Social mobility and musical tastes: A reappraisal of the social meaning of taste eclecticism
Résumé
This article explores the consequences of social mobility for musical tastes. It first shows that the impact of secondary socialization in the class of destination prevails over the impact of primary socialization in the class of origin. It also partially supports the assumption that plural socialization, as a result of social mobility, fosters taste eclecticism. Moreover, the analysis also suggests that taste eclecticism corresponds to a variety of taste patterns. On the one hand, selective omnivorousness combines the taste for highbrow genres and the most common items of mass-produced pop music. It is quite overrepresented among the highest status groups and significantly linked to upward mobility. On the other hand, extensive omnivorousness, which corresponds with a less selective form of eclecticism, is quite overrepresented among intermediate status groups, and is not intrinsically associated with social mobility. Finally, the article also demonstrates the presence of another pattern of taste eclecticism that hardly includes any tastes for highbrow genres and which is positively impacted by social mobility and strongly anchored in the lower status groups. Together, these results suggest that the complexity of taste patterns may reflect the combination of contradictory social settings and complex social trajectories.