Dimensions of Taste for Cultural Consumptionâ An Exemplar ... - SIFO

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1) measure the general activity index in order to determine the active and passive consumption(countries in this context). This leads to better understanding of general tendency, regarding theintensity/breadth of which items, or eventually patterns, are consumed2) rank the consumption items in order to determine the relative value of the items. This willenable the reference to “browship” (highbrow/lowbrow) or quality of consumption items, andit also enables comparison between societies, in which status differentiation might occur.3) measure the means on the volume of activities consumed in order to determine heavy-users andothers. This leads to better understanding of intensity of consumption.4) construct multi-item presentation in order to determine the breadth of consumption, whichalso enables to isolate potential “vorousness” types.5) explore the linkage between intensity and breadth, e.g. heavy-user and multi-liking vs. light-userand multi-liking vs. heavy-user and narrow taste. This leads to a possibility to create severalpatterns with multidimensionality.Next, some the above-mentioned aspects are empirically explored. Illustrative examples are presentedusing the available Eurobarometer 56.0 data set. In the beginning of each illustration the abovementionednumbering is referred.(1) Activity in general is an aspect that relates closely in scrutinizing pattern. When makingcomparative attempts over cultural boundaries (i.e. cross-cultural) we need to take into account the factthat the overall tendency of participation and activity regarding cultural consumption varies greatlyfrom country to country. There might be several differing reasons for this fluctuation, but neverthelessaddressing activity (versus passivity, or perhaps other-orientation) is relevant. In order to solve theproblem of activity I constructed general activity index by summing up the proportions of each 15countries of every given aspect of cultural consumption.Here the activity on cultural participation is measured individually for each EU member countries, andcountries are presented in the order of their index for overall intensity in all the measured culturalactivities. When forming the index the number of yearly participation of all the activities (9 in total) aresummed up. For example, in Denmark (first in order) attendance in the activities on yearly basis oncinema in on average almost 5 times, and going to library almost reaches up to 6 times per year. Sincesome of the activities are participated less than once a year and some considerably more often, theindex is able to tell of general participation rate in each country.Table 2. General activity index (1) (n= 4747)DK SWE SPA FIN NET LUX IT IRE GB FRA BE GER AUT GRE POR20,0 17,9 16,6 16,1 16,0 15,8 15,5 14,2 13,3 12,7 12,6 11,5 11,4 10,9 9,9Source: Eurobarometer 56.0 data (Christensen 2001.)(2) Relative value or the quality of items can be expressed in the form of popularity. Here, I providewith two examples of the hierarchy that exists in the universe of cultural consumption objects. The firstone (Example x.) presents the ranking order based on the general consumption proportion(consumed or not) first among all the Europeans, then among the young Swedes (one of the mostactive ones in multiple terms). Several cultural consumption domains with differing contents andinternal logics are presented.8
Table 3. General consumption proportion among all the young adults and among the Swedes, ranked inpopularity order within the category, %Cultural activeness item All EU Cultural activeness item SwedenCinema 80,1 Cinema 90,2Historical sites 47,3 Library 74,8Library 42,3 Historical sites 69,8Concert 42,1 Concert 51,1Museums in own country 32,9 Museums in own country 48,9Theatre 29,4 Theatre 37,4Museums abroad 22,1 Museums abroad 24,9Archaeological sites 18,1 Archaeological sites 12,5Ballet 14,0 Ballet 11,8Cultural awareness itemCultural awareness itemWatching TV documentaries 62,3 Watching TV documentaries 81,0Reading books for other purpose thanReading books for other purpose than education 72,8education or work 53,4 or workCultural hobby itemCultural hobby itemPhotographing or filming 35,4 Photographing or filming 61,0Dancing 27,9 Singing 41,3Singing 22,8 Dancing 37,0Other (sculpture, painting, drawing,Writingdesigning…) 19,435,7Writing 18,5 Other (sculpture, painting, drawing, designing…) 30,8Playing an instrument 17,1 Playing an instrument 29,5Acting 5,6 Acting 10,2Type of music listenedType of music listenedRock, pop 76,9 Rock, pop 86,2Easy listening 38,6 Easy listening 44,9Dance/house 32,8 Hard rock/ heavy metal 36,1Jazz, blues 22,2 Dance/house 31,5Folk, traditional 21,9 Classical 30,2Classical 21,5 Folk, traditional 23,9Techno 18,6 Techno 23,3Hard rock/ heavy metal 18,3 Jazz, blues 23,0Rap 16,4 Rap 18,0Opera, operetta 5,1 Opera, operetta 7,9Type of concert goneType of concert goneRock, pop 67,9 Rock, pop 77,6Classical 11,6 Hard rock/ heavy metal 16,4Jazz, blues 11,3 Jazz, blues 12,5Folk, traditional 11,3 Classical 9,2Hard rock/ heavy metal 10,4 Folk, traditional 5,9Dance/house 8,1 Rap 5,3Easy listening 6,4 Dance/house 5,3Techno 4,3 Easy listening 4,6Opera, operetta 3,8 Techno 2,6Rap 3,5 Opera, operetta 2,6Source: Eurobarometer 56.0 data (Christensen 2001.)9
Page 1: Taru Virtanen, M. Sc. (Econ. & Bus.
Page 5 and 6: eing implemented in every aspect of
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Page 13 and 14: DiscussionSeveral approaches were p
Page 15 and 16: Erola, Jani (2004) Remedy with Rati
Page 17 and 18: Appendix1. Figures on cinema attend

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