Silva, Elizabeth, Wright, David and Warde, Alan. (2009) Using mixed methods for analysing culture: The Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion project. Cultural Sociology, Vol.3 (No.2). pp. 299-316. ISSN 1749-9755

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Abstract

This paper discusses the use of material generated in a mixed method investigation into cultural tastes and practices, conducted in Britain from 2003 to 2006, which employed a survey, focus groups and household interviews. The study analysed the patterning of cultural life across a number of fields, enhancing the empirical and methodological template provided by Bourdieu’s Distinction. Here we discuss criticisms of Bourdieu emerging from subsequent studies of class, culture and taste, outline the arguments related to the use of mixed methods and present illustrative results from the analysis of these different types of data. We discuss how the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods informed our analysis of cultural life in contemporary Britain. No single method was able to shed light on all aspects of our inquiry, lending support to the view that mixing methods is the most productive strategy for the investigation of complex social phenomena.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Cuture -- Great Britain, Culture -- Research, Aesthetics -- Great Britain
Journal or Publication Title:	Cultural Sociology
Publisher:	Sage Publications Ltd.
ISSN:	1749-9755
Date:	July 2009
Volume:	Vol.3
Number:	No.2
Page Range:	pp. 299-316
Identification Number:	10.1177/1749975509105536
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Funder:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC)
Grant number:	No R000239801 (ESRC)
Related URLs:	http://cus.sagepub.com/current.dtl
References:	Abercrombie, N. (1996) Television and Society, Oxford: Polity Press. Bennett, T., M. Emmison and J. Frow (1999) Accounting for Tastes: Australian Everyday Cultures, Cambridge University Press Bennett, T., Savage, M., Silva, E., Warde, A., Gayo-Cal, M.and Wright, D. (2008 forthcoming) Culture, Class, Distinction, London, Routledge. Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction. London: Routledge. Bryman, A. (1992) ‘Quantitative and qualitative research: further reflections on their integration’ in Brannen, J (1992) Mixing Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Research, Aldershot: Avebury. Devine, F. and Heath, S. (1999) Sociological Research Methods in Context. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Halle, D. (1993). Inside Culture. Art and Class in the American Home. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. Hardy, M. and Bryman, H. (2004) ‘Introduction. Common threads among techniques of data analysis’ in Hardy, M. and Bryman, A. Handbook of Data Analysis. London: Sage. Holt, D.B. (1997) ‘Distinction in America? Recovering Bourdieu’s theory of taste from its critics’, Poetics, 25: 93-120. Lamont, M. (1992) Money, Morals and Manners: The Culture of the French and American Upper-Middle Class, University of Chicago Press. Le Roux, B. and Rouanet, H. (2004) Geometric Data Analysis: From Correspondence Analysis to Structured Data Analysis, Dordecht: Kluwer. Li, Y., Savage, M. and Pickles, A. (2003) ‘Social capital and social exclusion in England and Wales’, British Journal of Sociology, 54 (4): 497-526. Mason, J. (1996) Qualitative Researching. London: Sage. Ollivier, M. (2008) ‘Models of Openness to Cultural Diversity: Humanist, Populist, Practical and Indifferent Omnivores’, Poetics, 36(2-3), 120-47. Peterson, R.A., (2005).’Problems in comparative research: The example of omnivorousness’, Poetics, 33, 257-282. Silva, E.B. (2005) Household Study: Technical Report. CCSE document, http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/cultural-capital-and-social-exclusion/project-publications.php Silva, E.B. (2006) ‘Homologies of social space and elective affinities: researching cultural capital’ in Sociology, 40(6): 1171-1189. Silva, E.B. and Edwards, R. (2004) ‘Operationalizing Bourdieu on Capitals: A Discussion on “The Construction of the Object”’. ESRC Research Methods Programme. Working Paper 7, 18 pages. http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/methods/publications/documents/WP7_000.pdf Silva, E.B and Wright, D. (2008) ‘Researching Cultural Capital: Complexities in mixing methods’ in Methodological Innovations, 2 (3). published 13/12.2007). http://erdt.plymouth.ac.uk/mionline/public_html/viewarticle.php?id=65&layout=html Silva, E.B. and Wright, D. (2005) ‘The judgement of taste and social position in focus group research’ Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, Special double issue, 76/77, pp.241-253. Thomson, K. (2004) Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion. Technical Report. London: National Centre for Social Research. http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/cultural-capital-and-social-exclusion/project-publications.php Thornton, S. (1995) Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital. Cambridge: Polity Press. Warde, A. (2008) ‘Does taste still serve power: The fate of distinction in Britain’, Sociologica: Italian Online Sociological Review, 3. Warde, A., Tampubolon, G., Tomlinson, M., Ray, K., Longhurst, B. and Savage, M. (2003) ‘Trends in social capital: membership of associations in England and Wales’, British Journal of Political Science, 33(2), 515-25. Warde, A., Wright, D. and Gayo-Cal, M. (2008) ‘The omnivorous orientation in the UK’, Poetics, 36 (2-3), 148-165. Weininger, E., (2005), ‘Foundations of Pierre Bourdieu’s class analysis’ in E.O. Wright (ed), Approaches to Class analysis, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/549

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