interaction between age
and parental education is only slightly significant for the classical case. Interestingly, as in the
timing model, the controls have no effect on opera attendance, which means that the taste for
opera does not depend on any of these factors or that the N for opera attendees (106-07) is too
small for an effect to be evident. Taken as a whole, this set of controls reduces the effects of MP
and OO exposure compared to no exposure on concert attendance. For instance, while MP
increased the likelihood of attendance to both types of concerts by a staggering logged odds of
1.726 in the main effects only model, it now only increases this tendency by the logged odds of
1.281when controls are considered. Despite softening the main effects, the controls do not
completely explain away the superiority of MP over OO in determining classical concert and
attendance to both types of concerts. Only in the opera model is MP no longer more effective
than OO in predicting attendance. Notably, socio-demographic factors, including parent class
background, are also insignificant in this model.
Collectively, the findings demonstrated in Table 2 signals that the conditions for opera
are theoretically different from classical music consumption. For instance, parents’ social class
may be insignificant because opera consumption depends less on having had early exposure,
which are generally offered by parents, than on later exposure. Of course, due to the small N of
opera attendees, this assertion is made with caution. Further specification of these processes
requires moving away from examining aggregates to focusing on individual exposure groups.
13.2 Explaining the Effects of Individual Exposure Sequences on Concert Attendance
While preliminary analysis sheds light on the aggregated timing and duration effects on concert
attendance, it overconfidently assumes that all individual exposure sequences categorized in the
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same group has an equal effect on the outcome. Post-hoc tests demonstrate that this is not the
case; variations in the impact on attendance exist amongst individual sequences within the same
timing and duration groups. This signaled the need to examine exposure sequences separately
from one another to understand their individual effects. Table 3 illustrates the main findings of
this procedure. The first part of the table depicts the individual exposure sequences as main
effects on each of the concert types. While the ranking varies slightly, across classical, opera,
and combined attendance the four types of exposure patterns that have the greatest effect on
attendance, compared to no exposure, are lessons in adulthood and recurring, lessons throughout
all periods in life, lessons occurring in the teenage years and recurring, and lessons beginning in
childhood and in successive periods. The particularly large coefficient of Adult Recurrent on
attendance to classical (2.340) and both types of concerts (2.383) is interesting, and can be due to
the economic means and enthusiasm of adults with newly acquired musical skills to attend
concerts. The sequence that has the smallest overall impact compared to no exposure is lessons
bounded in the teenage years only, which incidentally, is not even significant for predicting
opera attendance. In general, all exposure sequences have a greater impact on classical than on
opera attendance.
After adding the control variables, the main effects model remains largely stable. Some
notable changes, though, are that recurrent lessons beginning in childhood, successive lessons
beginning in the teenage years, and lessons in all time periods are no longer significant for
determining opera attendance. This means that the effects of these three exposure sequences are
completely attributable to parent education and personal demographic controls. An examination
of the control variables themselves shows that gender has no effect on concert attendance.
However, parental education does have a positive impact on the outcome. Older people are more
likely to attend classical and both types of concert, but age has no impact on opera attendance.
These findings are comparable to those in Table 1, where the socialization sequences were
grouped according to timing and duration.
Although, the paper has, thus far, distinguished the effect of timing from duration of
socialization on concert attendance, these two temporal dimensions do not work independently
of one another. Instead, their effects layer on top of one another in any given exposure sequence
to shape a particular attendance outcome. For instance, an examination of the single or multiple
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period duration of socialization must take into account whether it occurred in an earlier or later
period in life. Similarly, a focus on early or later timing of socialization should be mindful of
whether it took place over just one or multiple time periods. The post-hoc tests show whether
duration and timing effects persist independently of one another when one of these effects is held
constant.
In the first panel of post-hoc tests, I assess the impact of duration separately given early
timing and late timing. This allows us to see whether there is an interaction between duration
and timing, specifically, whether duration matters more in one timing case than the other.
Zeroing in on the effect of duration given early timing in the first set of post-hoc tests, it is
apparent that holding constant the introduction of lessons at childhood, a persistent and
continuing duration of socialization has a greater effect than intermittent exposure in improving
the likelihood of classical concert attendance. For instance, people who took lessons
successively since childhood compared to those who took lessons in childhood only are the
logged odds of 1.030 more likely to have attended a classical concert in the last year. However,
having had lessons in recurrent periods beginning in childhood is not significantly different from
having had lessons in childhood only for shaping classical concert attendance. Moreover, having
had lessons in all time periods has a greater impact relative to all the other exposure sequences
beginning in childhood, except for the successive type. These findings suggest that total
duration is not necessarily as important as the persistence of duration across periods since
childhood. Thus, if music exposure begins in childhood, duration matters, but mainly when it is
across contiguous life periods.
For opera, however, the results are quite different. The effect of duration given early
timing is largely insignificant between all comparison sequences except between lessons in
childhood only and successive lessons beginning in childhood. People experiencing the latter
sequence are the logged odds of 1.076 more likely than the former group to have attended opera
in the last year. Duration of exposure matters, but the differences between each additional period
of exposure is insignificant; only when comparing exposure in one versus three periods is an
impact apparent.
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The second set of post-hoc tests show that duration matters for later timing sequences.
Holding constant the onset of lessons at the teen or adult stages in life, continuous exposure has a
significantly greater effect on classical concert attendance compared to single period
socialization. For instance, people who have had recurrent lessons starting in the teenage years
are the logged odds of 1.482 more likely than those taking lessons in the teenage years only to
have attended a classical concert.
The patterns apparent for duration on later timing in the classical case mostly hold true
for opera. Notably, the data suggest that any type of recurrent lessons compared to single period
lessons amongst later beginners increases the likelihood of opera attendance. For instance, adult
beginners who took lessons recurrently are the logged odds of 1.010 more likely than adults who
were exposed in one period only to attend opera. Taken as a whole, the findings of these two
sets of post-hoc tests lend support to the life course duration hypothesis for the classical and
opera cases.
Interestingly, the impact of duration given later timing is weaker on attendance to both
types of concerts. The only significant comparison is between Teen Recurrent and Teen Only.
The indication here is that as we move from classical and opera attendance, to attendance to both
types of concerts, duration matters less amongst later beginners. This could indicate that other
factors unmeasured here have more of an influence on this type of attendance.
The last three sets of post-hoc tests examine the effect of timing holding constant
duration. First, amongst individuals socialized in one time period only, timing seems to have an
effect for classical but not opera attendance. In particular, people beginning lessons as adults or
as children are more likely than teenage beginners to consume classical music. That individuals
exposed to music in childhood are likely to engage with classical music in later life is
unsurprisingly; these findings fully support Bourdieu’s argument that early exposure matters for
cultivating enduring highbrow taste. But that adult beginners are more likely to persist with
classical music than adolescent beginners complicates his theory. An explanation may lie in the
different circumstances surrounding the onset of exposure in these two time periods. Amongst
teenagers, exposure is usually structured, occurring in a music appreciation or band class in high
school. Students may be compelled to participate in it in order to fulfill academic requirements
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even if they have no interest to do so. However, amongst adult beginners, participation is
volitional. Given the time and financial investments associated with music lessons, those who
start music lessons likely have a strong desire to learn music. Considered within the different
contexts of socialization, it follows that adult beginners are more likely than adolescent
beginners to attend classical concerts.
Examining the effect of timing on multiple-period socialization further complicates the
picture. The main finding is that later timing has more of an impact than early timing, given
multiple periods of exposure. For both classical and opera attendance, recurrent lessons
beginning in the teenage years has a superior effect over recurrent lessons beginning in
childhood. In the classical case, recurrent lessons in adulthood have an even greater effect than
recurrent lessons beginning in the teenage years. This set of post-hoc tests, thus, suggests that
Bourdieu’s argument for the superiority of childhood socialization in predicting later life
highbrow consumption is inapplicable for multiple period exposure. The superior impact of
early over late timing of socialization on classical attendance holds true when assuming that
socialization occurs in one time period only. But once we consider recurrent durations of
socialization, late exposure actually has a greater influence on classical concert attendance than
early exposure. That said, once the duration of exposure successively spans three time periods,
the advantage of later timing of exposure disappears. Interestingly, there are no differences due
to timing in terms of attendance to both types of highbrow concerts, reflecting earlier comments
about the more complex causation for this kind of attendance that may not have been measured
here.
13.3 Exploring the Effect of Individual Exposure Groups on Mediators
Having established the relationship between exposure sequences and concert attendance, the
remaining hypothesis to address is whether an individual’s personal class mediates this
relationship. To tackle this issue, I isolate and explore the relationship between individual
exposure groups and each of the mediators separately before considering them within the context
of the full model with control and dependent variables. The first column of Table 4 shows that
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each type of exposure sequence has a positive effect on educational attainment that remains after
the addition of controls. That said, the data from the Adult Only and Adult Recurrent sequences
are inconclusive because the sample only includes people over age 25—we do not know if the
decision to begin lessons as adults led to the pursuit of higher education, or if the achievement of
higher education inspired the later life initiation of music lessons. Thus, I focus on the data
available for child and teen sequences only because the causal logic can be affirmed; these
individuals began lessons before attaining their highest level of education. The exposure types
that seem to have the highest impact on educational attainment are All, Teen Recurrent and Child
Successive. These findings are congruent to DiMaggio (1982)’s findings that cultural capital, in
the form of music training and highbrow musical engagement, is linked to higher grades in
academic subjects such as English, History, and Math. Stellar performance in these core subjects
would enable individuals to attain higher levels of education. Conversely, the sequence with the
lowest impact is Teen Only. This finding is unsurprising, given that people who were socialized
in music during the teenage years likely only participated in school bands. School bands work
differently from school to school, but in many cases, students are enrolled in them as part of the
curriculum. Even when band is an elective, some students end up in it because none of the other
options appealed to them and/or parents and guardians urged them to do so. Thus, individuals
participating in school bands and falling into the Teen Only category may be much less invested
in cultivating the cultural capital that leads to high academic achievement.
Examining the post-hoc tests for education sheds further light on this preliminary
analysis. First, the results for the effect of duration on early timing of exposure are similar to
Table 3, where the effect of socialization on attendance is measured. While duration has an
effect independent of early timing, there is only a significant difference between non-adjacent
duration categories (e.g. no difference between 1 versus 2 periods of exposure, but a difference
between 1 versus 3 periods). Second, the effect of duration given later timing shows a
significant difference between recurrent lessons beginning in the teenage years and lessons
occurring in the teenage years only. Returning to the previous interpretation on cultural capital
investment and academic achievement, it follows that teens who prolong their musical training
develop the cultural capital that leads to academic achievement while others who take music
during a defined period in high school do not develop this cultural capital to the extent that it
could produce positive academic effects. However, it is important to note that not all types of
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formal training leads to the acquisition of high cultural capital. If the training is in classical
music, which is the assumption of this paper, then high cultural capital can be said to be attained.
If training is in other types of music, such as contemporary, the amount of cultural capital
attained may be lower. Third, the tests of the effect of timing on duration yield some interesting
findings. Timing matters for single period exposure in the sense that the Child Only group has
higher educational outcomes than the Teen Only group. The results speak to the possibility that
families insistent on the early enrolment of children in music lessons also emphasize educational
attainment, a finding established in the qualitative literature in this field (e.g. Dai and Shader
2001). Finally, timing seems to matter for multiple period exposure, but in this case, Teen
Recurrent tend to have higher educational outcomes than Child Recurrent. Learning to play an
instrument for the first time during the teenage years is difficult, and for these individuals to stick
with it through recurrent periods in their lives suggests that the acquisition of high cultural
capital is not only possible but highly successful when socialization onset occurs later in life.
The patterns described for the effect of individual exposure sequences on education is
largely similar on income. Again, musical exposure generally has a positive effect on income,
which remains even after controls are introduced. The three sequences that lead to the greatest
income returns, with some shifts in ordering, are the same as those that yield the highest
educational achievements: All, Teen Recurrent, and Child Successive. Results from post-hoc
tests are comparable, with the exception that there is no independent effect of duration given
early timing of exposure or independent effect of timing given multiple duration exposure. The
similarities in the regression results for education and income are unsurprising given that these
variables are positively correlated (r=.480).
13.4 Specifying the Mediating Effects of Education and Income on Concert Attendance
The own class mediation hypothesis suggests that the effect of socialization on highbrow concert
attendance is mediated by the personal class proxies of education and income. In other words,
socialization leads to higher personal educational and income outcomes, which in turn yields
increased highbrow concert attendance. The previous section, serving as the first step in testing
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this hypothesis, demonstrated a positive connection between exposure and the personal class
factors of education and income. The second step is to understand whether this relationship
implies that the effects of socialization on attendance are channeled through personal class
factors. Table 5 illustrates this procedure.
The total effects models shows the main effects of exposure groups plus controls on
concert attendance15
. The total effects coefficients are exactly the same as those from Table 3
(they were only replicated in Table 5 for ease of comparison against the total effects plus
mediator model) and I have interpreted these data in the previous section. I move immediately to
an interpretation of the total effects plus mediator model on attendance.
Considering education and income in the class mediator model sheds new insight to
previous interpretation. First, the data show that education and income both have positive effects
on attendance to all types attendance types. The coefficients denoting the impact of each year of
education and each level of income are not significantly different across classical and opera
attendance. What is significant is that education matters more for determining attendance to both
types of concerts than to any single type. Second, and more interestingly, the shift in the
exposure coefficients from the total effects to the class mediation model reveals that the effect of
exposure is not channeled through education and income for classical as it is for opera
attendance. For instance, in the classical case, adding education and income attenuate the
coefficients for each socialization group slightly, with the Child Successive, Teen Recurrent, and
All groups experiencing the greatest decreases of the logged odds by .477, .347, and .334
respectively. Despite these attenuations, all of the socialization patterns continue to have a
significant effect on classical concert attendance. Conversely, in the opera case, the previously
significant exposure sequences become either null or attenuated. Notably, the Child Successive
and Adult Recurrent sequences on opera attendance are completely accounted for by the
mediators, and the Teen Recurrent group, although still significant, experiences a decrease in
effect by the logged odds of .214.
