DYNAMICS: The Dynamics of Cultural Stratification: How Cultural Classifications, Hierarchies and Tastes Change

Duration: 9/2017–8/2021, Funding: Academy of Finland (major research project)

Research team: Semi Purhonen (PI), Taru Lindblom (post-doc), Jarmo Kallunki (PhD candidate), Riie Heikkilä (post-doc, part-time), Tina Lauronen (PhD candidate), Ossi Sirkka (RA/project researcher), Sara Sivonen (project researcher)

Description:

How do cultural classifications, hierarchies and tastes change and evolve? Have the old status-based distinctions between ‘high’ and ‘low’ dwindled and led us into a more de-hierarchized, democratized and tolerant culture? This project, carried out at Tampere University, develops a new theory of the dynamics of cultural stratification and includes three empirical parts. The first part is a study of newspaper coverage of culture/arts in six European countries between 1960 and 2010. The second part examines the changes in the social organization of lifestyles and tastes in Finland over the last ten years. The third part focuses on the fastest-paced dynamics of cultural stratification by analyzing social media data. By providing general understanding and empirical detail about the recent changes in cultural stratification, the project will be innovative and of high impact in relation to previous academic studies and public debates on cultural inequalities.

 

Project summary

There is a consensus that stratification in society and social inequalities are not only material and economic but also cultural phenomena, and that the role played by culture is context-specific and historically variable. Many key debates of recent cultural sociology – the rise of the ‘cultural omnivore’, the fate of the classical ‘highbrow’ culture as well as the popularization, commercialization and globalization of culture, to name a few – deal with temporal changes. Yet, thus far sociologists have not succeeded in developing a broad and systematic understanding of the dynamics of cultural stratification.

This project fills this lacuna by exploring the dynamics of cultural stratification. Using a multidimensional and innovative research design, DYNAMICS brings the indispensable temporal dimension to the fore of cultural sociological research. It will do so by taking into account (a) the different time frames – long, middle, short – during which changes might take place and (b) both sides of cultural stratification, production and consumption. Moreover, it (c) utilizes a comprehensive, multi-method research design including three empirical parts and (d) develops a novel, unifying conceptual framework paying attention to a wide range of dimensions significant for the processes of cultural stratification, most notably, popularity, legitimacy, novelty, geographical fluidity, velocity and context dependency.

The first empirical part, continuing the work done in a previous CUDIGE project and focusing on long-term time frame and cultural production, is a comprehensive study of newspaper coverage of culture/arts in six European countries from 1960 to 2010. The newspaper data allow examining whether the content of legitimate culture has become more heterogeneous and whether the tensions between ‘high’ vs. popular and national vs. global culture have changed.

The second empirical part, with a focus on a middle-term time frame and cultural consumption, uses survey data and examines the changes in the social organization of lifestyles and tastes in Finland over the last ten years. It asks if specific tastes and activities have changed regarding popularity and legitimacy; if the correspondence between social and cultural hierarchies is about to dwindle; and if the number of omnivorous consumers is increasing.

The third empirical part focuses on the fastest-paced dynamics of cultural stratification by analyzing social media data. Computational methods of text analysis will be used to explore the trajectories of specific cultural objects and around which topics aesthetically normative cultural distinctions appear in the context of an online discussion.

By providing general understanding and empirical detail about the recent changes in cultural stratification, DYNAMICS will be highly innovative and of high impact in relation to previous studies and public debates on cultural inequalities.

 

Project events

Research mobility 2018-2019

Riie was a visiting fellow at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in June, 2019.

Riie was a visiting fellow at the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester in May, 2018.

Taru was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Comparative Culture at the Sophia University in Tokyo in June-July, 2018.

Teaching on the sociology of culture and social change

Our MA thesis seminar, on the topics broadly related to DYNAMIC’s interests, run by Semi, Riie and Taru, continued in fall term 2019.

A lecture course “Cultural Stratification” (being a part of the teaching of the MA social science program at the Tampere University) was held by Semi and Taru on fall term 2019.

A lecture course “Social Change” (being a part of the teaching of the BA and MA social science programs at the Tampere University) was held by Semi on spring term 2020.

A multi-method course “Questions of Sociological Research: A Researcher’s Perspective” (being a part of the teaching of the MA social science program at the Tampere University) was held by Semi and Jarmo on spring term 2020.

Riie supervised a BA thesis seminar on spring term 2020.

A lecture course “Social Change” (being a part of the teaching of the BA and MA social science programs at the University of Tampere) was by Semi on spring term 2019.

A new, thematic MA thesis seminar, on the topics broadly related to DYNAMIC’s interests, starting in fall term 2018, run by Semi, Riie and Taru (the first meeting will be after the general orientation period/idea paper stage, compulsory to all new MA students in the social science program, in/around mid-October 2018).

A lecture course “Introduction to Sociology of Culture” (being a part of the teaching of the BA social science program at the University of Tampere) to be held by Taru on spring term 2019 (starting on 7 March 2019).

