[New-Poetry] 2cents from Francypants

[Alexander Dickow]

All,
Not taking sides here, as it's not a debate I find
particularly useful for anybody, in the final analysis
(I've rarely seen anyone cast the issue in a very
original light, to say the least). Just pointing out a
disturbing famous book on the subject: Bourdieu's
_Distinction_. 
Please note that this book has been abundantly
criticized, but I'm not familiar with the objections
(maybe someone else is). For starters, things may be
different in the US and in France, and between 1979ish
and 2007. In any event, his work does NOT reflect my
own opinions, on the contrary, I desperately hope he's
wrong, and I think it's a much better idea to assume
he is, and to hunt for counter-evidence.
This French empirical sociologist sought to establish
-- through statistics and case studies -- that there
is indeed a link between esthetic taste and
socioeconomic strata. Ie, to some extent, that the
"bourgeois" *tend* to listen to MusicianX, and the
"lower class" to MusicianY. The distinction doesn't
have anything to do with levels of sophistication of
the art consumed by given groups, and Bourdieu's
division of the population is considerably more
sophisticated than this old bourgeois/proletariat
dichotomy (it has to do with horizontal distinctions
of milieu much finer than white vs. blue collars). 
Much more disturbing than his observation of
socioeconomic differences in artistic taste and
frequency of art-consumption, is his contention that
you can't *learn* to appreciate art different than the
kind you've been exposed to as a youth. This is based
on observations that statistically, radical shifts in
individuals' art-consumption seem to be extremely
rare. Ie, the bourgeois doesn't seem to start
listening to MusicianY very often, nor the proletarian
to MusicianX. According to Bourdieu, the Amy Kings and
Jason Quackenbushes of the world are few and far
between.
I can't post this without cringing in fear of
retribution, but I'm very much hoping people will
bring some antiBourdieu scholarship to the table, and
maybe shift discussion away from anger. For my part, I
don't think James meant anything so offensive --
email's a treacherous medium -- but in any event I'd
agree with Amy and Jason where the ideological problem
of class prejudice is concerned, and then some.
Amicalement,
Alex

www.alexdickow.net/blog/
   
  les mots! ah quel désert à la fin
  merveilleux. -- Henri Droguet