The article on Cultural Capital
The article by Lizardo and Skiles examines cultural capital via the lens of photographic material consumption. It is defined as an aesthetic disposition or the ability to perceive attractively objects and styles from a variety of areas that may or may not be related with fine arts (Lizardo and Skiles 5). It is also defined as an unequally distributed capacity that enables people to routinely separate the formal features of cultural items from their content and function (Lizardo and Skiles 5). As such, aesthetic disposition in cultural capital can be defined as individuals' ability to examine all works in and for themselves. These works include those designated for apprehensions such as art and all other things in the world which include cultural objects that may not be consecrated yet (Lizardo and Skiles 5).
Sources of Cultural Capital
The articles state that cultural capital is different in varying social groups and as such had two sources. The first one is the different socialization in households. The socialization involved children who were interacting with parents who had high levels of cultural capital, and therefore they transmitted the same to their children (Lizardo and Skiles 6). The second source is the access and ability to be successful in the contemporary educational systems mainly high education (Lizardo and Skiles 6). These sources can be referred to as the domestic and scholastic, respectively. Research that was conducted after this discovery confirmed the findings that indeed interactions at home and the role of education are the sources of cultural capital. It is because both ways provide a route for individuals with the resources to be successful especially in attaining high levels of education in their college and secondary levels (Lizardo and Skiles 6).
Cultural Omnivorousness
The basic idea of highbrow omnivorousness originated from research conducted by Peterson and his colleagues according to the article (Lizardo and Skiles 8). The researchers conducted a study where they were relating observation and the theoretical proposal of a positive association between increasing socioeconomic status and similar high rates of participation in the consumption of art activities (Lizardo and Skiles 9). They used data from the NEA which is a sponsored survey for public involvement in the arts. They found out that individuals who were figured out to like classical music and opera referred to as highbrows also had a greater taste for lowbrow and middlebrow music genres (Lizardo and Skiles 9). Their tastes in the latter genres were even higher than that of older highbrows. Therefore they defined this attitude as cultural omnivorousness.
A Reflection on my Preferences
I think that the tastes I have for different things such as the music I listen to, the food I prefer, the drinks I take and even the clothes I wear came from cultural interactions in the society. Most of the things I prefer are those that I have been interacting with since I was a child. Most of them are also the preferred ones by my close family members, and we all believe they are the best. Therefore, I think interactions at home influenced what I prefer in my life. However, when I choose the best among them, be it in clothes, food or even music, I always prefer what is trending. I look at my peers in school and social media and eventually adopt what most of them have endorsed as my major.
Works Cited
Lizardo, Omar, and Sara Skiles. "Cultural Consumption in the Fine and Popular Arts Realms." Sociology Compass 2.2 (2008): 485-502. Web.
