Wright, David, Purhonen, Semi and Heikkilä, Riie (2013) Comparing “cosmopolitanism” : taste, nation and global culture in Finland and the UK. Comparative Sociology, Volume 12 (Number 3). pp. 330-360. doi:10.1163/15691330-12341266 ISSN 1569-1322.

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Abstract

This paper adds a comparative perspective to the study of taste, cosmopolitanism and social organisation. Drawing on material provided by two similar projects in the UK and Finland it explores the relationships between national and cosmopolitan taste cultures. Whilst there have been some recent attempts to study taste in a comparative perspective, the weight of sociological inquiry into taste is focussed on specific national spaces, including the France of Bourdieu’s (1984) seminal contribution. This tendency persists even as the production and circulation of culture is increasingly accepted as global. Global culture is assumed to be the driver of cosmopolitan ways of being, but is also interpreted as a threat to distinct national cultures. Studies of taste provide an empirical setting where the lived experience of global culture and the ambiguities of cosmopolitanism can be observed. Based on interviews and focus group discussions from the UK and Finland, the paper broadly concurs with those critics who see cosmopolitanism in the context of the maintenance of privileged political or symbolic positions of classes/status groups.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts > Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies > Centre for Cultural Policy Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Cosmopolitanism, Globalization, Culture and globalization, Popular culture and globalization -- Great Britain, Popular culture and globalization -- Finland, Cosmopolitanism -- Great Britain, Cosmopolitanism -- Finland
Journal or Publication Title:	Comparative Sociology
Publisher:	Brill
ISSN:	1569-1322
Official Date:	May 2013
Dates:	Date Event May 2013 Published
Volume:	Volume 12
Number:	Number 3
Page Range:	pp. 330-360
DOI:	10.1163/15691330-12341266
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Description:
Date of first compliant deposit:	24 December 2015
Date of first compliant Open Access:	24 December 2015
Funder:	British Academy (BA), Suomen Akatemia [Academy of Finland]
Grant number:	54635 (BA) ; 139813 (SA)

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