15 Although the controls are accounted for in the modeling, they are not itemized in this table in the interest of
conserving space.
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That the relationship between exposure and attendance is almost completely explained by
personal class for opera but not for classical music highlights that the social value of these two
genres are not the same. Opera attendance is closely associated with high educational and
income attainment, which suggests that it operates as a social status signal. Classical music
attendance, however, is not as intimately linked to personal class. Instead, it is associated with
socialization occurring at some point in life, for at least one period in time. In other words,
classical music is not simply a cultural signal of high status that one can readily pick up once
high personal status is achieved. Its consumption is contingent upon a process of taste
development that occurs through socialization in highbrow music training, which in the early
years, are offered by parents. As a result, it follows that parental class has a strong significant
effect on the classical outcome. Conversely, the social value of opera attendance is strongly
connected to achieved social status. Consumption depends less on early exposure, so whether
one’s parents are from a high social class with the economic and cultural capital to offer lessons
is less important than whether one attains a level in the class hierarchy that puts opera attendance
within reach. In this sense, musical exposure increases the likelihood of high educational and
income achievements, and these factors in turn shape opera consumption.
14 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
The central focus of this paper was to compare Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory with the life
course approach on their ability to explain how parental class, personal class, musical
socialization shape highbrow concert attendance. I set up the argument by presenting four
hypotheses: the Bourdieu hypothesis; the life course timing hypothesis, the life course duration
hypothesis, and the personal class mediation hypothesis. The findings show strong overall
support for the life course duration hypothesis, but elements of each of the other hypotheses are
found to hold true in particular circumstances. This section summarizes the major findings and
demonstrates how they relate to the hypotheses framing the paper.
First, when considering aggregates of socialization patterns, multiple period exposure has
a superior effect over single period exposure on classical and both types of concert attendance
even after the addition of controls. Only in the opera case was there no difference detected
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between extended and limited duration of exposure after the consideration of controls, providing
a first hint that conditions for opera consumption may be different from classical consumption.
These patterns largely hold true even when socialization patterns are examined individually.
Post-hoc tests give further insight into the significant effect of extended musical exposure on
classical attendance, showing that duration has an independent effect on the outcome even after
holding constant both early and later timing of socialization. Tests also show that prolonged
socialization has an effect on opera attendance given later timing, but the effect is less prevalent
across early timing groups. These results, demonstrating the important effect of duration holding
constant the timing of exposure, lend support to the life course duration hypothesis.
Second, support for the Bourdieu and timing hypotheses is less clear, and conditional at
best. Examining the effect of aggregate socialization patterns on attendance, I found no
significant effect of early timing over late timing for any type of attendance after the
consideration of controls, which counters Bourdieu’s argument that early life musical
socialization is most effective for bringing about highbrow musical consumption. Moving
beyond aggregates to an analysis of individual exposure groups further clarifies these results in
relation to the two hypotheses. Post-hoc tests for the effect of timing holding constant single
period exposure reveals that beginning lessons in childhood or in adulthood leads to greater
classical music consumption in later life. This finding partially supports Bourdieu’s claims, as it
shows that individuals exposed as children have an increased likelihood of engaging with
classical concerts. However, it simultaneously complicates Bourdieu’s argument, lending
support to the life course timing hypothesis, because adult beginners are also more likely to
attend classical concerts. In other words, while there is support for the importance of “mondain”
socialization, there is concurrent support for the significance of “pedantic” socialization, which
Bourdieu so famously declares as inferior to bringing about true highbrow musical appreciation.
Granted, these data do not explore the notion of appreciation—a critic can argue that later
beginners may not actually appreciate the music as much their early counterparts. However,
these data show that adult beginners attend concerts too, demonstrating that they manifest at least
some appreciation of music, and they do so in the same way as early beginners.
Further post-hoc tests for the effect of timing controlling for multiple period exposure
suggests additional conditions qualifying Bourdieu’s argument. Given extended exposure, I find
115
that for both classical and opera, later onset of lessons has a greater effect on concert attendance
than beginning as a child. Thus, these findings demonstrate that Bourdieu’s argument for the
superiority of early over later socialization on shaping later life highbrow engagement holds true
when considering single period exposure, but not prolonged exposure. Considered together,
these data lend only conditional support for the Bourdieu and timing course hypotheses, and
again illuminates the superiority of the duration hypothesis in mapping out how socialization
shapes concert attendance.
Finally, the data show support for the personal class mediation hypothesis in the case of
opera but not classical concert attendance. Arriving at this conclusion involved a two-stage
process. I began by determining the effect of socialization on education and income attainment,
the proxies for personal class. The data reveal that exposure at any point in time for any duration
has a positive effect on education and income. Then, I incorporated personal class factors to the
full model testing the effect of individual socialization sequences on attendance. The findings
show that for classical concerts, any type of exposure has a significant impact in predicting
attendance, even after considering the personal class mediators. These results demonstrate that
personal class does not mediate the relationship between exposure and attendance, meaning that
the effect of exposure on attendance bypasses personal class. A taste and cognition for classical
music is probably developed through socialization, which shapes lifelong classical consumption
independently of achieved social class. Thus, classical consumption is not a status signal that
one acquires from achieving high personal social class; rather it is a direct consequence of
having been socialized in music. Dissimilar results are found for the opera case. Notably, only
the sequences describing recurrent lessons starting in the teen or adult years and successive
lessons beginning in childhood significantly predicts opera attendance. Importantly, these
effects are partially or completely explained away by personal class factors. This pattern
suggests that the effect of socialization on opera is channeled through personal class, which
provides evidence for the argument that opera attendance is a status signal that becomes
attainable once high personal class is achieved. Unlike classical attendance, it is not a
consumption pattern that results directly from previous musical exposure.
Given these contributions, an important limitation to bear in mind is that the focal
independent variable was operationalized by an item in the survey asking if participants had ever
116
taken music lessons. Unfortunately, the item did not allow participants to specify the genre of
musical socialization. The paper assumed that most participants were enrolled in classical music
lessons, but without a doubt, there is a possibility that a certain proportion of the sample learned
other types of music such as contemporary or jazz. Investments in different types of music yield
different returns in terms of cultural capital; when Bourdieu theorizes about the cultural capital
as expressed through music, he specifically distinguishes the high cultural capital of classical
music from the lower cultural capital of more popular genres. As a result of this limitation in the
data, the conclusions need to be considered carefully. For instance, one possible complication of
the finding is as follows: the paper shows that multiple period exposure to classical music,
especially if it began in later life, leads to an increased likelihood of highbrow concert
attendance. However, acknowledging that some individuals in the sample may have taken other
genres of music besides or in addition to classical, the results may instead suggest that extended
exposure to any genre of music can result in increased highbrow concert attendance. I have no
way of disentangling this information given the data, which neglect to distinguish the genres of
lessons taken. A follow-up study using data that differentiate genre of socialization is
recommended.
This paper has implications for the literature on cultural capital and consumption.
Previous research in these perspectives ignore the temporal dimensions of socialization, which
disarm it from theorizing about the nature of exposure as a dynamic process that can start, stop,
and restart at any time. Bourdieu’s work attempts to distinguish early from later timing of
socialization, but no definite markers are suggested for measuring the timing or timespan of
exposure periods. Lacking a clear approach for analyzing the related, but distinct, concepts of
timing and duration, theorizing about socialization that occurs successively or intermittently
between and within early and late time periods was impossible.
The fundamental contribution of this paper is its introduction of the life course approach
into cultural research, which, for the first time, allows us to consider how duration and timing of
musical exposure affects consumption. More importantly, the sophistication of the life course
perspective in theorizing the temporal dimensions of social phenomena enables us to disentangle
duration and timing effects from one another. The convergence of cultural sociology and life
course research encourages a refinement of existing cultural theory, opening the door to new
117
possibilities of cultural research that considers how the temporal nuances of socialization shapes
cultural capital and highbrow consumption patterns.
118
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Table 2: Types of Concerts Attended in the Last Twelve Months
Types of Concerts Attended in the Last 12 Months (Compared to None)
Classical Opera Both
Grouped Timing Main
Effects
Early timing (ET) 1.447 *** .946 *** 1.515 ***
Late timing (LT) 1.198 *** .888 ** 1.290 **
Intercept -2.628 *** -4.341 *** -4.336 **
Post-hoc test
ET-LT difference .250 ** .058 .225
Grouped Timing Main
Effects + Controls
Early timing (ET) 1.152*** .562 * 1.075 ***
Late timing (LT) 1.045 *** .746 ** 1.084 ***
Paredmax .220 *** .143 .289 **
Female .118 .248 .319
123
Types of Concerts Attended in the Last 12 Months (Compared to None)
Classical Opera Both
Grouped Duration Main
Effects
One period only (OO) .936 *** .504 1.021 ***
Multiple periods (MP) 1.655 *** 1.218 *** 1.726 ***
Intercept -2.628 *** -4.341 *** -4.336 ***
Post-hoc test
MP-OO difference .719 *** .714** .704**
Grouped Duration Main
Effects + Controls
One period only (OO) .775*** .347 .800 **
Multiple periods (MP) 1.359*** .851 ** 1.281 ***
Paredmax .211*** .129 .278 **
Female .105 .230 .303
Age .047*** .008 .052 *
Age*Paredmax -.002* .000 -.001
Intercept -6.419*** -6.108*** -9.425***
Post-hoc test
MP-OO difference .584*** .504 .481**
***p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
Ethnicity was considered as a control, but was insignificant. As a result, it was removed from
the analysis.
Age .048 *** .009 .053 *
Age*Paredmax -.002* .000 -.002
Intercept -6.566*** -6.306*** -9.587***
Post-hoc test
ET-LT difference .108 -.184 -.010
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Table 3: Raw Socialization Groups on Attendance Types
Raw Socialization Groups on Attendance Types
Classical vs. None Opera vs. None Both vs. None
Exposure Main Effects
Child Only (CO) 1.073*** .600 .866*
Child Recurrent (CR) 1.360*** .853** 1.017*
Child Successive (CS) 2.103*** 1.675*** 1.956***
Teen Only (TO) .623*** .609 .832**
Teen Recurrent (TR) 2.105*** 1.908*** 1.873***
Teen Successive (TS) 1.894*** 1.890* 1.650
Adult Only (AO) 1.336*** -.352 1.648***
Adult Recurrent (AR) 2.346*** -2.056** 2.319**
All 2.151*** 1.419* 3.617***
Intercept -2.624*** -4.346*** -4.336***
Exposure Main Effects +
Controls
Child Only (CO) .894*** .383 .555
Child Recurrent (CR) 1.047*** .513 .556
Child Successive (CS) 1.750*** 1.183** 1.442**
Teen Only (TO) .514** .472 .661
Teen Recurrent (TR) 1.947*** 1.715*** 1.533**
Teen Successive (TS) 1.481** 1.591 1.128
Adult Only (AO) 1.074*** -.448 1.462***
Adult Recurrent (AR) 2.340*** 2.047* 2.383**
All 1.758*** .261 3.097***
Paredmax .131*** .122** .207***
Female .120 .242 .322
Age .027*** .006 .033***
Intercept -5.402*** -6.070*** -8.499***
Post-hoc Tests
Effect of Duration Given
Early Timing
CS-CO 1.030*** 1.076* 1.090
CR-CO .287 .253 .151
All-CO 1.078*** .819 2.751***
All-CR .791** .566 2.601***
All-CS .048 -.256 1.661***
Effect of Duration Given
Later Timing
TR-TO 1.482*** 1.299* 1.042*
TS-TO 1.270** 1.281 .818
TS-TR -.212 -.018 -.224
AR-AO 1.010* 2.408* .671
125
Effect of Timing on One
Period Only Duration
CO-TO .450* -.009 .034
CO-AO -.263 .951 -.713*
TO-AO -.713** .961 -.816
Effect of Timing on
Multiple Period Duration
CR-TR -.0745** -1.055* -.857
CR-AR -.956** -1.203 -1.302
TR-AR -.241 -.148 -.446
Effect of Timing on
Successive Duration
CS-TS .209 -.215 .306
***p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
Two controls, ethnicity and paredmax*age, were insignificant. They were removed from the
model.
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Table 4: Raw Groups on Mediators
Raw Socialization Groups on Mediators
Education Income
Exposure Main Effects
Child Only (CO) 2.138*** 16.664***
Child Recurrent (CR) 2.379*** 17.043***
Child Successive (CS) 3.807*** 19.401***
Teen Only (TO) 1.374*** 8.318***
Teen Recurrent (TR) 3.027*** 19.599***
Teen Successive (TS) 2.194*** -3.568
Adult Only (AO) 1.891*** 8.928**
Adult Recurrent (AR) 2.448*** 11.891*
All 3.823*** 21.996***
Intercept 11.926*** 38.911***
Exposure Main Effects +
Controls
Child Only (CO) 1.239*** 9.644***
Child Recurrent (CR) 1.271*** 9.741***
Child Successive (CS) 2.494*** 10.978***
Teen Only (TO) .703*** 3.772*
Teen Recurrent (TR) 2.190*** 13.631***
Teen Successive (TS) 1.114* -8.730
Adult Only (AO) 1.397*** 7.162*
Adult Recurrent (AR) 1.906*** 8.915
All 2.430*** 13.468***
Paredmax .336*** 2.404***
Female -.044 -7.306***
Age .003 -.138***
Intercept 8.456*** 24.402***
Post-hoc Tests
Effect of Duration Given
Early Timing
CS-CO 1.666*** 2.737
CR-CO .241 .379
All-CO 1.685*** 5.333
All-CR 1.444*** 4.954
All-CS .016 2.595
Effect of Duration Given
Later Timing
TR-TO 1.653*** 11.281***
TS-TO .819 -11.886
TS-TR -.833 -23.166***
AR-AO .558 2.963
Effect of Timing on One
Period Only Duration
CO-TO .764*** 8.346***
127
CO-AO .248 1.136**
TO-AO -.516* -.610
Effect of Timing on
Multiple Period Duration
CR-TR -.647** -2.556
CR-AR -.069 5.152
TR-AR .578 7.708*
Effect of Timing on
Successive Duration
CS-TS 1.613** 22.969**
***p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
Two controls, ethnicity and paredmax*age, were insignificant so are removed from the model.
