scholarly journals The Divisive Power of Humour: Comedy, Taste and Symbolic Boundaries

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Friedman ◽  
Giselinde Kuipers
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Symbolic Boundaries ◽  
Cultural Consumption ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Strong Relation ◽  
Specific Position

Using British and Dutch interview data, this article demonstrates how people from different social classes draw strong symbolic boundaries on the basis of comedy taste. Eschewing the omnivorousness described in recent studies of cultural consumption, comedy audiences make negative aesthetic and moral judgements on the basis of comedy taste, and often make harsh judgements without the disclaimers, apologies and ambivalence so typical of ‘taste talk’ in contemporary culture. The article demonstrates how, in particular, Dutch and British middle class audiences use their comedy taste to communicate distinction and cultural superiority. We discuss several reasons why such processes of social distancing exist in comedy taste and not other cultural areas: the traditionally low status of comedy; the strong relation between humour and personhood; the continuity between comedy tastes and humour styles in everyday life; as well as the specific position of comedy in the British and Dutch cultural fields.

The changing meaning of millets: Organic shops and distinctive consumption practices in Bengaluru, India

2020 ◽  
pp. 146954052090250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirka Erler ◽  
Markus Keck ◽  
Christoph Dittrich
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Symbolic Boundaries ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Organic Foods ◽  
Consumption Practices

The number of organic shops in Bengaluru has increased remarkably in the last few years, with millets being the main products drawing consumers. Yet, organic shops are only attracting middle-class consumers. We observed and interviewed 104 customers in five organic shops in Bengaluru to find out why this is the case. In this article, we follow practice theory to discuss the reported consumption patterns. We show that consumers, influenced by commercials and the advice of medical and nutritional professionals, legitimize their consumption of organic foods as an investment in their future health. We show that the customers of organic shops legitimize their consumption practice with affective engagements; thereby, performing symbolic boundaries that distinguish them from other social classes. This distinction manifests itself in the consumption of millets, which contributes to the change of the meaning of this food from a life-sustaining staple to a lifestyle superfood. In this article, we take a critical look at the role of organic retailers and how they reproduce class-based consumption practices in India.

scholarly journals Lebanese Students’ Attitudes toward English: An Exploratory Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Ghada M. Chehimi
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
School Students ◽  
Lower Middle Class ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Selection Of

This is a study of high school students’ attitudes toward the English language in Lebanon. The purpose of this research is to assess the extent of use of English inside and outside the schools taking into consideration the attitude towards the language. Two schools were selected, one upper middle class and one lower middle class. This selection of different social classes aims at finding whether a student’s socio- economical background affects his/ her attitude toward the English language. The sample of respondents returned 52 questionnaires from the two schools. Although this sample was a modest one, it highlighted the differences in attitudes towards the English language, but these attitudes did not relate much to the socioeconomic class as much as personal preferences. However, what was salient in this research is how students from the lower middle class were more inclined to use English to raise their social status and both groups agreed that English is essential to their progress in life.

scholarly journals Komiksy Marzeny Sowy. Marzi opowiada o dzieciństwie w PRL-u

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 99-111
Author(s):  
Anna Podemska-Kałuża
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Cultural Impact ◽  
Valuable Source ◽  
Industrial City ◽  
Adult World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Difficult Times ◽  
International Success

Marzena Sowa’s Comics. Marzi Talks About Childhood in PRLPolish screenwriter Marzena Sowa is the author of the comics’ cycle about Marzi, which was published in the years 2005–2011 and was an international success (the drawings prepared by Sylvain Savoia). The storiesabout the red-haired girl, the daughter of the workman and the resident of industrial city are the forms autobiographical, that show the reality of life in Poland in the 1980s. The prospect of a child, who is a careful observer of the adult world, has allowed the presentation of history of country in Central Europe at the end of communism. The cycle of Marzi presents an evocative picture of experience “last generation of PRL”, is the witness to the contemporary culture and the record of the struggles of society with the problems of everyday life in “difficult times”. Since its debut in 2005, the critic compares this comic diary from the time of puberty to the famous Persepolisof Marjane Satrapi. For the modern reader the books of Marzena Sowa is a valuable source of knowledge about Poland in the days of “Solidarity” and Lech Wałęsa, as well as the iconic comics that has a big power of social and cultural impact.

The Gendered Social Organization of Migration as Work

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 295-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet W. Salaff
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Family Resources ◽  
Lower Middle Class ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
And Gender

Borrowing concepts from the study of work and occupations as well as gender studies, this paper considers the social organization of migration as gendered work. It explores women's and men's contribution to two aspects of family resources needed to migrate: (a) jobs and the non-market exchanges involved in obtaining work, and (b) the support of kin. The data come from a study of 30 emigrant and non-emigrant families representing three social classes in Hong Kong. We find their “migration work” varies by social class and gender. Since the working class families depend on kin to get resources to emigrate, their “migration work” involves maintaining these kin ties, mainly in the job area. The lower middle class proffer advice to kin, and they view kin as an information source on topics including migration. For the affluent, middle-class who negotiate independently to emigrate, their “migration work” involves linking colleagues to the family.

