High culture

Question 1

What is high culture?

Answer 1

It is seen to have artistic and or/intellectual value, for example fine art, classical music and literature. Classical music is seen in higher cultural esteem in comparison to popular music, such as Rhianna or One Direction etc.

Question 2

How did Haralambos and Holborn define High Culture in 2013?

Answer 2

Haralambos & Holborn (2013) define high culture as ‘cultural creations that have a particularly high status’. They are seen as the pinnacle of human creation and seen as superior to other cultural products and leisure activities. However, not all sociologists see that it is superior to other forms of culture (Postmodernism)

Question 3

Give some examples of High Culture?

Answer 3

Examples: ballet, classical music, fine art, opera, literature (Shakespeare), poetry etc.

Question 4

High Culture is important to whom?

Answer 4

High culture is an important part of the identity of the economic and political elites – the upper class.

Question 5

Davis in 2000 suggested that high culture is the preserve of very few in society. Why?

Answer 5

Davis (2000) suggests that high culture is the preserve of very few in society because it involves art, literature, music and intellectual thought, which few can create or even appreciate.

Question 6

High Culture has been compared with the 18th and 19th century Europe. Explain the comparison.

Answer 6

High culture can be thought of in the same ways as Europe in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries – reflecting the inequalities within European societies and their (now former) colonies around the world.

Question 7

Note about Elitism within the theoretical views of High Culture.

Answer 7

(note, Elitism is not so much a theoretical perspective as a way of describing the point of view of a varied group of people who all share the same ideas about high and low culture)

Question 8

Within the Elite Theory, define the view of High Culture.

Answer 8

• ‘pursuit of perfection’ by and for a sophisticated minority (e.g. Arnold)
• superior to other forms of culture.
• set apart from everyday life
• forms a ‘cannon’ of ‘classics’ that have lasting value (having stood the test of time).

Question 9

Within the Elite Theory, define the view of Low Culture.

Answer 9

• inferior,
• of lower quality
• less worthy

Question 10

What is the key criticisms of Elite Theory on the Theoretical views of High Culture?

Answer 10

1. Recently, sociologists have argued that it is inappropriate to evaluate cultures as superior or inferior to one another.
2. They have criticised the idea that it is possible to distinguish between high and low culture.
3. Some artists now regarded as high culture had some characteristics of low culture, e.g. Rembrandt was paid lavishly for his works.
4. See Marxist criticisms below.

Question 11

Marxist views on high culture: View of High Culture.

Answer 11

r/c have used their power to define their culture as superior, reinforcing the idea that the r/c is superior and unattainable, and giving their children an advantage in school (e.g. Bourdieu – cultural capital).

Question 12

Marxist views on high culture: Cultural Capital Theory

Answer 12

Pierre Bourdieu devised the idea of cultural capital. This is a form of cultural knowledge and experience we can draw upon to aid us in life.

The middle classes can draw upon high and low culture which gives them an advantage over the working classes who generally only consume low culture.

For example, those with high cultural capital get higher grades in exams than those with low capital in the same social class (Sullivan 2001). However class differences not overcome through cultural capital.

Question 13

What are the key criticisms of the Marxist view on High Culture?

Answer 13

• The working classes are not passive, but actively engage with their culture.
• Postmodernism

Question 14

What is the Postmodernist views on High Culture?

Answer 14

Technology, mass markets and mass consumption have made the distinction between high and low/mass culture meaningless. Elements of high culture are now popular culture and vice versa. For example, Banksy is a graffiti artist, but his works of popular culture now change hands for many thousands of pounds, bought by those from high social classes who can afford them.

Question 15

What does Strinati in 1995 believe about the Postmodernist views on High Culture?

Answer 15

Strinati (1995) believes that the distinction between high and popular culture is now weakening and technology and globalisation has had a large role to play in making this more available to the masses and also being spread across the world. No longer do we need to visit theatres to experience high culture, it is now streamed on the internet, TV, cinema etc.

We now live in a pick and mix culture where we can pick and choose the popular or high culture that we would like to consume. Art galleries (high culture), such as the Tate modern attract a mass of visitors each year. Live Opera is being streamed to the masses in cinemas.

Question 16

What does Giddings in 2010 believe about the Postmodernist views on High Culture?

Answer 16

Giddings (2010) argues that high culture art forms are now often being turned into products for sale in the mass popular culture market for consumption by the mass of ordinary people, and there is no longer anything special about art, as it is incorporated into daily life; video games, for example – which are considered to be part of popular culture – often brought together art, architecture, classical music, actors and writers which separately might be classified as ‘high culture’.

Giddings argued that the blurring lines between popular and high culture are like the borders between countries: “they are only there because we are told they are there, and people will always disagree on where those borders lie, whether they should be acknowledged at all, or who has the right to move them”.

Question 17

What is the key criticism of the Postmodernist views on High Culture?

Answer 17

PM view is cultural relativism, where one is no longer allowed the view that one cultural product has more artistic value than another.

Question 18

Has the distinction between low and high culture
Become meaningless

Summary of the debate

Yes it has become meaningless

Answer 18

Postmodernism
Strinati – Distinction between LC and HC is weakening due to technology and globalisation.
Giddings: High culture art forms often turned into products for mass popular culture – classical music in video games etc.
Giddings: Blurring lines between PC and HC are like borders between countries “they are only there because we are told they are there, and people will always disagree on where those borders lie, whether they should be acknowledge at all, or who has the right to move them.”
Impact of globalisation – Spreading culture, makes high culture available to masses.
Impact of technology – Availability and accessibility to a wider population. Cheaper than the original form (Opera viewed in Cinema or even online).
Pick and Mix – We have choice between high/popular culture. Art galleries attract mass of visitors and free.
Strinati: No cultural product is superior to another, it is all about choice. The audience are active in their choices.

Question 19

Has the distinction between low and high culture
Become meaningless

Summary of the debate

No it is still meaningful

Answer 19

Marxism
McDonald: Mass culture is undermining high culture – easier to enjoy and stops people enjoying a more worthwhile culture. Infantises adults (Superman etc)
Bourdieu: Cultural Capital - High culture more superior. Dominant class impose ideas about good taste to society.
Miliband: Mass culture ‘opium of the people’.
Marcuse: Mass culture undermines people’s ability to think critically about the world.
Neo-Marxism
Hall: People engage in the culture they consume and reject what they don’t like. Popular culture emerges as a protest against mainstream values (Sex Pistols)
Elite Theory
Arnold: High culture is the pursuit of perfection. A cannon of classics that have stood the test of time. Low culture is inferior, low quality, less worthy.