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Table 5: Exposure Groups on Attendance Types: Total Effects Only and Total Effects with Class Mediation
Exposure Groups on Attendance Types: Total Effects Only and Total Effects with Class Mediation
Classical Opera Both
Total Effects Class Mediation Total Effects Class Mediation Total Effects Class Mediation
Exposure Main Effects
Child Only (CO) .894*** .890*** .383 -.288 .555 .267
Child Recurrent (CR) 1.047*** .881*** .513 .275 .556 .256
Child Successive (CS) 1.750*** 1.273*** 1.183** -1.206 1.442*** .586
Teen Only (TO) .514** .628** .472 .255 .661 .833*
Teen Recurrent (TR) 1.947*** 1.600*** 1.715*** 1.474** 1.533** 1.170*
Teen Successive (TS) 1.481** 1.461** 1.591 .550 1.128 1.115
Adult Only (AO) 1.074*** .953*** -.448 -1.300 1.462*** 1.139**
Adult Recurrent (AR) 2.340*** 2.262*** 2.047* .818 2.383** 2.214**
All 1.758*** 1.424*** .261 -.223 3.097*** 2.385***
Intercept -5.402*** -8.054*** -6.070*** -8.794*** -8.499*** -13.246***
Mediators
Education .223*** .213** .382***
Income .008*** .014** .012**
Intercept -8.054*** -8.794*** -13.246***
Post-hoc Tests For Education For Income
Classical-Opera .010 -.006
129
Classical-Both -.159** -.004
Opera-Both -.169* .002
***p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05
130
FIGURE 1: POSSIBLE PATHWAYS FOR THE EFFECT OF PARENTAL CLASS, TIMING OF SOCIALIZATION, AND DURATION OF SOCIALIZATION ON HIGHBROW CONCERT ATTENDANCE
Early
Exposure
Parental SES
Later
Exposure
Adult
Status
Attendance
Duration: OO vs. MP
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Chapter 4 What Makes a Classical Music Lover?: Examining the Role of
Socio-emotional Resonance, Identity, and Choice in Determining Musical Persistence
According to Bourdieu (1984:18), “nothing more clearly affirms one’s ‘class’, nothing more
infallibly classifies, than tastes in music.” A portion of his work examines the relationship
between early musical socialization and later musical tastes and practices, which he uses as an
indicator of cultural capital. Specifically, he contrasts the upper classes’ preference for and
participation in classical music, both expressions of high cultural capital, with the lower classes’
engagement with less refined genres. He attributes the differences in cultural capital to the
former’s high levels of parental education and income, which afford better opportunities for
classical music socialization amongst their young. While classical music preference and
participation are not the only indicators of high cultural capital—a preference for ballet and
museums are also mentioned in Bourdieu’s book—his emphasis on classical music is testament
to its status as one of the most uncontested and recognizable signals of high cultural capital.
Understanding high cultural engagement is paramount, as its taste and consumption have
implications for the establishment and maintenance of symbolic and social boundaries between
social classes, and therefore, for social inequality.
132
While high social class undeniably affords children of elite parents the opportunity for
classical music training, early musical socialization does not automatically translate to a lifelong
pre-disposition and engagement with classical music. Previous work has found that although
most of the population values music training for children, most people offered music lessons
forfeit them by the teenage years (Cooper 2001; Lawrence and Dachinger 1967) and engage
minimally with classical music in their adult lives. Thus, while parental cultural capital
accounts for the first issue of why elite offspring tend to study and appreciate classical music
more often than their lower class counterparts (Bourdieu 1984), still unanswered is the related
question of why some continue to engage in classical music throughout their lives while others
disengage at first chance. The previous chapter sheds some light into this discussion, finding
that long-term participation in highbrow music may depend on the timing and duration of
musical socialization. Specifically, multiple period exposure has an overall superior effect to
single-period exposure on concert attendance. But are there specific characteristics about the
socialization process, besides duration, that contribute to the increased likelihood of later life
highbrow musical engagement?
It is important to note that although I focus exclusively on highbrow musical participation
in the form of listening, concert-going, and instrument-playing in this paper, active engagement
is but one expression of high cultural capital. Even if individuals do not participate in highbrow
music in these ways, they might still be familiar with its theory, history, and mechanics and/or
have a preference for it; these are also valid indicators for the possession of high cultural capital.
Admittedly, we cannot say that people who no longer participate in classical music do not have
133
the same tastes as people who continue to listen to highbrow music, go to highbrow concerts, or
play highbrow music—particularly if individuals in both groups spent several years studying
classical music. However, I argue that actively engaging in classical music requires a more
concerted effort on the part of the individual than retaining knowledge about it. At the very
least, then, participation indicates a greater willingness to be outward in the expression of
cultural capital than possessing knowledge without engagement, even if it does not equate to
having higher levels of cultural capital. I suggest that the difference between the knowledgeable
but non-participatory group and the actively engaged group is that the former expresses high
cultural capital through tastes alone, while the latter demonstrate their high cultural capital
through both tastes and practices.
I focus on persistent participation in this paper because doing so allows us to ask two
important empirical and theoretical questions that explore cultural practices as an issue that is
related but different from cultural tastes alone. The empirical question, mentioned earlier, begins
where the previous chapter ends, by asking what particular characteristics about socialization
lead to long-term musical engagement. Although previous research (most notably Bourdieu
1984) and my own dissertation findings confirm that musical socialization leads to later life
participation, we still do not know whether particular conditions are more effective than others in
bringing about this outcome. The theoretical question asks how interpersonal interactions during
socialization shape the habitus and its impact on later life cultural practices16
. Bourdieu (1984)
argues that high class people are more predisposed to lifelong highbrow music participation
because the opportunity for early musical exposure leads to the development of a habitus that
16Bourdieu (1984) asserts that the habitus shapes both cultural tastes and practices, but I focus on cultural practices
rather than taste in paper. It follows that my measure of participation is a clearer indication of a cultural practice
than cultural taste (although it is likely that those who practice highbrow music also have a taste for it).
134
deems this cultural practice possible. Corroborating this point, I further enrich Bourdieu’s
argument by demonstrating how interpersonal interactions contribute to the formation of a
habitus that is inclusive of highbrow music. In order to tap into how the conditions of
socialization shape musical participation and how interpersonal interactions influence the habitus
to shape cultural practices, I focus on persistent musical participation as an indicator of cultural
capital. Although internalized musical knowledge and taste may reflect equivalent levels of
cultural capital as participation, these processes better address the notion of cultural taste. Since
the focus here is on cultural practice as an outcome that is conceptually distinct from taste, an
examination of persistent participation is warranted.
Using interview data from 21 musically-trained individuals, I develop an argument to
account for the persistence of classical musical engagement amongst adults, in the various forms
of listening, attending concerts, and playing instruments, which depends on their initial
experiences with socialization. Specifically, I explore how social context, and the issues of
emotional resonance, identity, and choice enacted within it, can shape the trajectory of musical
taste and participation in later life. In doing so, I address the questions of what conditions during
socialization are conducive to long-term outward engagement and more abstractly, what
emotional and interpersonal factors impact the influence of the habitus on later life cultural
practices.
135
15 LITERATURE REVIEW
Previous work in this area has examined various dimensions of musical socialization without
much attention to its long-term implications on individuals’ tastes and participation. Although
the bulk of the literature on this topic hails from the ethnomusicology tradition rather than from
sociology, most support Bourdieu’s theoretical arguments, providing empirical tests for the
proposed relationship between social class and socialization opportunity. The findings have
been relatively consistent across studies, showing that high status individuals are more likely
than their lower class counterparts to have taken music lessons (e.g. Manturzewska 1990).
Furthermore, the desire to perpetuate a family musical tradition is common, as children with
parents who were musically trained are more likely to be offered music lessons (Ho and Chong
2010; Cooper 2001)
While a large segment of the literature has been devoted to a descriptive understanding of
who takes music lessons—and by implication, the impact of social structural position on the
opportunity for cultural participation—some researchers have begun to ask how people decide to
initiate lessons in the first place. Amongst adult beginners, the pursuit of personal pleasure and
skill development are the major reasons for beginning lessons. Amongst young beginners,
however, most report that their parents were responsible the initiation decision (Cooper 2001).
In light of this trend, research has begun to examine parents’ motivations for enrolling their
children in music. Many authors find that most parents do not aspire to professional
136
musicianship for their children. Rather, parents claim that their initial motivation for offering
music lessons to their children was for the latter’s educational development (Lawrence and
Dachinger 1967; Dai and Shader 2001; Louie 2004). For instance, in a study on parental
motivations for enrolling their children in piano lessons, Dai and Shader (2001) found that some
parents invest in lessons for the purpose of developing their children’s intelligence and
discipline, traits which could better their chances of college admission.
In addition to interrogating the reasons leading people to begin music lessons, recent
work has also begun to examine the factors determining musical persistence. Taking an
empirical approach, researchers use interviews with music students and their significant others to
generate a list of explanations for enduring musical involvement. The factors shown to
encourage prolonged engagement include: possessing superior skills (Ho and Chong 2010;
Cooper 2001; Lawrence and Dachinger 1967); early exposure to music through the family (Ho
and Chong 2010; Howe and Sloboda 1991a; Manturezewska 1990); intrinsic motivation to
succeed (Ho and Chong 2010; Sichivitsa 2007; Hallam 2002; McPherson 2000-01; Pitts et al.
2000); parental support and involvement (Ho and Chong 2010; MacMillan 2004; Howe and
Sloboda 1991b); consistent and diligent practice (Sloboda et al. 1996; MacPherson and Davidson
2002); and personal enjoyment (Rife et al. 2001; Pitts et al. 2000; Howe and Sloboda 1991b).
Conversely, researchers attribute disengagement from music to the following factors: disliking
one’s teacher (Davidson et al. 1998); high extrinsic motivation (e.g. playing because friends or
siblings play) coupled with low intrinsic motivation (e.g. playing because of a genuine love of
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music) (McPherson 2000-01; Pitts et al. 2005); low parental expectations and involvement (Pitts
et al. 2000; Lamont et al. 2003); lack of skill (Ho and Chong 2010; Cooper 2001); low
achievement in exams and slow progress in lessons (Costa-Giomi et al. 2005); insufficient and
unreflexive practice (Costa-Giomi 2004; Pitts et al. 2000); and low enjoyment (Pitts et al. 2000).
Thus, recent work has broadened our familiarity with the determinants of persistence and
disengagement. Unfortunately, none of these projects have taken a theoretical approach to
explanation. Instead, each study usually lists respondents’ self-identified reasons for continuing
or quitting lessons. The problem with this approach is that there is a risk that the reasons
provided are rationalizations of the respondents’ own making, rather than actual reasons. What I
offer is a set of reasons that are generated through independent analysis of the interviewees’
experiences, which are subsequently abstracted into broader categories useful for explaining
socialization experiences in various social contexts.
As a group, these studies provide a range of information about musical engagement and
persistence. However, because they do not build on one another in a cohesive way and because
they are not theoretically-anchored, the explanatory potential of these studies is limited within
the context-specific situations studied. Building on the knowledge gleaned from previous
studies, the goal of this paper is to provide an explanatory framework for persistence. It
addresses an empirical question inquiring into the types of conditions, occurring during the
socialization process, that lead to long-term persistence in highbrow musical participation. And
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furthermore, on a more abstract level, it gleans the theoretical issue of how interpersonal
interactions can shape habitus formation.
16 DATA AND METHODS
The findings of this study are based on 21 semi-structured interviews, spanning 40-90 minutes in
duration, conducted with people who have had some type of formal classical music training17
outside of school beginning at any point in time for any duration of time. A large portion of the
interview was devoted to reflecting on prior and, where applicable, current music training. I
probed participants on their reactions to their own ability level, practice regimens, feelings of
autonomy, parental influences, and the social aspects of learning an instrument. Then, in order
to understand how training experiences shape current musical participation, I asked my
participants to describe the types of music they currently engage with, and how they do so. In
order be open to the possibility that respondents engage with music other than classical, my
questions about musical engagement were open-ended. For instance, I asked whether they
attended any concerts in the last year, rather than if they had specifically attended a classical
concert. In order to figure out whether or not a concert was of the classical or another genre, I
relied on my own knowledge in music (e.g. many participants mentioned having attended a
17A handful of participants received training in other genres of music in addition to classical music in later life.
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Coldplay concert, and I know that this is a popular music band) and through further probes if I
was not familiar with the artist (e.g. Two of my interviewees mentioned having attended a Jamie
Cullum concert. Asking them what type of music he plays and then later doing some
confirmatory research myself, I learned that Cullum is a jazz performer). Having a strong
classical music background, I had no difficulties identifying classical and operatic performances
mentioned (most of the performances attended are famous highbrow works, such as Aida by
Verdi and various Concertos by Beethoven). Attendance at other types of concerts was noted to
help me piece together an overall picture of someone’s musical tastes and practices, but if a
classical music concert was mentioned, I made further probes about the nature of the concert and
the respondent’s experiences as an audience member. Therefore, although engagement with
other genres of music was not ignored, specific attention was paid classical music concert
attendance. To tap into the practice of listening to classical music, I asked direct questions about
the type of music listened to, on the radio, on records, or through the internet. Again, I was
particularly interested in probing incidences of classical music listening. Finally, for an
understanding of current playing practices, I specifically asked participants about the types of
music that they played, and made further probes if classical music was mentioned. Thus, the
general focus is on the extent of involvement, if any, in the three major dimensions of classical
music participation: classical concert attendance; classical music listening; and classical
instrument playing. For the purposes of this study, current engagement with any of these three
dimensions constitutes persistence in classical music. The forms of engagement are valued
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equally, and they explore the multiple dimensions of participation. No single form is considered
to hold more cultural capital than the others18
.