Taru holds a lecture on April 15th at the University of Turku on “Food and Eating as Distinction” (Ruoka ja syöminen erontekona) as part of a lecture course on consumption organised by economic sociology unit.

A lecture course “Cultural Sociology” (a part of the teaching of the BA and MA social science programs at the University of Tampere) was held by Semi, Riie and Taru between 16 January and 6 March 2018. The course description (in Finnish) is still available here.

Taru held a lecture on April 3rd at the University of Turku on “Food and Eating as Distinction” (Ruoka ja syöminen erontekona) as part of a lecture course Economy, Consumption and Lifestyle (Talous, kulttuuri ja elämäntapa) organised by economic sociology unit.

Events

The 9th National Conference in Cultural Studies and 6th national Conference in Cultural Policy Studies: “CHANGE“. 13-14 December 2019, Tampere, Finland.

Semi’s inaugural lecture at Tampere University, “Comparative Sociology of Culture and Social Change” (in Finnish) will be held on 13 September 2019 in Tampere (main building, auditorium A1).

14th Conference of the European Sociological Association “EUROPE AND BEYOND: BOUNDARIES, BARRIERS AND BELONGING, Manchester, the UK, 20-23 August 2019.

The ASA 114th Annual Meeting, “Engaging Social Justice for a Better World“, 10-13 August 2019, New York, the US.

Sosiologipäivät (Annual Meeting of the Westermarck Society), “Eriarvoisuuden monet kasvot“, 28-29 March 2019, Turku, Finland.

Sociology Research Seminar at Tampere University, 14 February 2019 (with Riie & Taru giving a presentation based on paper “Avoiders gonna avoid: The anatomy of cultural non-participation in Finland, 2007 to 2018.”).

Rethinking Cultural Journalism and Cultural Critique in Digital Media Culture. International Conference organized by Nete Nørgaard Kristensen and colleagues, 22-23 November 2018, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

ECREA 2018 Lugano, 7th European Communication Conference. Centers and Peripheries: Communication, Research, Translation. 31 October-3 November 2018, Lugano, Switzerland.

SCUD/Rising Inequalities workshop, 4-5 October 2018, Paris, France.

Consumption and Consumerism: Conceptual and Empirical Sociological Challenges. Midterm Conference of RN05: European Sociological Association’s Research Network on the Sociology of Consumption, 29 August-1 September 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark.

XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology, “Power, Violence and Justice: Reflections, Responses and Responsibilities“, 15-21 July 2018, Toronto, Canada.

Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture Lecture Series 2018, Taru giving a public lecture entitled “Culinary capital, taste and the foodies: food-based social distinction in Finland”, 12 July 2018, Tokyo, Japan. The abstract of the lecture is available here.

The monthly research workshop of the Global Japanese Food Research group (Institute of Comparative Culture, Sophia University, Tokyo), 27 June 2018, Tokyo, Japan (with Taru giving an invited talk about the ongoing research projects related to food and cultural stratification).

TCuPS workshop in Tampere, 11-12 June 2018.

ACSS 2018 Kobe, The Asian Conference of Social Sciences. Surviving and Thriving: In Pursuit of a Sustainable World, 8-10 June, 2018, Kobe, Japan.

A workshop on “Convergencies and Divergencies in Cultural Stratification Systems: Looking for Patterns and Powerful Explanatory Variables” to be held at the European University, 28-29 May 2018, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Research seminar of the Department of Social Sciences (Oxford Brookes University), 24 May 2018, Oxford, UK (with Riie giving an invited talk about cultural stratification and participation in Finland).

The monthly research seminar of the Sustainable consumption institute (University of Manchester), 8 May 2018, Manchester, UK (with Riie giving an invited talk about cultural stratification and participation in Finland and the ongoing research projects).

A workshop “Cultural Capital and Inequalities in the 21st Century: Reflections on Current Work”. 18-19 April 2018, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

Southern Sociological Society (SSS) Annual Meeting, “Racial Theory, Analysis, and Politics in Trump America“, 4-7 April, 2018, New Orleans, LA, USA.

Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki. Kollegium Talks: Yhteiskunnan aistit: maku. (Social Senses: Taste). 28 March 2018, Helsinki, Finland (with Semi participating in a panel discussion with Katriina Järvinen and Hanna Ylöstalo). Video available here.

Sosiologipäivät (Annual Meeting of the Westermarck-Society), “Kiertokulkuja“, 15-16 March 2018, Joensuu, Finland (with Riie and Taru participating the working group “Culture and Consumption” – Riie presented her Academy project on cultural disengagement, Taru presented theoretical-methodogical notions on categorical tolerance).

Sociology Research Seminar at the University of Tampere, 8 March 2018 (with Semi giving a presentation on “Enter Culture, Exit Arts”).

Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, “As Times Go By: Social and Institutional Change“, 21-25 February 2018, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Sibelius Academy, “Historiantutkimuksen torstaifoorumi”, 18 January 2018, Helsinki (with Semi giving an invited talk about legitimization of popular culture and popularization of highbrow culture).

A meeting concerning the new survey to be collected in 2018 with the members of the ‘old’ Cultural Capital and Social Differentiation project, Tiedekulma, Helsinki, 24 November 2017.

A meeting concerning the new survey to be collected in 2018, Statistics Finland, 15 November 2017.

A public lecture at the Turku Main Library on Finnish Food Culture and Culinary Taste (given by Taru), 2 November 2017.

28th European Meeting of Cultural Journals, organized by the European network of cultural journals, Eurozine, Tartu, Estonia, 20-22 October 2017, with Semi giving an invited presentation about the study on the changes in the European quality newspapers’ culture sections from 1960 to 2010.

A NOS-HS (The joint committee for Nordic research councils within the humanities and social sciences) workshop “Rising Inequalities”, Copenhagen, Denmark, 14-15 September 2017. (Also known as a SCUD Network workshop.)

13th Conference of the European Sociological Association “(Un)Making Europe: Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities”, Athens, Greece, 29 August – 1 September 2017.

 

Kysely

Helmi-toukokuussa 2018 projektissa kerättiin suomalaisten keskuudessa laaja kulttuuria ja vapaa-ajan harrastuksia koskeva kyselyaineisto.

Kyselyllä selvitettiin muun muassa televisionkatselutottumuksia ja musiikkimakua, sekä lukemiseen, elokuviin, kulttuuriosallistumiseen ja erilaisiin peleihin liittyviä mieltymyksiä. Lisäksi selvitettiin internetin käyttötottumuksia ja harrastustoimintaa. Kyselyn avulla halutaan saada monipuolinen kuva suomalaisten vapaa-ajan harrastuksista ja toiminnasta sekä yleisistä mielipiteistä esimerkiksi kulttuuriin ja kansalaisosallistumiseen liittyen.

Tutkimushanke on jatkoa vuonna 2007 Helsingin yliopistossa toteutetulle vastaavanlaiselle tutkimukselle (Kulttuuripääoma Suomessa -hankkeen sivuille tästä). Nyt käynnissä oleva tutkimushanke selvittää monipuolisesti kulttuuria ja harrastuksia nykypäivän Suomessa sekä tarkastelee suomalaisten kulttuurimaussa kuluneen vuosikymmenen aikana tapahtuneita muutoksia.

Aineistonkeruu toteutettiin yhteistyössä Tilastokeskuksen kanssa. (www.tilastokeskus.fi/tup/kupo )

Milloin ja miten tiedot kerättiin?

Tilastokeskus keräsi tiedot verkko- ja postikyselyllä kevään 2018 aikana (28.2.–7.5.). Tutkimukseen poimittiin satunnaisesti 3 500 iältään 18–74-vuotiasta suomalaista. Kyselyyn vastasi 1 425 henkilöä. Kyselyn vastausosuudeksi muodostui siis 40,8%, mitä nykystandardien mukaan voi pitää erittäin hyvänä. Vastaajista 308 henkilöä antoi tutkimusryhmälle luvan jatkohaastatteluihin. Jatkohaastattelut tehtiin talven ja kevään 2019 aikana.

Tutkimukseen valikoituneet henkilöt saivat postitse kotiinsa kirjeen, jossa ohjeistettiin kyselyyn vastaamiseen internetissä kirjeen tunnusta ja salasanaa käyttäen. Myöhemmin valikoituneita henkilöitä lähestyttiin kirjemuistutuksella. Paperilomake lähetettiin postitse toistaiseksi vastaamattomille otokseen valikoituneille henkilöille 3.4. Vastausajan puitteissa vastaamattomia muistutettiin vielä kerran kirjeitse, sekä kertaalleen niin sähköpostilla kuin tekstiviestillä. Kyselyn keruu päättyi 7.5.2018.

Osallistuminen ei edellyttänyt mitään erityisiä tietoja tai taitoja, eikä tutkimukseen tarvinnut valmistautua ennakkoon. Kysely on tarkoitettu kaikille suomalaisille, ei vain erityisesti jotain kulttuurin tai vapaa-ajan alaa harrastaville.

Luottamuksellisuus

Kaikki vastaajien antamat tiedot käsitellään luottamuksellisina. Yksittäisen vastaajan tietoja ei voi tunnistaa julkaistavista tutkimustuloksista.

Lisätietoa

Taru Lindblom, tutkijatohtori, puh. 050 437 7186, taru.lindblom@tuni.fi

Semi Purhonen, professori, semi.purhonen@tuni.fi

 

Tiedonkeruusta vastasivat Tilastokeskuksessa:

Yliaktuaari Immi Ilomäki, puh. 029 551 3233
Tutkija Niina Sarén, puh. 029 551 3332
Tutkija Riina Nyberg, puh. 029 551 2480

Palvelusähköposti: kulttuurikysely@stat.fi