engleski

Tastes and constraints: Cultural participation in four South-East European countries

This paper discusses the results of the 2015 survey of cultural participation in four post-socialist countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia), carried out within the SCOPES project “Life-Strategies and Survival Strategies of Households and Individuals in South-East European Societies in Times of Crisis”. Within this context, we analyze the obtained data on the actual cultural participation, in terms of commitment and readiness to invest time and money, as well as on the estimate of the surveyed participants as to whether they have increased or decreased their cultural participation over the last five years (i.e. in the context of the current financial crisis). Our interpretation is based on the index of cultural practices, distinguishing between highbrow and lowbrow cultural activities. The survey results indicate a decrease in all the surveyed cultural activities in all the surveyed countries. The highest decrease has been recorded in the groups already characterized by low cultural participation, which indicates that cultural exclusion is on the rise. However, decreases in cultural participation have also been recorded in the groups with expected high levels of interest for cultural activities (e.g. age groups 30-44, with higher educational status). Based on this, it can be concluded that - in the crisis context - financial constraints play a significant role in the level of cultural participation. If results from different “national containers” are compared, it is revealed that the highest level of overall cultural participation is recorded in Slovenia, while the lowest level of cultural participation is recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The pattern of participation in highbrow and lowbrow cultural activities in Serbia can be related to a new level of polarization in the social space in that country. In connection with this, the paper outlines a set of comparative differences in cultural activities in the four countries. It analyzes structural homologies between the space of social positions in a given society and the spaces of cultural practices and tastes. The paper also addresses the role of tastes connected with the Bourdieuan idea of the importance of socialized cultural capital, quite distinct from the current financial constraints.

South-East Europe; crisis; cultural participation; taste; social space

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