Koen van Eijck

Social Differentiation in Musical Taste Patterns

In this article, we investigate patterns of musical taste using a large sample from the Dutch population. It is found that members from higher-status groups tend to be more omnivorous (that is, they like more different musical genres) than those from lower-status groups, which is in line with Petersons (1992; Peterson & Simkus 1992) hypothesis. The actual difference is, however, rather small and occurs only with regard to the number of genres that respondents like at least more or less, not with regard to their favorite genres. In order to discover the combinatorial logic by which musical genres are clustered into specific taste patterns, a factor model is estimated. The results indicate that musical genres can be structured on the basis of three basic discourses (highbrow, pop, folk). The so-called omnivores comprise a specific fraction of the higher-status groups known as the new middle class, whose tastes combine a set of genres related to all these discourses.

The impact of family background and educational attainment on cultural consumption: A sibling analysis☆

Abstract In this paper, the author uses sibling models to estimate the total impact of family background on cultural consumption. Sibling analysis allows one to incorporate the impact of unmeasured family background into the models. Taking total family background into account also makes it possible to explore whether there is so-called family bias in intra-generational effects, in casu the effect of educational attainment on cultural consumption, due to the exclusion of variables tapping shared family background. The results indicate that the effect of education on cultural consumption is only biased by measured family background, not by unmeasured family background. Parents cultural resources are the most important measured determinants of sibling cultural participation. The impact of the educational attainment of siblings is relatively small. Older siblings cultural consumption is affected more strongly by family background than the cultural consumption of their younger brothers and sisters.

Richard A. Peterson and the culture of consumption

Abstract This article discusses the work of Richard A. Peterson in the field of cultural consumption. Peterson studied patterns of cultural choice and coined the term ‘cultural omnivore’, which has become part of the standard vocabulary of cultural scholars. After a brief overview of the current state of the art, and Petersons contribution to it, the author attempts to provide a description of who the cultural omnivore is and how we might better understand the omnivore taste pattern by simultaneously considering breadth and content of cultural tastes.

Old Soldiers Never Die Explaining the Disproportionate Aging of Volunteers in The Netherlands between 1985 and 2000

In this article, two possible explanations for the disproportionate aging of volunteers are tested using the Dutch Time Budget Studies 1985–2000. The first explanation holds that increasing time pressure among, especially, couples aged between 25 and 55, keeps this group from participating. This could not be corroborated by the data, as voluntary work declined among all population segments observed, irrespective of their combined workload of paid and unpaid labour or their family situation (living alone or with a partner). The second explanation assumes that differences in socialization are responsible for the observed divergence between generations. This was confirmed for most fields of voluntary work. Both men and women tend to keep up their level of voluntary activity well into old age.

Leisure, Lifestyle, and the New Middle Class

This article assesses differentiation in leisure patterns within the upper middle class based on job sector (i.e., civil servant, private sector employee, or self-employed). Combining three Dutch data sets covering the 1990–2000 period (n = 3415), significant job sector differences were found for 47 of the 98 leisure items studied. The results demonstrate that leisure participation is not structured by a single, externally legitimated hierarchy ranging from highbrow to lowbrow culture, but rather by more ambiguous patterns of leisure participation based on a narrative of personal enrichment and the self. Differences between the leisure patterns of people working in different sectors remained mostly stable during the 1990s.