I used a systematic snowball sampling method to achieve a sample diverse in the timing
of the first onset of training. The rationale for considering later starters (age 12 and above) as
well as early starters is to understand whether the same explanatory factors would apply to these
two groups. For instance, the issues of musical choice, which I had already anticipated to be
salient through informal discussions with my committee about the project, would presumably
have a different significance for later rather than younger participants. Later participants, I
assumed, would have greater autonomy over musical decisions. I began with three different
starters who each recommended contacts fitting my sampling criteria of having received classical
training in any instrument outside of school, for any period of time, beginning at any time in life.
I made initial contact with the referred individuals through email in order to screen whether they
had been trained in classical music, but conducted the interviews either face-to-face (18 in all) or
through a voice-over-internet program (3 in all). The snowball process continued until I reached
18Initially, I considered ranking the forms of participation in terms of their value in cultural capital. For instance,
some might argue that playing an instrument involves greater investment and capital than listening to music.
However, I hesitated in making these quantitative assumptions because there is no good way to measure differences
in cultural capital between the forms of engagement. Someone who plays basic classical repertoire regularly may
not necessarily have higher cultural capital than someone who attends operas regularly and understands their
complexity.
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saturation in my findings, the point where new cases no longer brought in new information
related to the research question.
I aimed to interview people from diverse demographic backgrounds. The resulting
sample of 21 Canadians included 12 men and 9 women ranging from mid-20s to late 60s in age,
all of whom were assigned pseudonyms. Although I tried to contact people from a variety of
income brackets because I was initially interested in the role of class as a control for the
relationship between socialization and persistence, I was only successful in finding members of
the middle class or above. Thus, the initial ambition of examining class in this equation was
abandoned, and the sample can be said to be controlled for middle class and above. The lack of
diversity in class position is unsurprising given the well-established link between high social
class and classical music socialization. The majority of participants (16 individuals) were
primarily trained in piano, while the rest studied saxophone, violin, flute, classical guitar, and
electric organ. The range in the duration of formal music training varied from three months to
over twenty years and on-going.
I taped 19 of the 21 interviews (two of the respondents did not want to be taped) and
transcribed each interview soon after it took place. Throughout and after the entire interview
stage, I reviewed the transcripts and noted patterns that were in any way related to musical
socialization and participation. As patterns emerged, I coded them using a word-processing
program. The resulting codes were further abstracted into conceptual categories, which I then
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compared within and across interviews for refinement and adjustment. My in-depth analysis of
these categories allowed me to develop an explanatory framework for persistence consisting of
the three factors of socio-emotional resonance, identity, and choice.
17 PART A: SOCIO-EMOTIONAL RESONANCE
The first key factor in determining musical persistence is socio-emotional resonance. Previous
research shows that individuals who associate positive emotions with learning their instrument
tend to report continued engagement with classical music today, while those who experienced
negative feelings such as frustration or fear during training have generally ceased to participate
in classical music (Hallam 2002). Corroborating Hallam (2002) and Cooper (2001), my work
also demonstrates the prominent role of emotions in shaping the socialization experience. But
while these two authors seem to suggest that emotions are created solely in response to one’s
awareness of his or her own proficiency, and are relegated to the personal psychic state, I argue
that that the feelings responsible for continued engagement are not created in isolation but rather,
through social interaction. This section explores how social interaction shapes individuals’
emotional responses to three aspects of music training: ability; performance; and ensemble
playing. In turn, these feelings influence individuals’ likelihood of musical persistence.
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17.1 Emotional Investments in Perceptions of Ability
The degree to which individuals develop an emotional response to their ability, whether
objective or as subjectively perceived by self or others, cannot be underestimated. In fact,
nowhere in the interviews did individuals allude to their emotions more than when discussing
their musical strengths or weaknesses; over half of the interviewees explicitly commented on an
aspect of their ability. While some people understood their abilities by comparing their personal
performance against some standard of objective ability (e.g. technical requirements set out by
examination boards), most additionally evaluated their proficiency through feedback from others.
In response to these interactions, they developed positive or negative emotional responses to
musical training. For instance, individuals often became aware of their own unique abilities
through compliments, to which they emotionally responded. Lynn, an amateur pianist who
began lessons in later life, expresses the thrill of receiving good feedback from her teacher after
performing some technical exercises at her lesson:
…just, getting really, really good at doing my scales…the positive reinforcement that I
got from him was the most memorable…So, that was very exciting and encouraging…I
feel like I really do have a shot. (Lynn)
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Affirmations from the teacher can help to foster in individuals the belief that they are competent
players, which can lead to the development of positive emotions towards learning music. But
when teachers give negative feedback, the opposite chain reaction occurs. Students come to
perceive themselves as incompetent players, developing negative emotions towards playing and
a desire to quit. Of course, some individuals are actually better players than others. But the
sense of ability arising from an objective sense is further reinforced through a subjective sense of
ability that is produced through interaction with others. Annie recalls:
I wasn’t very good at [piano], truthfully…And, going to music classes every week and
then you get a mark and my marks were never very stellar… I just hated it…I think that
just perpetuated itself to go kind of downward spiral. (Annie)
Annie could objectively be a poor player as she herself “truthfully” implies. Working with
retrospective accounts, however, we cannot ascertain her objective ability. What we can say,
though, is that whatever objective basis from which Annie judged her poor ability is further
bolstered by her teacher’s poor evaluation of her, which could be based on both objective and
subjective grounds. A poor evaluation from a significant other, whether objective or subjective,
impacts Annie’s own subjective judgment of herself as a piano player. This process of
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evaluation by objective standards and subjective opinions of others and the self led to an
emotional reaction; Annie began to feel defeated and developed a hatred for the piano. These
negative emotional reactions were pivotal in shaping her disengagement from classical music.
She quit piano in her teens and does not play today.
My findings corroborate previous research demonstrating the importance of parents’ and
teachers’ feedback on individuals’ perception of themselves and their achievements (Frome and
Eccles 1998 ). Lynn displayed a positive emotional reaction to her teacher’s perception of her
ability, and was encouraged to continue19
. Her case supports other work showing that persistent
students receive more teacher approvals than drop outs (Costa-Giomi et al. 2005). Conversely,
Annie’s sense of poor ability, in part objective and in part subjectively perceived by the self and
others, created a negative emotional reaction that contributed to her decision to quit piano.
17.2 Emotional Connections to Other Instrumentalists
Emotional resonance can also be generated through ensemble- playing, which in turn, shapes
enjoyment and persistence. Four individuals explicitly discussed emotional connections to other
19 Unfortunately, Lynn was unable to continue with lessons because of personal life circumstances.
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instrumentalists. In general, these individuals derived a greater sense of happiness when playing
with others than when playing alone, primarily because they valued the friendships arising from
group playing. Social interaction with other instrumentalists was pivotal in helping young
instrumentalists develop a sense of musical purpose and connectedness to others, which
encouraged them to continue their musical engagement. Contrasting her group flute lessons
from her piano lessons, Natalie highlights the positive emotions associated with ensemble
playing:
Playing [the flute] with one of my really good friends at the time, because we
would…practice together. Okay. I think I can say why I didn’t like piano… it was
boring and I didn’t have anyone to talk to about it. No one could sympathize with me.
(Natalie)
When I pressed Natalie for a further explanation of the difference between playing alone on the
piano and playing with friends on the flute, she explains that a main problem with studying the
piano was that there was no one to practice with. Because of the isolation, she felt it difficult to
stay motivated. Conversely, when playing the flute in the band, she was surrounded by her best
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friend and other classmates who were working through the same musical challenges, which gave
her a sense of belonging.
Unfortunately, not every instrument readily lends itself to collective participation, and
therefore, social interaction. When individuals’ only instrument is a stand-alone one, finding that
sense of collectivity can be difficult. But if stand-alone instrumentalists are able to connect with
other players, they can also experience some sense of belonging. This was the case with Sidney,
a medical doctor who achieved his Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto diploma
(ARCT) in his teens20
. During the peak of his training, Sidney formed some important
friendships with other young students studying under the same teacher. These friends were an
important source of support, and Sidney enjoyed spending time with them in musical and leisure-
time endeavors. Although Sidney eventually quit piano to prepare for university, the importance
of the emotional connections that he forged is apparent in his reflections on terminating lessons:
20 The Royal Conservatory of Toronto is the largest music institution in Canada, and one of the most recognized in
the world.
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I think there was a bit of a loss to it, because I was part of the classical music community.
There were people around me that sort of shared the same interests. But at the same time,
I knew that I didn’t want to pursue it professionally…there was a bit of loss…
The extent to which Sidney had thrived on that sense of belonging to an exclusive group of
pianists is evident in the loss he felt after quitting piano. However, his friendships with other
pianists provided enduringly positive memories, which have translated to a desire to keep
connected to the classical music world today. He attends orchestra and opera performance
regularly and plays piano on occasion. Sidney’s story shows that although achieving that sense
of collectivity is challenging when one’s instrument of choice is not an ensemble one, it is
possible to interact socially with others playing the same instrument. These connections are
vital, not just because they make playing fun, but because they motivate people to persist with
their musical engagement.
17.3 Emotions Arising from Performance
A final dimension of music training where emotions play a prominent role is public performance.
About a quarter of the sample spoke about the intense pleasure or fear associated with public
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performance. In general, people who enjoyed playing for an audience persist with music while
those who hate it drop out. In my sample, individuals who loved to perform developed this
passion early on in their lives. For some, the instrument does not matter, performance itself is a
thrill. The passion for performance is illustrated by Bernice, a retired school teacher who trained
in piano as a child and picked up the saxophone in retirement, explains that one of the best parts
about learning to play the piano is performing for others.
I just like playing. I like playing for people when they ask me to play. And I played for
the Sunday school. (Bernice)
Enthusiasm for performance is typical of people who have had a positive experience with music
lessons, and continue to participate in classical music today. Their positive emotions are in stark
contrast to individuals who associate public performance with negative emotions, primarily fear.
All three of the individuals who mentioned feeling fearful about public performance no longer
engaged with their musical instruments today. Natalie illustrates:
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[M]y most distinct memory was how nervous I was for my very first recital at the
church…It was in front of 100 people. And I have a fear of public speaking… being in
front of large groups of people…I was like, 10. And I messed up. (Natalie)
Natalie was already a lower-achieving student whose teacher and parents had reinforced to her
that she was not a very good piano player. As a result of negative feedback, she disliked playing.
The negative emotions, however, were magnified when she was asked to play in public, which
was nerve-wracking for her. Furthermore, that Natalie messed up caused deep embarrassment.
The negative feelings towards learning piano, compounded with the nervousness of performing
and the shame of failing on stage, scarred Natalie emotionally and turned her away from piano
soon after the incident.
Although Natalie’s story is enlightening, she does not offer us an explanation for why she
detested public performances. Annie, who also confessed that interaction with an audience was
“painful”, offers the following analysis:
I don’t like public speaking. I don’t like public anything. I don’t like being out at such a young
age and being judged. It was always a big fear of mine. (Annie)
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For Annie, public performance is an invitation to others to cast judgment. The potential
for one’s performance to be reviewed under a critical eye is very likely, as many of these
interviewees participated in a variety of competitions where their playing was pitted against
other children. For those who did not enjoy piano in the first place, having to subject oneself to
comparison was a fearful experience that repelled them from their instruments.
Taken as a whole, these interviewees’ stories demonstrate how social interactions shape
emotional responses, which impacts the trajectory of musical engagement in later life.
Individuals developed an emotional response to how they perceive others to judge their ability,
and these feelings shaped later life musical participation. Moreover, individuals who had the
opportunity to interact socially with other instrumentalists responded emotionally to the
experience of community, which encouraged them to persist with music. Finally, those who felt
positive about performing continue to play music today, while others who despised this type of
interaction have generally relinquished classical music. These findings demonstrate that
fostering musical persistence requires significant others to provide the kinds of interactions that
generate positive emotions.
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18 PART B: IDENTITY
In addition to socio-emotional resonance, identity is another factor that shapes persistence.
Identity has been defined in a number of ways in literature, but most variations agree that it is a
way to understand the self (see, e.g., Goffman 1963). Schwalbe and Mason-Schrock (1996:115)
refers to identity as “anything people do, individually or collectively, to give meaning to
themselves or others”. An awareness for others in the process of understanding the self resonates
with the social constructionist tradition, which suggests that identities are not inherent to
individuals, but are instead “achieved in social interaction” (Harris 2006:224). These
interpretations of the concept of identity are especially pertinent to the current project, which
emphasizes the role of the social context and interactions in shaping individual musical
experiences.
Respondents discussed identity in several key ways. First, interviewees who persist in
their musical engagement self-identified as musical people. These people claimed to hail from
musical families where a lifelong love of classical music was engrained. Second, some
interviewees considered their musically-trained selves as part of a larger ethnic identity. In this
case, the focus is on Asian-Canadian respondents who claimed that they studied music because
their parents pushed for the development of this aspect of Asian identity. As adults, they have
relinquished instrument-playing. Finally, a group of interviewees explained that their musical
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identities were entirely projected onto them by parents who had unfulfilled desires to play music.
Renouncing this projected musical identity, they disengage from classical music as adults.
18.1 Music as a Way of Life
One striking commonality amongst people who have persisted with classical music in adulthood
is that they consider music an essential part of their identity. These individuals explain that
music has always been a way of life, omnipresent since the time they were very young. Music
was a quintessential part of family time; parents and/or older siblings played instruments and the
family frequently listened to music together.
