Nela Filimon

Scale and periodicities of recorded music consumption : reconciling Bourdieu's theory of taste with facts

Recent data show that middle class consumers have an omnivorous pattern of consumption or tastes, contrary to Bourdieus predictions of a snob pattern of consumption. To explore the implications of Bourdieus framework for omnivorousness further, we make use of the anthropological view of consumption to analyse Spaniards’ musical tastes and consumption. Results showed a variety of omnivorous patterns of musical consumption associated with upscale consumers: a higher position on the social ladder was linked to more omnivorous tastes and greater use of technologies that free the consumer from fixed periodicities in music consumption. We found that different types (economic, social and cultural) and levels of capital do configure subjects’ structural constraints and hence, their tastes in musical genres and the technological media used to consume them. Consequently, the combination of all three types of capital helps to explain the omnivorous consumption (elitist but inclusive as well) of upscale consumers.

A Social Theory of Internet Uses Based on Consumption Scale and Linkage Needs

The authors analyze the understudied relationship between social class and Internet-in-practice in the Spanish social space in order to develop a social theory of Internet use based on the concepts of scale of consumption, technological, social, and information linkage needs of individuals, and Bourdieu’s suggested homology between the social and consumption spaces. The authors test their theory with interdependence methods of analysis, which are suitable methodological instrument for relating Internet uses to social structure through the concepts of scale and linkage needs. The authors’ theory suggests that, since Internet uses are socially structured, the first-level digital divide may be reduced but will not disappear, and Internet uses will continue to differ (second-level digital divide). The theory not only explains Spaniards’ Internet use and more recent empirical findings but also proposes answers to critical contemporary social questions regarding the use of digital technologies and the digital inequality debate.