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Youth cultural styles

From snob to pop?

Frits Van Wel is a psychologist and sociologist, and works as associate professor at the Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science. His publications are in the field of culture, care and welfare. Address: Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands. [email: F.vanWel{at}fss.uu.nl]

Willemijn Maarsingh

Willemijn Maarsingh has studied Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. [email: wmaarsingh{at}hotmail.com]

Tom Ter Bogt

Tom Ter Bogt is a psychologist and works as associate professor at the Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science. His research interests are pop music, identity and ‘problem behaviour’, musical taste, media use, and consumerism. Address: Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands. [email: T.terBogt{at}fss.uu.nl]

Quinten Raaijmakers

Quinten Raaijmakers is a psychologist and works as associate professor at the Department of Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. His main research interests are moral and cultural identity of adolescents. Address: Department of Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands. [email: Q.Raaijmakers{at}fss.uu.nl]

This research examines whether opposition between higher and lower forms of youth culture still contributes to the emergence of groups with different cultural tastes. Do youth at higher levels of secondary education (for example, pre-university education) tend to display ‘omnivorous’ tastes nowadays (Peterson, 1992), just as highly educated adults do? A sample of Dutch adolescents (N = 226) completed a questionnaire concerning their preferences in several cultural domains (music, film and television, light reading and literature, receptive cultural participation). Four groups or clusters representing cultural styles were identified: omnivores, moderate omnivores, a group interested primarily in popular culture, and a culturally disinterested group; each group comprised about a quarter of the sample. Whereas girls were overrepresented in the first two groups, boys were more common in the latter two groups. The two groups with omnivorous tastes appear to fit the profile of ‘normal’ youth. Otherwise, the four cultural groups could not be linked to specific youth subcultures.

Key Words: cultural participation • omnivorous taste • youth culture

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