Popular Culture And High Culture: An Analysis And Evaluation Of Taste
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
What separates a Rembrandt from a romance novel, or a symphony from a pop song — and who decides? Herbert J. Gans confronts this charged question head-on in Popular Culture and High Culture: An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste, a landmark work in cultural sociology that systematically dismantles the age-old hierarchy dividing elite art from mass entertainment. Drawing on a rich sociological framework, Gans argues that taste is not an innate gift of the privileged few, but rather a product of class, education, and access — mapping out distinct taste cultures that reflect the lived realities of different social groups across America. Written with the clarity and conviction of a seasoned social scientist, the work challenges the aesthetic gatekeepers who have long dismissed popular culture as inferior, making a bold democratic case for re-evaluating how society judges cultural worth. Gans' analysis remains as urgent today as when it was first published, cutting through cultural snobbery with sharp, evidence-based precision. For anyone who has ever questioned why some art is celebrated and other art is scorned, this essential text leaves one irresistible question lingering: who truly has the right to define good taste?
Author: Herbert J. Gans
Format: Paperback
Genre: Society & culture
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
What separates a Rembrandt from a romance novel, or a symphony from a pop song — and who decides? Herbert J. Gans confronts this charged question head-on in Popular Culture and High Culture: An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste, a landmark work in cultural sociology that systematically dismantles the age-old hierarchy dividing elite art from mass entertainment. Drawing on a rich sociological framework, Gans argues that taste is not an innate gift of the privileged few, but rather a product of class, education, and access — mapping out distinct taste cultures that reflect the lived realities of different social groups across America. Written with the clarity and conviction of a seasoned social scientist, the work challenges the aesthetic gatekeepers who have long dismissed popular culture as inferior, making a bold democratic case for re-evaluating how society judges cultural worth. Gans' analysis remains as urgent today as when it was first published, cutting through cultural snobbery with sharp, evidence-based precision. For anyone who has ever questioned why some art is celebrated and other art is scorned, this essential text leaves one irresistible question lingering: who truly has the right to define good taste?