Questioning the Omnivore

"Changing Highbrow Taste"

Paterson and Kern seem to attribute growing omnivorousness to increasingly tolerant values and "rising levels of living" (905). They even go so far to say that this omnivorousness is "antithetical to snobishness, which is based on... exclusinon." What do y'all think about this in relation to their characterization of the omnivore as appreciating and critiquing low-middle brow culture "in light of some knowledge of the genre and its great performers - they do not embrace the music as representing how they identify themselves" (904). The power of distinction provided by Cultural Capital seems to loom like the elephant in the room. Does the sophisticated enjoyment of country music for the snob really put her on equal terms with the "real" fan - or are class distinctions maintained by this relationship?

"Understanding Audience Segmentation"
While cultural taboos may have dissolved for the upper classes allowing them to partake in low-brow pleasures, what are the implications for lower class cultural univores? Do the univores mainly like one genre by choice? Or, might they still be systematically excluded from omnivorousness using the old barriers, like education and wealth, to obtaining cultural capital? Considering this, can omnivorousness really be called a step forward, away from "taste-exclusive highbrow snob," and toward a more egalitarian culture (252)? As Bryson's reference to Jackman and Muha in her "Anything but..." article says, "political [& cultural?] tolerance displayed by educated responents is, in fact, only a carefully cultivated status symbol."

"Anything But..."
Bryson says that rather than being "indiscriminately broad, omnivores' tastes may include high-status types of music that are popular among non-whites, while excluding low-status genres like gospel" (887). Thinking critically of our own tastes, do you see this pattern in your own preferred types of culture? How much of this is really "symbolic racism" that subconsciously excludes culture of undesirables and how much of this pattern relates to the way different types of culture are marketed? I seem to see those Putomayo world CD's in a number of higher-class places and they are not placed beside Dangdut albums - mainstream music of indonesia that developed from the Muslim working class.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwlkSy1Dn9M
We should always be wary of the way we unconsciously reinforce the domination of groups of people but at least some of the responsibility for patterns in taste must be attributed to marketers and taste-makers. But how much responsibility?