Three of my respondents reported that adopting a musical identity was a seamless
process. Coming from families where older siblings and cousins were already learning music,
these respondents were also offered formal lessons at childhood. The decision to learn music
was often taken-for-granted; family members and the respondent all assumed musical training
would eventually occur, and this decision would not require debate or discussion. Adam’s
memory of starting piano lessons is illustrative:
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Adam:..[My sister] really wanted to start playing piano… And so, she really pushed it
and my other sister followed suit…and then me…Actually, a couple of my [older]
cousins had started after my sister started…[then] I started…
Researcher: So, do you remember whether you wanted to start the lessons?
Adam: I don’t know. I don’t think I was begging for it.
For Adam, enrolling in piano was a taken-for-granted childhood rite of passage. Because all the
children in his family had already started to play, it was natural to both his parents and himself
that he would also learn. Although he did not ask for these lessons, he came to accept them as a
normal part of childhood and persisted with them for a few years. Today, he plays music from
time to time and he frequently attends operas. Thus, coming from a musically-trained family and
being presented with musical opportunities in childhood enabled music to become an important
part of his identity.
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In addition to having musical parents or older siblings, people who reported music as an
important part of the self mentioned that when growing up, listening to music was a way of
family life. The genre of music enjoyed varied between families and across occasions within
families, but the constant was that the family listened to it together. Music was often the center
of family life and organized everyday activities:
We’ve always had music going…we did a lot of…road trips. Always, AM radio on…It
was part of family life…And every New Year’s Eve..we’d listen to the top 100
countdown every year for the songs of the year.... (Jack)
John recounts a similar memory of the pivotal role music played in the everyday life in his home:
[M]usic is part of their lives. One of the most vivid memories I have is my dad, when I
was four years old, dancing in front of me to calypso music. (John)
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The family life in the parental homes of Adam, Jack and John centered around music. For
Adam, older siblings played piano and he was soon compelled to learn. For Jack and John, no
matter the family leisure activity, music was at the heart of it. The experience of listening to
music informally with the family was coupled with classical music training for both men,
making for a constantly musical childhood.
Bourdieu’s (1984) concept of habitus is useful for understanding how the unquestioned
omnipresence of music led to its lifelong enjoyment amongst these participants (Lareau and
Horvat 1999). According to Bourdieu, the habitus is determined by objective structures or
experiences, usually in childhood, which influences people’s perceptions of what is possible.
These perceptions of possibilities then translate to different dispositions (e.g. preferences, style,
mannerisms, tastes) that influence people’s actions in a variety of social contexts throughout life.
The habitus leads people to self-select into opportunities that they expect are possible and then
enables them to devise strategies to attain goals within those realms. Thus, these four
respondents, who were privileged with early exposure to music, believed that a musical identity
is within their realm of possibility (Markus and Ruvolo 1989 cited in Hallam 2002). They
developed expectations for lifelong musical participation and enacted strategies to achieve this
goal. Bourdieu’s analysis of taste development is supported by a memory that Jack shares:
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My earliest recollection was when I was a baby and…grabbing [my dad’s] 45s…I could
work the turntable when I was three. Even though I couldn’t read, I knew where Gordon
Lightfoot’s album was... (Jack)
Beginning at a young age, music was already an important part of Jack’s daily life. Even before
he could read, Jack could already instinctively select one of his favorite albums. That he
considered listening to music within the realm of the possible, and that he knew how to achieve
this possibility by second nature, reveals the extent to which the world of musical consumption
had already been etched into Jack’s habitus by the time he was three. This habitus, which deems
a musical self as possible, has endured from Jack’s childhood into his adulthood. As a middle-
aged man, Jack’s habitus still predisposes him to engage deeply with popular and classical
music; he juggles membership in several bands and constantly researches new music on the
internet. Habituses defining musical engagement as possible also persist for Adam and John,
who all continue to play instruments and attend classical concerts today.
Conversely, individuals who were not exposed to music as a way of life during childhood
and/or do not have parents or siblings who play instruments may not have the expectations or
proper strategies to develop musical identities later in life. Their habituses could condition them
to perceive lifelong musical engagement as outside the realm of the possible. As a result, they
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may self-select out of musical endeavors. For instance, Connie, who did not come from a
musical family but played piano for a short time at her mother’s insistence, explains her
disinterest in attending classical music concerts:
I’m not sure I have the proper appreciation background…or knowledge to
appreciate…symphony orchestra concerts. (Connie)
Although Connie has some experience with playing classical music, it was not enough to make
her believe that appreciation of this type of music was within possible reach. Her minimal
training and lack of experience in listening to classical music makes her feel as though she does
not have the tools to legitimately enjoy an orchestral concert. In fact, the single time she
attended an orchestral performance, she left early after feeling like she did not truly understand
what was going on. Connie’s story is a poignant example of how people who did not come from
musical families might grow up to self-select out of classical music participation because their
habitus does not define this type of cultural past-time as possible. Taken together, these
findings lend support to Bourdieu’s ideas about the transmission of cultural capital. Just as
Bourdieu predicted, children from high cultural families (e.g. Jack) where classical music was a
taken-for-granted way of life develop a persistent taste for classical music throughout their lives.
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Conversely, families with presumably less cultural capital, where music is not a central part of
life and family members do not play instruments, are less successful in passing on cultural
capital in the form of classical music persistence (e.g. Connie). Bourdieu would explain the
varying success of high and lower cultural families in passing on musical persistence by
suggesting that the general cultural knowledge transmitted in high cultural families leads to
greater proficiency. This proposition makes sense, as parents and siblings who play music or
engage with it in other ways can readily provide guidance and motivation to new beginners,
which could help secure proficiency. In turn, proficiency can lead greater musical satisfaction,
and eventually, motivation to persist (Rife et al. 2001) . Hence, respondents who see music as
part of their identity are more likely to persist with music. All three continue to listen to, attend,
and play music today.
18.2 Music as a Part of Ethnic Identity
A second way that some interviewees understood their musical selves was by considering it to be
a part of the Asian ethnic identity. Four interviewees matter-of-factly state that learning to play
the piano or violin is an essential part of their culture, and it was only natural that their parents
enrolled them in lessons. Consider Connie and Natalie’s responses when asked how they began
piano lessons:
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I’m Asian, so every child has to play an instrument. (Connie)
Honestly, it’s just a culture thing again. I think it’s something that every kid goes
through. (Natalie)
I tried to ask these respondents to explain the relationship between classical music and Asian
culture. Unfortunately, they were unable to offer any more by way of clarification. But their
inability to elaborate on this question reveals something important—that music lessons amongst
Asians have become commonplace and taken-for-granted.
One of my interviewees, however, did attempt to explain why classical music has become
a quintessential part of Asian culture. When asked why he was enrolled in music, Sidney offers
his family’s philosophy:
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[J]ust generally, in terms of developing discipline…I guess that it was also the aspect that
Chinese people wouldn’t be all that great at sports…they don’t have as large a frame or
whatever to play sports. If you want to be good at something, you might as well play the
piano.
Sidney offers insight for why the study of music is appealing to people of his ethnic background.
Music could help children develop discipline, which in turn, could increase the chances of
academic success.
That this population encourages their children to strive for the best education is well-
documented in several studies (Louie 2004; Chan 2001). These ethnographies additionally
reveal Chinese parents’ conviction that playing classical music compliments academic
endeavors. Their rationales are that learning music fosters discipline required for success in
school, and that extra-curricular talent increases their children’s appeal to universities and
scholarship committees. In the current study, Sidney suggests that Asians may find it difficult to
distinguish themselves with athletic distinctions, so classical music is an area where they can
excel and demonstrate highbrow taste, making themselves more attractive to academic
gatekeepers. The strategies of Chinese parents in Louie (2004) and in the current study are
illustrative of a mode of parenting that Lareau (2003) terms “concerted cultivation.” This term
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encapsulates the obsession of upper-middle class parents with offering their children a myriad of
scheduled and structured extra-curricular activities in order to develop all-around excellence.
The ultimate hope is that their strategic extra-curricular investments will secure their children a
spot at the most prestigious universities. Research shows that parents’ cultural investments do
have the potential to open academic doors for their children. DiMaggio (1982) demonstrates that
participation in a variety of high culture activities among high school students result in higher
grades in social studies, in history, and in English. Extending this argument, DiMaggio and
Mohr (1985) report that involvement in high cultural activities additionally enhances high school
students’ educational achievement and college attendance. Whether the higher educational
outcomes of these culturally savvy students result from having learned lessons of discipline and
determination from playing an instrument or from appearing musical and, consequently,
attractive to university admissions committees is open for further research. What is important is
that the Chinese emphasis on building a musical identity seems to be yielding structural benefits
to the population, as seen in their higher educational and occupational outcomes relative to other
ethnic groups (Boyd 2002).
Having acknowledged that music education is an important part of Chinese identity, the
ensuing question is how it became such a common-place and taken-for-granted part of that
culture. Although addressing that question was not an original goal of this paper, I found a
tentative explanation through the responses of my interviewees. According to some Chinese
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respondents, they began lessons because the children of their parents’ friends and relatives
started playing music. Consider Lenny’s explanation for how he came to start piano lessons:
[F]irst of all, it wasn’t my decision. It was my mom’s decision…The children of her
group of friends all had something to do with music. And I think that was one of the
reasons that she wanted to feel like she was more part of the group… that’s one of the
reasons why she wanted to put me in piano. (Lenny)
The importance of having shared experiences and interests is important for the maintenance of
cohesion within any group. So, when the majority of her friends offered lessons to their
children, Lenny’s mom felt compelled to enroll her son. Having a child who also plays music
allowed her to interact with her friends on an additional common ground, which solidified her
identity as a member of the network and more importantly, her identity as a good mother who
provides valued opportunities for her child. Interestingly, as soon as Lenny’s mom immigrated
to America from China and no longer felt the pressure of keeping her son in music for the
purpose of maintaining her in-group status, she encouraged Lenny to quit piano. Lenny’s
example shows that networks are important in promoting musical engagement across groups.
While networks may not be the sole or primary reason for why musical training has become so
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prevalent in the Asian diaspora, it is one mechanism through which this activity has become
wide-spread.
Like respondents who considered music as a taken-for-granted way of life, Asian
respondents considered their proficiency in classical music a significant aspect of their identity.
Although both groups participated in music in daily life, the reasons they do so seem different.
Those who believed music to be an inextricable and natural part of their way of life assigned
intrinsic value to musical involvement and were eager to foster a musical identity. Conversely,
those who participated in music to fulfill an Asian ethnic identity, often imposed by parents,
treated musical instruction instrumentally. Learning music served the purpose of furthering
children’s educational prospects and connecting parents to a network of friends who also had
musically-trained children. The different motivations of the two groups lead to different
outcomes. Whereas every respondent in the former group continues to engage with classical
music, respondents in the latter group tended to drop out. With the exception of Sidney, all of
my interviewees who were socialized to believe that music was an essential part of Asian
identity to be mastered eventually disengaged from their instruments.
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18.3 Music as a Forged, Unfulfilled Parental Identity
Three interviewees understood their musical identities by framing it as their parents’ attempt to
project their own unfulfilled musical identities onto them. When asked how their musical
journey began, more than a handful of my interviewees replied that one of their parents pushed
them into music to fulfill his or her own dashed musical dreams. There are two variations of this
situation. First, some interviewees’ parents never had the opportunity for lessons and wanted
their children to learn music on their behalf. For instance, Regina illustrates:
[My mom] always wanted to learn how to play the piano. But back then, in Korea, her
parents didn’t have enough money…So, me as the first daughter, she wanted to pass on
her dream to me. (Regina)
Circumstances did not allow Regina’s mother to fulfill her life-long dream of playing piano. So,
she enrolled her daughter in lessons to carry out this dream. Throughout Regina’s training, her
mother was her main source of musical support. As Regina transformed into a musician, her
mother also developed a musical identity of her own through supervising lessons and practice.
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A second variation of projected identity occurs when parents enroll their children in
lessons because they regret quitting their own lessons prematurely. Haunted by regret, the
parents are eager to enroll their children in music and to enforce persistence. These parents are
militant against quitting, perhaps fearing that their children would repeat their own mistake.
Blake, an info-tech administrator in the financial sector, responds in the following way when
asked how he came to begin piano lessons:
My mom enrolled us in it. We had no choice. She quit piano when she was young and
regretted it. Then, of course, we had to play piano. (Blake)
Blake’s mom was offered lessons, but dropped out. Having lived with regret for many years, she
insisted that her children learn the same instrument. Fearing that they may quit, as she once did,
she forced them to persist until their teenage years. Blake’s mom relived her musical years
vicariously through her children. The difference between Regina and Blake’s cases, however,
lies in the fact that while Regina’s mom did not have the chance to begin lessons, Blake’s mom
did have the opportunity but relinquished it. Because Blake’s mom considered her decision to
quit a mistake, she was even more insistent than Regina’s mom to ensure that her children persist
despite their disinterest.
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Individuals whose parents tried to fulfill their own musical dreams through them were not
always willing to adopt musical identities. Even if they persist with music, as in Regina’s case,
they are careful to point out that the initial decision to engage in music was not their own. In
general, these individuals viewed their instrument-playing selves as an extension of their parents’
unfulfilled musical identities, rather than part of a personal identity that they created for
themselves. These experiences do not automatically lead to disengagement from music, but it
makes persistence with instrument-playing tenuous at times.
My interviewees’ insights on the various dimensions of identity reveal that this factor is a
double-edged sword in determining musical persistence. Whether or not identity leads to
musical persistence depends on the nature of social relationships and the degree to which the
creation of that identity is a deliberate process. On the one hand, individuals who suggested that
music has always been a way of family life and that they created their identities subconsciously
are most likely to still enjoy music in adulthood. On the other hand, those who argued that
proficiency in classical music was an aspect of their cultural identity that their parents urged
them to deliberately develop are much less likely to persist with music. Finally, the musical
outcomes are mixed for people through whom their parents deliberately tried to live out their
unfulfilled identities. While some people resented their parents for vicariously living through
them, others did not seem to mind that they were bearing the torch for their parents. One
tentative, but interesting, pattern is that resentful individuals tended to report poor playing
ability, while those happily fulfilling their parents’ dreams perceived themselves to be good
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players. This observation suggests that to understand the impact of adopting a parent’s
unfulfilled identity, we must also consider the previous factor of emotional resonance, especially
in relation to perceived ability.