The Buddhist Style in Consumer Culture: From Aesthetics to Emotional Patterns

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 28-54
Author(s):  
Zuzana Bártová
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Consumer Culture ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Identity Style ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract This paper contributes to the sociological theorization of religious lifestyles in consumer culture, analyzing one of its most important identity markers: style. Based on a three-year comparative ethnographic research project into five convert Buddhist organizations in France and the Czech Republic, it finds that style is expressed through aesthetics with its adornment practices apparent in everyday life materializations of Buddhist symbols. The stylistic dimension is also found in practitioners’ attitudes towards Buddhism, as they may use the discourse of taste. Moreover, Buddhist style stands for the collective, coherent, and systematic emotional patterns expressed in Buddhist symbols, individual and collective experiences, and the ethics and behavior they display in everyday life. The paper also explores how this style is adapted to the educated, middle-class, city-dweller practitioners and how it respects dynamics of consumer culture with its emphasis on identity, style, and values of well-being, authenticity, and personal development.

Urban Outfitters

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica M. Barron ◽  
Rhys H. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
Cultural Consumption ◽  
Dress Code ◽  
Racial And Ethnic Minorities ◽  
The Core ◽  
Congregational Culture ◽  
The Church

This chapter discusses in more detail the extent to which the congregational culture at Downtown Church is predicated on a sense of fashion and connects with those who are comfortable with cultural consumption. The core of Downtown Church is a “matrix of authenticity” triangulated by middle-class consumption of city spaces, urban nightlife and entertainment, and the visible presence of racial and ethnic minorities thought to characterize the diversity that marks a city. The emphasis on a particular type of congregant, and the image of what makes a church authentically urban, combine to form a “designer church.” The gendered nature of many of these expectations is clear and appears in several church-sponsored events. Another example of this aspect of the congregation’s culture is a dress code for those involved in being a public presence for the church (such as the greeters); the code itself is not focused on modesty or more conservative notions of propriety, but rather emphasizes contemporary fashion.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
American Dream ◽  
Philosophy Of Life

This introductory chapter discusses how Americans in the nineteenth century pursued the American Dream. It argues that moving the American Dream from the stratosphere in which it is often discussed into the mundane realities of everyday life forces it to be considered differently. The topics of relevance cease to be the long-term trajectory through which protagonists rise from rags to riches and become instead questions about the immediate contexts in which people live. It suggests that what we might call middle-class respectability gets us further than continuing to discuss the American Dream as an ideal or philosophy of life. Middle-class respectability was something that people may have aspired to as an ideal, but it was modeled, learned, and exhibited in practice.

Temporality in Mobile Lives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanthi Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Career Pathways ◽  
Work Study ◽  
The West ◽  
Transnational Mobility

This book provides fresh perspectives on 21st-century migratory experiences in this innovative study of young Asian migrants' lives in Australia. Exploring the aspirations and realities of transnational mobility, the book shows how migration has reshaped lived experiences of time for middle-class young people moving between Asia and the West for work, study and lifestyle opportunities. Through a new conceptual framework of 'chronomobilities', which looks at 'time-regimes' and 'time-logics', the book demonstrates how migratory pathways have become far more complex than leaving one country for another, and can profoundly affect the temporalities of everyday life, from career pathways to intimate relationships. Drawing on extensive ethnographic material, the book deepens our understanding of the multifaceted relationship between migration and time.

Self-segregation strategies through school choice in Chile: A middle-class domain?

2021 ◽  
pp. 144078332110365
Author(s):  
Alejandro Carrasco ◽  
Manuela Mendoza ◽  
Carolina Flores
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Socioeconomic Groups ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Middle Class Families

Sociological research has shown that marketized educational systems favour middle-class families’ self-segregation strategies through school choice and, consequently, the reproduction of their social advantage over poorer families. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of capitals, habitus and strategy, we analyse quantitative and ethnographic data on parents’ school choice from Chile to introduce nuances to this argument, evincing more extended and complex mechanisms of self-segregation in the Chilean marketized educational system. We found that not only middle-class parents but also parents from different socioeconomic groups displayed self-segregating school choice strategies. We also found that these strategies were performed both vertically (in relation to other social classes) and horizontally (in relation to other groups within the same social class). These findings unwrap a possible stronger effect of the Chilean school choice system over segregation.

Late Ozu: New Generation and New Salaryman Film

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woojeong Joo
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Film Industry ◽  
Class Consciousness ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Generational Conflict ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Commodity Culture ◽  
Good Morning ◽  
New Generation

This chapter covers the last years of Ozu’s career in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when Shochiku and the director himself were confronted by the younger generation’s challenge to established styles of everyday realism. The first part discusses the contextual basis of this change, from economic recuperation of postwar Japanese society, to the new wave of film industry, as epitomised by the boom of Nikkatsu’s Sun tribe films and the appearance of television. It is suggested that Ozu, though adopting certain aspects of the new changes, essentially maintained his styles and subject matters of urban everyday life and generational conflict, albeit with lesser critical perspective. This can be reflected in his ‘new salaryman films’ of this era, a genre that inherits the middle-classness of the shōshimin film, but with a brighter tone as to class consciousness, anticipating the appearance of television hōmudorama (home drama) genre. In the second part, such new salaryman films as Good Morning (1959) and An Autumn Afternoon (1962), are critically analysed, in terms of their active acknowledgement of new commodity culture and the ensuing banality of middle class everyday life.

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