The Effect of Social Mobility on Cultural Barriers in Poland
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Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences
Submission date: 2023-03-10
Acceptance date: 2023-07-10
Publication date: 2023-09-27
Polish Sociological Review 2023;223(3):353-368
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The main aim of this article is to show to what extent social mobility weakens cultural barriers. The
findings are based on the results of a study on the stratification of musical tastes conducted in Poland in 2019
on a nationwide random sample. We demonstrate that upwardly mobile individuals adapt more to their status
of origin than to their new position. Our results also disconfirm hypotheses concerning the “socialization” of
downwardly mobile individuals to the highbrow culture. It shows that individuals moving down are closer to
the lower classes in participation in culture as compared to “stayers.” The results suggest an important shift: the
upwardly mobile have ceased to translate their occupational success into a more esteemed culture to gain social
approval. Respectively, the skidders do not resist the status implications of downward mobility by denying failure
and striving to compensate socio-economic degradation with sharing their tastes with their status peers.
FUNDING
National Science Centre, Poland, grant no. UMO-2017/25/B/HS6/01929.