That is, the naturalization of this distinction of taste and its misrecognition as necessary denies the dominated classes the means of defining their own world, which leads to the disadvantage of those with less overall capital. The acceptance of 'dominant' forms of taste is, Bourdieu argues, a form of 'symbolic violence'. This could mean lacking the terminology to describe or methods of understanding classical artwork, due to features of their habitus, for example. Those with low overall capital are unable to access a higher volume of cultural capital because they lack the necessary means to do so. Those with lower volumes of overall capital accept this taste, and the distinction of high and low culture, as legitimate and natural, and thus accept existing restrictions on conversion between the various forms of capital (economic, social, cultural).

īourdieu proposes that those with a high volume of cultural capital – non-financial social assets, such as education, which promote social mobility beyond economic means – are most likely to be able to determine what constitutes taste within society. Cultural distinction Ĭultural distinction is expanded with the concept of cultural capital, which are the social assets of a person, and a key element of outward display of power or lack thereof.

In The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can't be Jammed (2004), Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter describe 'distinction' as a social competition in which the styles of social fashion are in continual development, and that the men and women who do not follow the development of social trends soon become stale, and irrelevant to their social-class stratum. Political and socio-economic, racial and gender distinctions, based upon social class, are reinforced in daily life within society. In Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste ( La Distinction, 1979), Pierre Bourdieu described how those in power define aesthetic concepts like ' good taste', with the consequence that the social class of a person tends to predict and in fact determine his or her cultural interests, likes, and dislikes.

In sociology, distinction is a social force whereby people use various strategies-consciously or not-to differentiate and distance themselves from others in society, and to assign themselves greater value in the process. In the 18th-century, macaronis distinguished their wealth by excessive mentions of their travels, trendy fashions, and unusually sentimental behavior.

Distinction by pierre bourdieu