Cultural Omnivores, Habitus and Cultural Capital:

<p>The theory of cultural omnivorousness has been at the center of sociological debate on the relationship between taste and social status since the publication of Richard Peterson’s article. This paper explores recent sociological research on taste, and identifies seven forms of taste and habitus of cultural omnivores; (1) breadth and diversity of taste, (2) voraciousness of consumption, (3) openness to diversity and cultural/political tolerance, (4) discernment across genres, (5) distinction using the taste for the particular, (6) new aesthetic criteria of distinction, i.e., playfulness, eclecticism and social reflexivity, and (7) the ability to alter and revise cultural hierarchy. These characteristics of cultural omnivorousness are not from a single habitus and have some contradictions among them. Three types of cultural omnivores are found, and they are different in aesthetic sense, cultural capital, sense of symbolic exclusion and indifference to cultural hierarchy. The problem is whether cultural omnivorousness represents new forms of distinction or not. The answer to this question is withheld, but cultural omnivorousness relates to higher educational levels, cognitive flexibility, recursive habitus and moral standards.<br><br>Also examined is how patterns and structures of cultural activities have changed by comparing national random sample data from 1995 and 2019 surveys in Japan. Even though the educational level of samples increased, cultural consumption patterns, “highbrow,” “omnivore,” “lowbrow” and “inactive,” are very similar and stable over time. The Highbrow group (snobs) is very small and about 60% of these samples are omnivores, having higher status and high cultural capital than other types. The rate of cultural omnivorousness has not changed over the last 24 years in Japan. It is thought that cultural omnivores have distinctive tastes and cultural capital reproduced through family, and formal education has a small impact on cultural tastes in Japan. Thus, the structure of cultural consumption does not change as the national educational level increases.</p>