Cultural logics and modes of consumption

In this paper, we study the way individuals structure musical preferences (i.e. cultural logics) and how this relates to motives for visiting different types of musical concerts. Based on data of a large scale audience survey at 73 concerts in 17 Flemish concert venues (N=1594), we analyze likes and dislikes for 22 musical genres. Based on Correlational Class Analysis (CCA), which is an extension of Relational Class Analysis (Goldberg, 2011), we search for patterns of organizing musical preferences. This CCA-method allows us to move beyond the clustering of individuals with similar preferences, and to focus on the underlying cultural logics that structure these preferences. This way, we distinguish four different cultural logics: (1) Omnivore vs. Univore, (2) Highbrow vs. Lowbrow, (3) Highbrow vs. Subculture and (4) Rockers vs. Non-rockers. This means that beside the well-known highbrow/lowbrow logic and the omnivore/univore logic, there are two other cultural logics viable in Flemish society. In a next step, using multilevel analysis with cross level interactions, we study these logics in relation to the modes of consuming different types of concerts. We distinguish 4 different modes of consumption: musical interest, curiousness, relaxation and identification with the crowd. In the audience of particular concerts, there are people with different cultural logics and this will influence their motives for visiting these concerts. Thus, there is a clear relation between the way individuals organize the cultural field, and the way they consume cultural products. This has pervasive implications for theorizing consumption practices in contemporary society.