High Culture

Bibliographic Data

ID7076413
AuthorsStijn Daenekindt (0000-0003-2411-2560, Ghent University Hospital, corresponding author)
Year2018
Pages1-2
Publication date2018-12-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeOTHER
VenueThe Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (JOURNAL)
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/9781405165518.wbeos1214
OpenAlexW4238033148
ISBN9781405165518
LanguageEN
References cited14

The terms high culture and popular culture – like their synonyms highbrow and lowbrow culture – imply a hierarchy of cultural forms. A sociological approach to high culture stresses that what qualifies as high culture does not ensue from intrinsic aesthetic superiority. Instead, sociological studies focus on the social origins of the distinction between high culture and popular culture and, in this way, “unmask” high culture by revealing the social processes that attach the claim of superiority to it. Claims of superiority seem at odds with the contemporary emphasis on tolerance for cultural diversity. However, despite trends toward greater tolerance, the category high culture remains of paramount importance to how culture is understood in society

Aesthetics · Art · Culture of the United States · Diversity (politics · Dominant culture · Hierarchy · Highbrow · Linguistics · Media studies · Political science · Popular culture · Social science · Sociology · Vernacular culture · Anthropology · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Law · Music History and Culture · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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