19 PART C: CHOICE
A final factor that matters in predicting musical persistence is the individual’s sense of autonomy
over musical choices. Many types of choices could present themselves over the course of
musical training, but the two that repeatedly surfaced during the interviews are the initial
decision to begin lessons and the everyday decisions to practice. In general, individuals who felt
that they had the autonomy to make musical decisions reflect on their training experience
positively and persist with classical music today. Contrastingly, those who felt that their parents
forced them into music lessons and subsequently, daily practice, often disengage from classical
music in adulthood. More important than whether individuals actually had control over musical
decisions was the extent to which they felt that they had control. Whether someone perceives a
sense of autonomy is determined through the nature and quality of social interactions with
parents. Some interviewees felt that their parents encouraged them to feel entitlement and
responsibility for their musical trajectories. These individuals almost always persisted with
music. Other parents either consciously or inadvertently made their children feel forced into
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learning an instrument. The result on musical outcome is mixed; some disengage from music
altogether, but many others persist, all the while harboring resentment towards their parents for
having denied them a sense of control over their training. To understand the role of autonomy on
persistence, I considered the responses of 18 individuals who made explicit statements about the
issue of choice over lesson initiation and practice.
19.1 Autonomy to Start: Willful Starters
All of those who claimed sole or partial ownership of the decision to begin lessons still engage in
classical music today, with most continuing to play instruments. These individuals reflected on
the period of musical initiation as an exciting time when they had convinced their parents to pay
for lessons. Bernice, a retired teacher who plays music in several bands, animatedly recalls:
It was my 10th
birthday. Everyone took piano lessons except me. And I begged to take
piano lessons. And they all hated it. But I didn’t. (Bernice)
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Bernice’s example illustrates sole ownership over the initial decision to start lessons, but it also
illustrates how the habitus and its influence is shaped through interpersonal interactions.
Through communication and informal play with her friends, she learned that they were all
enrolled in piano lessons. True, they all hated piano, but they were all exposed to it and knew
how to play. In processing this information, Lynn likely thought that if her friends could play,
then it is not outside the realm of possibility that she could legitimately learn how to play as well.
Seeing the possibility of musicianship, Lynn self-selected into this highbrow cultural practice by
asking her parents to enroll her in lessons. Music-playing became an intrinsic and enduring part
of her habitus; she continues to play piano, and began saxophone lessons in her retirement.
Similar to Bernice, older beginners in my sample claim sole ownership over their initial
decision to start music lessons. Older players have a genuine excitement to learn, which they
have usually felt for quite some time. For instance, Lynn shares:
…learning how to play the piano is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and I
just feel like life is too short... (Lynn)
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After wishing for years that her parents had enrolled her in piano as a child, Lynn finally decided
in her late twenties to start lessons. Lynn’s initial reluctance to begin lessons is characteristic of
many adult beginners who must consider monetary and time commitments before taking the
plunge. Whereas parents fully handled all costs associated with lessons for young beginners, late
beginners have to budget for their own lessons. In addition to the cost is the need to consider
various additional constraints, including work and family responsibilities. Given these issues to
weigh, late beginners take time to make the decisions about lessons. But when they do decide to
invest in music, as in Lynn’s case, they do so autonomously and reflect positively on their
decision.
19.2 Autonomy to Start: Forced Starters
While Bernice and Lynn felt like they had complete autonomy over the decision to begin lessons
and were happy with that sense of control, others in my sample report feeling as though their
parents forced them to play. These individuals evoked three types of force surrounding musical
initiation. First, some individuals specified that they felt forced into lessons. These individuals
voiced that they had no desire to learn to play an instrument in the first place, but their parents
had made the executive decision to enroll them in classes. James, a graduate student who no
longer engages with classical music, shares:
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I was just kind of forced to do it…I’m glad that I now at least know musical notation and
…I got enough skills that I can now sit down and teach myself something. (James)
In retrospect, James is glad to have learned musical notation, but this realization does not
override his initial sentiments of feeling forced. Having felt forced at one point in time, James
continues to remember this feeling, even though over twenty years have passed since his initial
piano lessons. He rarely plays today.
Although the parents often wished that their children would grow to enjoy lessons,
especially once their knowledge expands, the change in sentiment was not apparent amongst my
sample. In fact, forcing children into lessons can backfire on parents. To varying degrees, those
who felt forced to play articulated resentment towards their parents. For example, even though
Hector was very accomplished in his musical studies, he harbored resentment towards his parents
for forcing lessons. When I asked what the best part about lessons was, he responded:
I don’t know that there was one…Overtime, there was a bit of resentment, to be honest.
(Hector)
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Thus, James’s and Hector’s cases demonstrate that forcing children into lessons and hoping that
they would eventually enjoy the process is not a fail-proof plan. Regardless of skill level, people
who felt forced into music vividly recall the experience with resentment. Although parents
sometimes believed that highbrow cultural participation was within the realm of possibility—
especially if they, themselves, were exposed to lessons at one point (as is true for James’s
mother)—that belief was not always passed on to their child in a seamless manner. For one
reason or another, the child’s habitus develops in such a way to exclude highbrow musical
practice as a legitimate or taken-for-granted activity. This outcome could be traced to the one-
way and coercive interactions occurring between parents and the child (parents informing the
child that they must take lessons). Denying the child the opportunity to negotiate musical
choices results in his or her conviction that highbrow musical involvement exists completely
outside of the self, belonging solely to the parents. Reoccurrences of forceful interactions
reaffirms the notion that highbrow musical involvement is something outside of one’s own
habitus, unnaturally imposed into the realm of possibility. Unsurprisingly, most of my
respondents who have disengaged from music—that is, those who see it as outside the reach of
the possible (or desirable)—cite force as a major reason for drop out. And those who have
experienced force but do not drop out allude to feelings of resentment.
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A second type of force that some interviewees described was a sense that they had no
choice over the type of instrument they could play. These individuals claimed that their parents
chose the instrument for them, without ever consulting them on the decision. When I asked
Hector how he came to play the electric organ, a unique instrument that not very many people
learn, he replied:
I didn’t know I had a choice, to be honest. It wasn’t like I can choose between electric
organ to piano to violin to whatever. (Hector)
Being denied a choice in the type of instrument to pursue was a type of force that mattered less
to interviewees than being forced into lessons themselves. For instance, Hector did not realize
that he had the freedom to choose an instrument, and reflecting on that lack of choice, he
concludes that “it wasn’t a big deal”. Similarly, when I asked Annie how she felt about her
parents choosing the piano for her, she replied, “I had no idea what I wanted to do. You just go
to piano classes.” Entrenched in these matter-of-fact reflections on the lack of choice in
instruments is an undertone of resentment, detected in the interviewees’ tone of voice. But
perhaps by way of picking their battles, interviewees are much less outspoken about being forced
into selecting particular instruments than about being forced into lessons.
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The third type of force that some interviewees felt was a sense that playing music was the
only permissible extra-curricular activity. Sidney clearly describes this sentiment:
I felt like…I didn’t have other options in terms of how I spend my time… So it was
somewhat forced in that way. I’m not sure what other things I would have done, but it
would have been nice to explore…other things that kids can do besides playing the piano.
(Sidney)
Sidney did not feel like he was forced into lessons or choosing the piano per se, but he did feel
forced to devote himself solely to piano. Although he became a very accomplished pianist, his
experience was dampened by his parents’ discouragement of other types of activities, which
made him feel as though piano was the only worthwhile pass-time. Although he did not report
outright resentment, there is at least some degree of regret that he was barred from exploring
other childhood hobbies.
These respondents’ cases demonstrate that while some individuals felt a sense of
autonomy over the initiation of music lessons, others felt that their parents forced them to take up
this activity. Out of the seven people who explicitly reported a sense of ownership over the
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decision to start musical training, all but one continues to be engaged in classical music today.
For those who had little autonomy over the initiation process, the trend is less clear. In cases
where people felt that they were pressured into lessons, disengagement from classical music was
inevitable. However, those who reported having no input into the instrument they could play or
having no freedom to engage with additional leisure activities did not always disengage from
music. Four out of the eleven individuals21
typifying the latter two categories of force continue
to play their instruments, attend concerts, and listen to classical music today.
What accounts for the difference in the musical persistence of individuals who felt
ownership over musical initiation versus those who sensed that they were forced to make this
choice? Previous research shows that finding enjoyment in music is the most important source
of musical satisfaction, and in turn, musical satisfaction is a major source of motivation for
continuing with musical learning (Rife et al. 2001). Some researchers corroborate Rife et al.
(2001)’s argument, but further specify it by differentiating intrinsic and extrinsic sources of
motivation. They argue that enjoyment and satisfaction are intrinsic sources of motivation to
which high-achieving students subscribe (Ho and Chong 2010; Pitts et al. 2000; McPherson
2000-01). Conversely, lower-achieving students rely on less enduring, extrinsic sources of
21 Seven individuals explicitly mentioned that they felt a sense of ownership, and eleven individuals explicitly
expressed being forced. The rest of the sample reported neither ownership nor force about the initiation decision,
typically because they could not remember who made the choice to begin lessons.
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motivation such as rewards and parental pressure to remain engaged. In Bernice’s and Lynn’s
cases, intrinsic sources of motivation in the form of interest and enjoyment initially motivated
them to begin their lessons, and continue to drive their interest in music today. Contrastingly,
James, who did not want to take lessons, was only compelled to play because of parental
sanctions. Unsurprisingly, as soon as his parents ceased to enforce lessons, thereby, removing
James’s extrinsic source of motivation, he completely disengaged from classical music.
Considered together, these cases demonstrate that perceived autonomy over decisions about
beginning lessons is important in shaping musical persistence.
19.3 Autonomy to Practice: Willful Players
Another dimension of music training that requires decision-making is practice, and individuals
who felt as though they had control over practice decisions are much more likely to persist in
music than others who felt forced to practice. Interestingly, those who claimed they had control
over when and how practice occurred were the same seven people who reported autonomy in the
initial decision to start lessons. The parents of these seven individuals varied in the autonomy
they were willing to give their children. Some administered gentle reminders when practice
became too infrequent and undisciplined, but others, like Katie’s parents, never admonished their
children.
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Katie is a professional flutist whose parents were very involved in her musical journey.
When she first started thinking about learning music, her parents helped her select an instrument.
Later on, when she expressed interest to pursue the flute professionally, her parents traveled to
the United States to look for reputable music academies. Despite their involvement, Katie
remembers that her parents never pushed for practice:
They never did [force me to practice]. I think they wanted me to practice, but ultimately
they knew that it wasn’t going to happen. (Katie)
Although Katie knew that her parents wanted her to practice, she was quick to point out that this
desire was never enforced, and thus, she never felt forced to play. Instead, she felt that she could
learn at her own pace and whim. She admits that in the early years, practicing almost never
occurred. But given the freedom to develop her musicianship on her own terms, Katie did
eventually come around to daily practice. Not only is she now diligent with her practice, she has
blossomed into a professional musician.
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19.4 Autonomy to Practice: Forced Players
While some of my interviewees felt a sense of autonomy over practice decisions, others recalled
feeling constant pressure from their parents to practice. The reaction to parental force varies
from compliance to rebellion. Usually, after several years, the parents of these individuals
loosened their grip over practice. As soon as the pressure to practice was lifted, these individuals
quit their lessons, as was the case with ten out of the eleven individuals indicating that they were
forced into practice. Consider Connie’s assessment of why practicing was a “severe chore”.
[I]t wasn’t really my choice to take class…And then on top of it to have to spend time on
practicing was just annoying. It wasn’t really the thing that was part of my life that I had
to do…like, school and then homework…it was something additional that got piled on. I
rather be sitting there watching TV or something. (Connie)
Like some other interviewees, Connie did not want to play piano. But because of parental force,
she complied with daily practice. When asked why she did not rebel against the pressure to
practice, even though it was not even her choice to learn piano in the first place, she explained
that “it wasn’t a house of democracy”. She knew that rebelling would not change her mother’s
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militant stance. So, she followed the path of least resistance, reluctantly following her mother’s
instructions until she was finally permitted to quit piano. Unlike Connie, Blake was unhappy
about being forced to practice piano and made that sentiment known through rebellion:
I remember having…to play these songs. I would fake it. I would hit the keys and not
really make any attempt to make it sound right, because I couldn’t really read sheet music
really well…And it comes a point where you figure, I’ll just stop struggling. I never
cared about learning it…so just make noise for half an hour… (Blake)
Blake was frustrated with piano, and he rebelled by making unstructured noise rather than music
during his practice time. Although his parents ignored his battle cries at first, he eventually won
his way and was allowed to quit piano within a few years of starting. Like Connie, he deeply
dislikes classical music. Neither has played piano since quitting lessons.
These respondents’ stories about practice corroborate previous research suggesting that
instilling musical persistence in children requires parents be strategic. The most successful
students’ parents are supportive yet not overbearing, and communicate regularly with the teacher
(Pitts et al. 2000; Lamont et al. 2003). Research shows that most parents are involved in practice
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to some extent (Sloboda and Howe 1991; Dai and Schader 2002; Ho and Chong 2010;
MacMillan 2004), ranging from encouraging children to practice; to ensuring that practice is
done; to providing specific instructions for pieces; and to ensemble playing (MacMillan 2004;
Howe and Sloboda 1991b). How parents are involved depends on their own musical abilities,
commitment to the endeavor (Pitts et al. 2000), and aspirations for their child (Dai and Shader
(2002). In addition to the level of parental commitment and the ways it is expressed, children’s
own attitudes towards practice matter in determining musical outcome. Ultimately, research
shows that diligent practice (MacPherson and Davidson 2002) conducted in a reflexive manner
(MacPherson and Davidson 2002; Pitts et al 2000) are the most important determinants of
success.
