Culture and Inequality

Summary

The field of culture and inequality studies in sociology has entered a “post-post-Bourdieusian” stage characterized by conceptual unification, theoretical synthesis, and methodological diversity, largely vindicating Bourdieu’s original arguments despite initial critiques. Elite cultural tastes function as powerful status signals, with cultural matching serving as a key mechanism in institutional gatekeeping, extending beyond interpersonal interactions to include object-mediated processes in creative fields. The re exists a consensual highbrow/lowbrow cultural hierarchy, even as the concept of omnivorousness has emerged. This is not as a contradiction to distinction but is a new form of elite status signaling via “conspicuous openness to diversity” that subtly polices cultural boundaries. The field remains beset by various lacunae , particularly regarding the experiences of working class and racial/ethnic minorities, and should move toward an expanded focus beyond primarily White middle-class elites to better understand how culture shapes inequality across various intersecting axes of difference.