Comparing “Cosmopolitanism”: Taste, Nation and Global Culture in Finland and the UK
In: Comparative SociologySearch for other papers by David Wright in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Semi Purhonen in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Riie Heikkilä in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
This paper adds a comparative perspective to the study of taste, cosmopolitanism and social organisation. Drawing on material provided by two similar projects in the UK and Finland it explores the relationships between national and cosmopolitan taste cultures. Whilst there have been some recent attempts to study taste in a comparative perspective, the weight of sociological inquiry into taste is focussed on specific national spaces, including the France of Bourdieu’s (1984) seminal contribution. This tendency persists even as the production and circulation of culture is increasingly accepted as global. Global culture is assumed to be the driver of cosmopolitan ways of being, but is also interpreted as a threat to distinct national cultures. Studies of taste provide an empirical setting where the lived experience of global culture and the ambiguities of cosmopolitanism can be observed. Based on interviews and focus group discussions from the UK and Finland, the paper broadly concurs with those critics who see cosmopolitanism in the context of the maintenance of privileged political or symbolic positions of classes/status groups.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Alapuro Risto State and Revolution in Finland 1988 Berkeley University of California Press
-
Alasuutari Pertti “Globalization and the Nation-State: An Appraisal of the Discussion.” Acta Sociologica 2000 43 259 269
-
Alasuutari Pertti “Art, Entertainment, Culture and Nation.” Cultural Studies/Critical Methodologies 2001 1 157 184
-
Beck Ulrich “The Cosmopolitan Perspective: Sociology of the Second Age of Modernity.” British Journal of Sociology 2000 51 79 105
-
Beck Ulrich “Cosmopolitical Realism: On the Distinction between Cosmopolitanism in Philosophy and the Social Sciences.” Global Networks 2004 4 131 156
-
Bennett Tony, Savage Mike, Silva Elizabeth, Warde Alan, Gayo-Cal Modesto & Wright David Culture, Class, Distinction. 2009 London Routledge
-
Bourdieu Pierre Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste 1984 London Routledge
-
Bourdieu Pierre “Social Space and Symbolic Space.” Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action 1998 Cambridge Polity Press 1 13
-
Calhoun Craig Vertovec S. & Cohen R. The Class Consciousness of Frequent Travellers: Towards a Critique of Actually Existing Cosmopolitanism.” Conceiving Cosmopolitanism: Theory, Context and Practice 2003 Oxford Oxford University Press 86 109
-
Calhoun Craig Nations Matter: Culture, History and the Cosmopolitan Dream 2007 New York Routledge
-
Chalaby Jean K. “At the Origin of a Global Industry: The TV Format Trade as an Anglo-American Invention.” Media Culture and Society 2012 34 36 52
-
Chernilo Daniel “Social Theory’s Methodological Nationalism: Myth and Reality.” European Journal of Social Theory 2006 9 5 22
-
Cvetičanin Predrag Cultural Needs, Habits and Taste of Citizens of Serbia and Macedonia 2007 OGI Nis
-
Cvetičanin Predrag & Popescu Mihaela “The Art of Making Classes in Serbia: Another Particular Case of the Possible.” Poetics 2011 39 444 468
-
DeSoucey Michaela “Gastronationalism: Food Traditions and Authenticity Politics in the European Union.” American Sociological Review 2010 75 432 455
-
Daloz Jean-Pascal “Elite Distinction: Grand Theory and Comparative Perspectives.” Comparative Sociology 2007 6 27 74
-
Gillespie Marie Television, Ethnicity and Cultural Change 1995 London Routledge
-
Gilroy Paul The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness 1993 London Verso
-
Hage Ghassan White Nation: Fantasies of White Supremacy in a Multicultural Society 2000 London Routledge
-
Hebdige Dick Hiding in the Light: On Images and Things 1998 London Routledge
-
Kahma Nina & Toikka Arho “Cultural Map of Finland 2007: Analyzing Cultural Differences Using Multiple Correspondence Analysis.” Cultural Trends 2012 21 113 131
-
Katz-Gerro Tally “Cross-National Cultural Consumption Research: Inspirations and Disillusions.” Kölner Zeitschriftfür Soziologie und Sozial psychologie 2011 51 Sonderheft 339 360
-
Kendall Gavin, Woodward Ian & Skrbis Zlatko The Sociology of Cosmopolitanism. 2009 Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan
-
Lamont Michele & Askartova Sada “Ordinary Cosmopolitanisms: Strategies for Bridging Racial Boundaries among Working Class Men” Theory, Culture and Society 2002 19 4 1 25
-
Melkas Tuula Tutkimuskulttuuripääomasta Suomessa 2007: Tutkimusseloste Technical report of the Finnish Survey on Cultural capital 2007 2008 Helsinki Statistics Finland
-
Miller Daniel Silverstone R. & Hirsch E. “The Young and the Restless in Trinidad: A Case of the Local and the Global in Mass Consumption.” Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces 1992 London Routledge 163 182
-
Moran Albert & Malbon Justin Understanding the Global TV Format 2006 Bristol Intellect
-
Morley David & Robins Kevin Spaces of Identity: Global Media, Electronic Landscapes and Cultural Boundaries 1995 London Routledge
-
Mäkelä Johanna Goldstein D. & Merkle K. “Finland: Continuity and Change.” Culinary Cultures of Europe: Identity, Diversity and Dialogue 2005 Strasbourg Council of Europe Publishing 147 156
-
Mäkelä Klaus Kulttuurisen muuntelun yhteisöllinen rakenne Suomessa The social structure of cultural variation in Finland Sosiologia 1985 22 247 260
-
Ong Aihwa Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality 1999 Durham Duke University Press
-
Peterson Richard, A. ‘Problems in Comparative Research: the Example of Omnivorousness’ Poetics 2005 33 257 282
-
Pollock S., Bhabha Homi K., Breckenridge Carol A. & Chakrabarty Dipesh ‘Cosmopolitanisms’ Public Culture 2000 12 3 577 589
-
Purhonen Semi & Gronow Jukka “Polarizing Appetites? Stability and Change in Culinary Tastes in Finland, 1995–2007.” Food, Culture & Society 2013 (In press; accepted for publication)
-
Purhonen Semi, Gronow Jukka & Rahkonen Keijo “Social Differentiation of Musical and Literary Taste Patterns in Finland.” Research on Finnish Society 2009 2 39 49
-
Purhonen Semi, Gronow Jukka & Rahkonen Keijo “Nordic Democracy of Taste? Cultural Omnivorousness in Musical and Literary Taste Preferences in Finland.” Poetics 2010 38 266 298
-
Purhonen Semi & Wright David “Methodological Issues in National-Comparative Research on Cultural Tastes: The Case of Cultural Capital in the UK and Finland” Cultural Sociology 2013 7 2 forthcoming
-
Savage Mike, Bagnall Gaynor & Longhurst Brian Globalization and Belonging 2005 London Sage
-
Savage Mike, Wright David & Gayo-Cal Modesto “Cosmopolitan Nationalism and the Cultural Reach of the White British.” Nations & Nationalism 2010 16 598 615
-
Szerszynski Bronislaw & Urry John “Cultures of Cosmopolitanism.” The Sociological Review 2002 50 461 481
-
Thomson Katarina Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion Survey: Technical Report 2004 London National Centre for Social Research
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 361 | 197 | 10 |
| Full Text Views | 61 | 36 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 79 | 35 | 0 |
Comparing “Cosmopolitanism”: Taste, Nation and Global Culture in Finland and the UK
In: Comparative SociologySearch for other papers by David Wright in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Semi Purhonen in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Riie Heikkilä in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This paper adds a comparative perspective to the study of taste, cosmopolitanism and social organisation. Drawing on material provided by two similar projects in the UK and Finland it explores the relationships between national and cosmopolitan taste cultures. Whilst there have been some recent attempts to study taste in a comparative perspective, the weight of sociological inquiry into taste is focussed on specific national spaces, including the France of Bourdieu’s (1984) seminal contribution. This tendency persists even as the production and circulation of culture is increasingly accepted as global. Global culture is assumed to be the driver of cosmopolitan ways of being, but is also interpreted as a threat to distinct national cultures. Studies of taste provide an empirical setting where the lived experience of global culture and the ambiguities of cosmopolitanism can be observed. Based on interviews and focus group discussions from the UK and Finland, the paper broadly concurs with those critics who see cosmopolitanism in the context of the maintenance of privileged political or symbolic positions of classes/status groups.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 361 | 197 | 10 |
| Full Text Views | 61 | 36 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 79 | 35 | 0 |