Our interviewees’ stories corroborate previous findings. Katie’s case suggests that
cultivating a classical music lover requires parents to be highly involved, yet open to allowing
their child to make practice decisions. In contrast, Connie and Blake’s cases show that forcing
children to practice may backfire and lead to disengagement. Both of these respondents resented
practice, and did so only because of their parents’ demands, rather than for an intrinsic love of
music. These examples suggest that allowing children to feel a sense ownership over practice
may be a more effective approach than forcing practice in the development of enduring musical
appreciation.
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20 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
This study builds on previous ethnomusicological research by re-examining musical socialization
and participation through a sociological lens. The crux of the argument is that subjective
experiences with socialization, which are anchored in social relations, determine the likelihood
of musical persistence. Recall that my empirical research question asks which characteristics, at
play during socialization, lead to increased incidences of persistence in highbrow musical
practices. I find that socio-emotional resonance, identity, and choice, three factors shaped
through individuals’ interactions with significant others during musical training— encourages
later life musical engagement. First, positive emotions such as an enjoyment of music encourage
continued musical participation, while negative emotions for music result in drop out. Of the six
who dropped out permanently from highbrow music and no longer participate in any way, three
cited a negative emotional experience, ranging from annoyance to extreme hatred and
resentment. Second, individuals who developed a musical identity naturally or subconsciously,
through being born into a musical family and developing a taken-for-granted appreciation for
music, are very likely to continue to exhibit musical persistence. Contrastingly, others who felt
that their musical identities were forged onto them in a deliberate way, as in the case of those
who were enrolled in music to appease their parents’ vision of an ideal Asian identity or to fulfill
their parents’ musical unfinished musical dreams, do not always follow through with music.
Three out of the six who disengaged from participation noted that they were enrolled to fulfill
some sort of imposed identity. Finally, individuals feeling a sense of autonomy over musical
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choices are more likely to persist with music, while those sensing a lack of control disengage
from music. Five of the six individuals who have disengaged completely report being forced to
learn and practice music. The large proportion of permanent drop outs falling in this category
suggests that the lack of autonomy was the factor that had the greatest impact on pushing people
away from music.
Comparing late against early starters, some interesting patterns emerge. Late starters are
less affected by identity and autonomy constraints than early starters. Specifically, out of the
five late starters (i.e. those beginning at age 12 or later), only one (Connie) mentioned that music
was an identity imposed on them or that the decision to learn music was forced against their will.
This finding makes sense because the older starters, with the exception of Connie, all wanted to
learn music and made the decision to enroll on their own; parents had little role in the overall
decision. Looking at Appendix A, it is apparent that two of the late starters have disengaged
from highbrow music participation completely, and three continue to be involved in some form.
Interestingly, the two non-participants had very short periods of socialization, lasting for less
than a year, while the three late starters who continued their engagement were all socialized over
a long period of time. Furthermore, two individuals from the persistent group belonged to a band
and the other had multiple siblings who also played (not shown in table). This finding suggests
the relevance of emotional resonance on the musical trajectory of late starters. Recall, I show
that positive emotional resonance produces prolonged socialization and persistence amongst
early starters. Thus, like their early start counterparts, later starters who felt a sense of
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connectedness to other players seem to be more likely to persist with music lessons and the
various forms of participation in later life. Unfortunately, the small overall sample and still
smaller sub-sample of late starters makes it impossible to make more definitive comparisons and
conclusions about the variations in factors impacting the persistence of early and late starters.
The major theoretical contribution of this work is to improve on current sociological
understandings of musical socialization and cultural practices, as mediated through the habitus.
Bourdieu (1984) and his successors have explained that early exposure to music, made possible
through economic and cultural privileges, leads to the development of a habitus that deems
possible a life-long taste and participation in highbrow music. Individuals believing that
highbrow music is in the realm of the possible self-select into highbrow cultural opportunities,
including persistent enjoyment of highbrow music on recordings or at concerts, and prolonged
interest in playing an instrument. The current paper finds support for the role of the habitus in
shaping musical persistence and further enriches Bourdieu’s understanding of the concept by
showing that interpersonal interactions with significant others influence habitus formation. For
example, positive family interactions surrounding music allow individuals to believe that music
is a way of life. This type of musical identity helps to shape a habitus that considers long-term
highbrow engagement as possible and desired. Furthermore, informal interactions with friends,
whereby one sees others in one’s own peer group engaging in music, also encourage individuals
to incorporate musical practices into the realm of the possibility. Specifically, seeing one’s
friends play can lead one to believe in his or her own potential abilities, leading to the choice to
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enroll in lessons and to persist with music. Negative interpersonal interactions during
socialization, such as in cases where parents forged a musical identity on the child or denied the
child musical autonomy, resulted in the development of habitus that excludes the possibility of
persistent highbrow music participation. For instance, in situations where individuals do not
come from musical families and/or where parents force lessons through coercive interactions,
highbrow musical practices tend not to be incorporated as a legitimate part of life. Individuals
who have had highbrow music forcefully imposed onto their habitus never quite accept its
practice as a taken-for-granted part of everyday life. Instead, they are apt to disengage with
music at first opportunity. Taken as a whole, this work responds to the empirical issue of how
certain factors at play during socialization determine whether someone will continue with or
drops out of music, and further addresses the theoretical issue of how interpersonal interactions
shape the influence of the habitus on persistent musical practices.
An understanding of musical persistence is important because classical music continues
to reinforce symbolic and social boundaries between the social classes, thereby maintaining
class-based inequality. While upper class individuals’ participation in classical music helps them
to establish and maintain their standing and the economic and social opportunities available
there, the under-participation of lower class individuals in classical music translates to their
exclusion from the upper social strata and associated privileges. Aware of the social value of
classical music, some parents, such as those of my Asian interviewees, attempt to use music
education to help their children achieve upward mobility. Their primary hope is that classical
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music will be integrated into their children’s “cultural toolkit” as a skill that will help them
formulate “strategies of actions” to reach future goals (Swidler 1986). For example, classical
music lessons may make individuals more attractive to prospective university admissions
committees and other institutional gatekeepers. These social connections may help individuals
achieve good careers, and thereby upward social mobility. Lower class people who do not
participate in classical music would not be entitled to these latent benefits of musical training.
Thus, understanding musical persistence is important because classical music participation
continues to have social class implications.
Research on persistence in music education is additionally important because it
illuminates our understanding of other types of social phenomena such as general academic
education. In the literature about academic persistence, the research shows that one of the most
important factors for the retention of college students beyond freshmen year is a sense of
connection with others. Students who feel well-supported by their significant others (Nicpon et
al. 2006-07) and school faculty (Jackson et al. 2003) are more likely persist with college.
Furthermore, receiving social and academic support from organized residence life programs also
seems to have a positive effect on persistence (Edwards and McKelfresh 2002; Nicpon et al.
2006-07). Thus, the sense of belonging, which I found to be one of the socio-emotional
components driving musical persistence, has significance for educational persistence in general.
The school retention literature also points to the importance of choice in predicting retention, a
factor that I similarly explored in relation to musical persistence in this paper. For instance,
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Davidson and Beck (2006) find that the most important determinant of college dropout is a lack
of intrinsic interest, resulting from a perceived lack of choice over educational decisions. The
authors suggest that students should be given more freedom over designing their learning
trajectory (e.g. by selecting electives) in order to lower the incidences of drop out. Drake (2011)
supports this view and argues that the role of college advisors should be to guide students in
making choices for their own education, thereby giving them a sense of ownership over their
learning. The corroboration of my findings with those in the literature on general college
retention demonstrates that this avenue of musical research can contribute to the understanding
of persistence in other social activities.
Future research can address some of the limitations of the present work, which includes
its inability to distinguish between individuals who considered drop out as a permanent
severance from music (i.e. they never want to take music lessons again) from others who viewed
drop out as a temporary hiatus from music (i.e. they intend to restart lessons at a later time).
These two drop out scenarios are theoretically different, and it would be worthwhile to compare
the conditions that lead an individual to decide on the first type versus the second type of drop
out. Unfortunately, I was only able to find one individual who retrospectively recalled her drop
out decision to be a temporary hiatus; most were explicit that they had no intention of taking
lessons again. Future work could purposely sample for individuals who stopped lessons with the
intention to restart. Doing so would bring new theoretical insight into the nuanced meanings of
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dropping out. Addressing this theoretical limitation will help future researchers develop an even
more comprehensive understanding of the determinants of musical persistence.
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APPENDIX A: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE
Pseudonym M/F Age Primary
instrument
Secondary
instrument
(if applicable)
Age when
primary
instrument
lessons began
Age when
formal
lessons
stopped
Type of
classical
participation
today
Annette F 27 piano vocal 4 18 Listen;
attend; play
Carmen F 28 violin 12 22 Listen;
attend; play
Rick M 31 piano 12 on and off
lessons
until 17
Occasionally
play
Lynn F 30 piano 28 28 None
Annie F 31 piano flute 4 or 5 don't Occasionally
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remember,
but
achieved
grade 8
piano
listen and
attend
Natalie F 25 piano flute 7 10 None
Oliver M 30s saxophone vocal 12 ongoing Listen;
attend; play
Sidney M 29 piano 4 18 Listen;
attend;
occasionally
play
Bernice F 60s piano saxophone 10 16 Listen;
attend; play
Katie F mid-
30s
flute piano, gomba,
saxophone,
9 ongoing Listen;
attend; play
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Adam M 27 piano 7 don't
remember
Listen;
attend;
occasionally
play music
but
frequently
sings
John M 50 piano percussion 10 on and off
until 28
Listen;
attend; play
Jack M 45 piano saxophone 5 10 Listen;
attend; play
Connie F 29 piano 15 16 None
Lenny M 31 piano guitar 8 10 None
Regina F late
30s
piano 3 mid-20s Listen;
attend; play
James M 30 piano trumpet 8 18 None
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Blake M 25 piano 6 12 None
Hector M 31 electric
organ
4 18 Occasionally
listen;
occasionally
attend;
occasionally
play
Ivan M 29 piano 6 don't
remember
Play
Bill M 59 classical
guitar
7 or 8 around 18 Listen;
attend; play
**The default categories are different from the “occasional” categories in the sense that I
assigned “occasional” to people who can count the handful of times they engaged in a type of
participation in the last year. Although there was no specific question in the interview guide that
asked participants to count the number of times participation occurred, frequency was nearly
always mentioned during the interview in response to questions about listening habits, concert
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attendance in the last year, and instrument playing. The default categories were assigned to
individuals who mention regular engagement: frequently listening to music (e.g. at work);
attending more than a handful of concerts per year (e.g. these participants often took a long time
to recall which concerts they attended last year because there were too many to list at one go),
and playing an instrument as part of their profession, a music group/band, or as a regular family
activity.
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APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW GUIDE
SECTION 1: CONCERT ATTENDANCE IN THE LAST YEAR
Did you have the chance to attend any concerts in the last year?
If YES, continue. If NO, go to SECTION 2B.
How many concerts did you attend in the last 12 months?
SECTION 2A: CONCERT-GOING PARTICIPANTS
Can you tell me about the concerts you attended last year?
Probe: For EACH concert:
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What/Where/With whom?
Whose idea was it to go to this concert?
How did you find out about this concert?
On a scale of 1-5, with 1 being easy and 5 being difficult, how challenging was it
to go to this concert?
Probe: Ticket prices? Tickets availability? Availability of these events?
Quality of these events? Comfort level? Companions? Location (safety
and convenience)? Time? Childcare? Health?
In your opinion, who (which type of people) goes to these concerts?
Probe: Which types of people do you hope to meet when you go to these
concerts?
You said that you expect _____ type of people to attend these concerts; do you
consider yourself to fit this type?
IF ATTENDED MORE THAN ONE CONCERT
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Out of all the concerts you attended last year, which was the best one? Why?
Probe: What made this concert stand out compared to the rest?
ASK TO ALL PEOPLE WHO HAVE ATTENDED AT LEAST ONE CONCERT LAST YEAR
Do you wish you had the chance to attend more concerts last year?
Probe, if YES: Which type?
What stopped you from going more often?
Probe, if NO: Why not?
SECTION 2B: CONCERT NON-GOERS
So, what made you decide against going to concerts last year?
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Probe: Ticket prices? Tickets availability? Availability of these events? Quality of these
events? Comfort level? Companions? Location (safety and convenience)? Time?
Childcare? Health?
Have you ever been to a concert?
If NO Why not? Probe for barriers
If YESTell me more. Probe about the last concert (use questions in SECTION 2A) and
the best concert participant has been to (below)
Do you wish you had the chance to attend concerts more often?
Probe, if YES: Which type? Why?
What stopped you from going more often?
Which type of people do you think goes to this type of concert?
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Probe, if NO: Why not?
ASK TO ALL PARTICIPANTS EXCEPT THOSE WHO SAY THEY HAVE NEVER
ATTENDED A CONCERT
What was the best concert you’ve ever been to?
(SOME PARTICIPANTS MAY SAY THAT THE BEST CONCERT WAS THE BEST
CONCERT LAST YEAR. IF SO, GO TO SECTION 3)
Probe: What did you like most about this concert? Why?
How did you find out about this concert?
Whom did you go with? Where? When?
SECTION 3: OTHER FORMS OF MUSICAL ENGAGEMENT
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FOR THOSE WHO WENT TO CONCERTS:
Other than going to concerts, are you engaged in music in any other ways?
FOR THOSE WHO DID NOT GO TO CONCERTS:
Going to concerts is not the only way to be engaged in music. Do you participate in music in
other ways?
Probes for listening to music:
What types of music do you listen to? (What are you listening to now?)
Your favorite type of music?
Who is your favorite musician?
What type of music don’t you like?
How do you get ideas for types of music you listen to?
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How do you usually listen to music? (e.g. car cd player, mp3 computer)
When do you usually listen to music?
