Okay so I’m trying to grapple with what Pierre Bourdieu is saying in his essay “Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste”. He is basically saying that our “tastes”, or our likes and interests, is determine by our upbringing, our education and our social origin. I agree with him but there are definite exceptions.
I find myself listening to music that pe0ple wouldn’t necessarily link with my personality. I love punk rock/screamo music (bands such as Underoath, The Almost, MxPx) because my older brother listened to it. It isn’t like this is the only style of music I enjoy but it definitely reflects my upbringing. I enjoy reading books such as the Scarlet Letter and Jane Eyre and even poetry by Emily Dickenson and Woodsworth and this reflects my education. So in a way I agree with Bourdieu. I think a lot of the time people who don’t like something or find something interesting is due to the fact that they don’t understand it or can’t figure it out. Bourdieu believes this as well: “A beholder who lacks the specific code feels lost in a chaos of sounds and rhythms, colors and lines, without rhyme or reason.” This makes perfect sense. If I’m reading an essay, for example for our literary criticism class, and I don’t understand the idea or even the language being used I often determine that I don’t like the writing. I simply say it isn’t good or I didn’t enjoy it. This judgment is based off of my frustration in not being able to comprehend the material. However, usually after class discussion I have a better grasped on the concepts and I actually find that I either agree with the author or I don’t agree but I can’t appreciate the essay anyway.
Why is that? Is it just because we feel stupid? Because we don’t want to ask for help or simply say that the material is way too hard for us? I think a lot of the time it does boil down to pride. I don’t even know if this was the direction that Bourdieu was going. But it makes sense and at the same time irritates me that we are so scared to make ourselves vulnerable to others.
1 comment:
Hey Amanda!
I definitely agree with you on a lot of different points. I was raised in a middle-class home in a middle-class suburb outside of Baltimore, where most of the kids in the neighborhood listened to New Kids on the Block or something like that. For some reason (this is embarrassing!) I listened to rap music. I'm sure my parents didn't know, but I listened to rap music and loved it throughout my childhood. Isn't that weird? So my upbringing, social status and education probably wouldn't reflect that taste in music, but for some reason, that's just what I liked, inexpliciably.
But in other ways, I agree with Bordieu's theory--I read a lot, and I read things associated with higher education, like you do, like Jane Eyre, Dickinson and Wordsworth. And my dad really likes funk music and disco stuff (haha!), and I was raised listening to that, so I love that kind of music too. I think it does have to do with your comfort level--listening to or reading things that we always have, or that we've been raised around, has a certain level of comfort and security to it.
I know what you mean about reading things you don't understand and not liking them. This class has been especially tough for me in that regard--there have been more than a few essays we've had to read where I've started them, gotten really thrown off by the big words and confusing, foreign terms, and said "this sucks" and stopped reading it. (I hope you don't read that, Dr. Powers!) After we discuss those in class, though, I find I understand them more and develop a new appreciation for them. Then I'll go back and read them, becuase I'm excited I understand a little bit.
I think it's human nature to back away from things we don't understand, and to say we don't like things that we don't understand. I wish I could be vulnerable enough to just admit, "hey, i don't get this!" instead, i just say, "hey, this essay is horrible. I don't want to read it."
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