From parvenu to “highbrow” tastes: the rise of cultural capital in China’s intergenerational elites

Li, Gordon C.

Abstract

A new generation of elites distinguished by their cultural endowments has emerged in China. Unlike the older generation of elites who signaled status through the display of wealth but shared similar tastes, the new generation of cultured elites has sophisticated, often Western-oriented “highbrow” tastes in their cultural consumption. By comparing the upbringings and the tastes of interviewees from various backgrounds, this study suggests a widening taste-chasm between the elites and the underclasses in urban cities. The social process behind this is argued to be the rapid formation of cultural capital in China, in which parental privileges accumulated in the market economy converted into cultural privileges in the new generation of new elites.

Citation

Li, G. C. (in press). From parvenu to “highbrow” tastes: the rise of cultural capital in China’s intergenerational elites. The British Journal of Sociology, 72(3), 514-530. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12862

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 4, 2021
• Online Publication Date: May 25, 2021
• Deposit Date: May 28, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: May 28, 2021
• Journal: The British Journal of Sociology
• Print ISSN: 0007-1315
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-4446
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 72
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 514-530
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12862
• Keywords: China; cultural capital; cultural consumption; music taste; intergenerational mobility
• Related Public URLs: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12862