How often do you listen to music?
Whom do you listen to music with?
Why do you listen to music?
Probes for playing music instruments:
What instrument(s) do you play?
What types of music do you like to play on this instrument?
How do you get ideas on what to play?
When do you play?
Where do you play? (Home? School? Etc.)
How often do you play?
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Do you play music with other people?
Why do you play?
FOR BOTH CONCERT GOERS AND NON-GOERS
How (else) do you spend your free time? What are some of your main interests?
SECTION 4: MUSIC EXPOSURE HISTORY
Now, let’s talk a bit about your experience with music lessons.
What instrument(s) have you taken lessons for?
When did you first start lessons?
Probe: How did you come about starting lessons?
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Where did you take lessons?
What was it like to take lessons?
Probe: What types of music did you learn to play?
What was your favorite part of lessons?
What was your least favorite part of lessons?
Who went with you to lessons?
Can you tell me how it was like to practice your instrument?
Probe: How often did you practice?
When did you practice?
Who practiced with you/watched you practice?
How did you feel about practicing?
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What was your most distinct memory of music lessons?
So given your experience as someone who has taken music lessons, do you think music
education is important for society?
Probe: What role, if any, should the government play in investing in children’s music
education?
Did you ever stop lessons?
If NO, Probe: Do you ever foresee yourself stopping lessons? Under what circumstances?
If YES, continue to next section
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SECTION 5: STOPPING/RESTARTING LESSONS
When did you stop lessons?
How did you come to stop lessons?
How did you feel, at that time, after stopping lessons?
And how do you feel, now, about having stopped lessons?
Did you re-enrol in music lessons after stopping?
If NO, Probe:
Do you want to restart lessons?
If yes: What is stopping you?
If no: Why not?
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If YES, Probe:
When did you restart lessons?
Was the instrument that you played when you re-enrolled in lessons the same
instrument you played as a child?
What made you restart lessons?
How did these lessons compare to your previous lessons?
How did you feel about restarting your lessons?
Once you restarted your lessons, what genre did you learn to play?
How does playing music now/after you re-enrolled in lessons different from or
similar to playing music the first time you took lessons?
213
214
Chapter 5 Discussion and Conclusions
21 OVERVIEW OF THEMES AND CONTRIBUTIONS
21.1 Testing Barriers in the Relationship Between Class and Highbrow Musical Participation
Previous literature in the sociology of culture has established the relationship between class and
cultural participation. Specifically, research demonstrates that the higher classes are generally
more likely than the lower classes to engage with highbrow music, for instance, through
attending concerts. The first paper of this dissertation examines whether barriers to participation
explain this relationship. In other words, I question whether higher classes are more likely to go
to highbrow concerts because they face fewer barriers than their lower class counterparts. The
findings show that structural and personal barriers fail to explain the relationship, meaning that
the effect of class on participation is either direct or is channeled through an unmeasured
mediators. The contribution of this paper is in its attempt to provide further specification into the
theoretical model depicting the determinants of highbrow cultural participation. Although the
particular barriers examined are found to be irrelevant, this paper opens up the possibility to a
new area of investigation focused on making explicit the mechanisms explaining the relationship
between high class and highbrow cultural participation, which has been unspecified thus far.
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21.2 Specifying the Impact of the Timing and Duration of Socialization on Highbrow Musical Participation
Research in the sociology of culture considers musical socialization to be a determinant of
highbrow cultural consumption. However, neglected in this literature is the effect of timing and
duration of socialization in shaping this cultural outcome. The second paper of this dissertation
introduces the life course perspective (Elder 2003) into cultural research, allowing, for the first
time, a consideration of the timing and duration of socialization. The consideration of temporal
dimensions is a significant contribution to the theoretical model because it allows us to move
away from the erroneous conceptualization of socialization as a static process towards an
acknowledgement that it is a dynamic one, occurring at any point in life for any duration of time.
This paper not only considers these two temporal dimensions individually, but it also analyzes
possible interactions between their effects. In other words, it questions whether duration has an
effect holding constant timing on the one hand, and whether timing has an effect holding
constant duration on the other hand. First, the findings demonstrate the importance of the
multiple period over one-period only socialization in shaping consumption patterns. The effect
of multiple duration socialization not only has an independent effect on the outcome, but its
impact is significant even after holding constant timing. Second, by mapping on the temporal
element of socialization, I demonstrate whether early (“mondain”) socialization has a superior
effect over later (“pedantic”) socialization in predicting later life highbrow consumption. This
research offers contradicting evidence. When comparing one-period only socialization across
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various points in the life course, I notice the superiority of socialization occurring in childhood
and adulthood on shaping later life highbrow engagement. However, when considering
multiple-period socialization, adult beginners are more likely to attend highbrow concerts than
early beginners. Considered together, these findings complicate Bourdieu’s suggestion that
mondain socialization better predicts later life highbrow cultural activity. Finally, I find support
for the personal class mediation hypothesis in the case of opera but not classical concert
attendance. While participation in opera seems to result from the attainment of high personal
education and income rather than through the influence of socialization, engagement with
classical music appears to mandate some form of exposure through music lessons.
Taken as a whole, these results suggest a need for further investigation into the contexts
surrounding socialization. For instance, perhaps whether exposure was volitional (often in the
case of adults) or structured/forced (in the case of children automatically enrolled in music
lessons at school) matters in shaping consumption outcomes. Possible variations in socialization
contexts are briefly discussed in this second paper, but a systematic analysis was left for the final
paper of this dissertation.
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21.3 Developing Theory to Explain Musical Persistence
The final paper of this dissertation is a foray into the very contexts surrounding socialization that
could predict persistent engagement with highbrow music. Corroborating previous research, the
data from the first two papers of this dissertation show that children of high-SES parents are
more likely to be socialized in highbrow music. However, many individuals who are offered
music lessons eventually forfeit them, disengaging from highbrow consumption altogether. This
phenomenon persists despite a general consensus that classical music is socially valued,
particularly as a legitimate form of cultural capital (e.g. Cooper 2001; Lawrence and Dachinger
1967). The contribution of this paper is to offer insight into the persistence of cultural practices
as a notion that is separate but related to cultural tastes. I develop a theoretical explanation for
why some people persist with highbrow music engagement while others disengage at first
opportunity by examining the social contexts and embedded factors framing the socialization
experience. In so doing, I address the empirical question asking what particular characteristics
about socialization lead to long-term musical engagement, and the theoretical question of how
interpersonal interactions occurring during socialization influence habitus formation and its
impact on later life cultural practices. In-depth interview data show that socio-emotional
resonance with the socialization experience, self-identification as a musical person, and choice in
lesson initiation and practice plans encourage highbrow musical persistence. Taken collectively,
these findings are a step towards building theory on cultural persistence, which could have
implications for theoretical work on various other types of cultural practices. A survey of
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general sociological literature on persistence produced returns in the area of education (e.g.
Davidson and Beck 2006; Edwards and McKelfresh 2002; Nicpon et al. 2006-07), which
suggests that this concept has resonance in fields outside of culture and deserves further
attention.
22 LIMITATIONS
When considering the dissertation as whole, readers should be mindful of three limitations.
First, throughout the first two papers, I relied on dichotomous measures of a single dimension of
highbrow musical participation—having attended classical and/or opera concerts in the last 12
months—as my dependent variable. Two problems are inherent with this decision. First, the
data for frequent concert-goers (e.g. season ticket holders) are treated as the same as those for
one-time attendees, which means the intensity of involvement of the former group is not
captured. Second, the findings only pertain to one dimension of musical participation,
attendance, and may not be generalizable to other forms or engagement requiring different
degrees and types of investment.
At the beginning of this project, I had intended to examine frequencies of various
dimensions of classical and opera participation in addition to concert-going; these dimensions
include listening to one or both of these genres on the radio, downloading one or both of these
219
genres from the internet, playing an instrument, performing instrumental music for others, and
singing opera for others. The intention was to create two scales, one for classical and one for
opera, that depicted the frequency of a range of musical involvement: from the most passive
form requiring the smallest amount of time and monetary investment (listening on the radio) to
the most active and invested form (performing for an audience). Representing the dependent
variable as a scale would have allowed me to evaluate whether different types of determinants
predict different dimensions and frequencies of musical participation. A comparison of these
results would have enabled an important refinement to existing cultural theory. Unfortunately,
initial attempts to design a comprehensive highbrow musical participation dependent variable
were thwarted as I quickly discovered that frequency was not measured in the data set and very
few respondents were asked questions about dimensions of musical participation outside of
concert-going. Illustrative of the latter problem, only 113 people were surveyed about whether
or not they sang opera for an audience in the last year; among them, only 16 people responded
affirmatively. These small Ns would have posed a problem for the interpretation and analysis of
data. Thus, quite early in the project, my committee and I decided to focus only on highbrow
concert attendance, which included several thousand responses.
The second limitation of this dissertation is that the data for the three papers, arising from
two very different sources, may not tell a cohesive story about highbrow musical participation.
The Survey for Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) and personal interviews were gathered at
two different periods in time (spanning 13 years), in two different countries, from completely
220
different sets of people. Are the social contexts and respondents similar enough that I can say
with confidence that the data from each paper speak to one another? I have no conclusive
answer to this question. For instance, one important contextual issue is that arts participation has
declined in the US between 1982 and 2002 (DiMaggio and Mukhtar 2004). The SPPA was
administered across the US within that time period, and the data likely captured the decline in
highbrow concert-going among the American public. Whether or not my interview data is
representative of a similar decline in Canada is unknown, especially given my small sample size.
To address this question, I would have to conduct some additional research to understand how
the highbrow cultural climates and audiences in the two social and historical contexts, US in the
mid-1990s and Canada in the early 2010s, compare to one another. One place to start would be
to build on large-scale work presented by Fisher and Preece (2003) about Canadian arts
audiences in the 1990s, extending the analysis to cover national trends in the current millennium.
Unfortunately, these explorations, which would have allowed me to comment about the
cohesiveness between the chapters, were outside of the scope of the dissertation due to time
constraints.
Discussions about comparability lead me to the final limitation of this paper, which is the
lack of longitudinal data. Ideally, I would have used quantitative data spanning several waves in
order to understand how barriers change over time and how individuals make decisions to stop
and start lessons over the life course. Finding the answers to these research questions, which
would only have been possible with longitudinal data, could substantially further cultural theory.
221
For instance, in relation to socialization decisions over time, longitudinal data would help us
distinguish possible permanent from temporary forms of disengagement. These decisions have
theoretical meanings yet unquestioned in current work. In the initial stages of this project, I
investigated the previous and later waves of the SPPA in hopes of using them for longitudinal
analysis. However, I soon learned that none of the other waves included the range of questions
on cultural tastes and consumption featured in the 1997 installment; consequently, only the 1997
dataset was considered. Of course, not having access to solid longitudinal quantitative data
should not preclude me from gathering my own longitudinal qualitative interviews. In
retrospect, this endeavor would have been possible if I had begun collecting data earlier in my
degree. But lacking foresight in the first few years resulted in a delay in qualitative data
collection until the fifth year of the program. In the interest of finishing the degree in a timely
fashion, I opted for cross-sectional evidence. That being said, the current data could be
considered the first wave of a larger longitudinal project to be continued in the future.
23 FUTURE RESEARCH
The present dissertation, and the issues left unaddressed, provides some possibilities for future
research. First, the integration of the life course framework into cultural research introduced in
this dissertation promises exciting empirical possibilities to enrich current understandings of
222
cultural capital and consumption. Here, I investigated the impact of timing and duration of
socialization on highbrow concert attendance. Future projects could adopt these principles to
measure the effects of the timing and duration of socialization on different types of cultural
consumption. Or, timing and duration could be used to understand the outcome variable. For
instance, what are the social determinants of early versus late onset of a particular pattern of
cultural consumption? And related, what are determinants for single period versus multiple
period engagement with this pattern?
Second, future research should refine cultural theory given current shifts in the social
value attached to various genres of music. In the past, exclusive engagement with highbrow
music amongst the elites allowed them to solidify their social position and maintain symbolic
boundaries that exclude the lower classes. However, as omnivorous theorists (e.g. Peterson and
Kern 1996; Fisher and Preece 2003; Peterson and Rossman 2008) have shown, exclusive
highbrow musical taste and consumption is becoming less prevalent amongst the higher classes;
instead, the elite classes have begun to enjoy a diversity of musical genres. This change leads
some theorists to propose that music is now blurring social boundaries rather than maintaining
them. Other researchers have countered this argument, proposing that diversity has simply
replaced exclusivity as the new marker of distinction. In other words, although the content
constituting symbolic boundaries have changed, the boundaries themselves have remained intact
and continue to divide social classes (Johnston and Baumann 2007). Whether boundaries drawn
by music are dissipating or holding strong is still up for debate, but the consensus is that high
223
class taste patterns are shifting. In light of this, to what extent is knowledge gleaned in this
dissertation—in particular, about the ineffective mediating role of barriers, the importance of
timing and duration of socialization, and the impact of positive learning experiences on the
outcome of highbrow musical engagement—applicable in this new climate of high class
omnivorousness? This question is an important one given that omnivorousness seems to be a
sticking cultural trend. Addressing this question, though, requires new research comparing the
determinants of highbrow and omnivorous musical outcomes.
In conclusion, we should be mindful that social arenas are interconnected. In other
words, the mechanisms that explain highbrow culture may not be exclusive to this realm. Future
research should first compare some of the principles explored in this dissertation to other types
of artistic consumption (e.g. ballet, theatre, etc.). Following that, comparisons with more general
forms of cultural capital are worthwhile. As mentioned, a preliminary evaluation of literature in
other fields shows some similarities between general academic and highbrow musical persistence
(e.g. Edwards and McKelfresh 2002). Thus, ultimate goals for future work involve making new
refinements to existing sociological theory and attempting to illuminate how the cultural sector
connects to the many others that constitute our social world.
224
225
WORKS CITED
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Translated by
Richard Nice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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