What is it in simple terms?

Elites now enjoy everything from classical to pop, not only high culture.

Has class distinction disappeared?

No, broad taste itself signals status and some genres remain excluded.

Cultural Omnivore

👥 Sociology By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated October 27, 2026 Views 6

The cultural omnivore thesis, proposed by Richard Peterson, holds that high-status people are no longer snobs who stick to highbrow culture but omnivores who enjoy many genres, while lower-status people tend to be univores.

Contents

1. Snob to omnivore
2. Boundaries persist
3. Debates
4. FAQ
5. References

Snob to omnivore

Against Bourdieu (1984), Peterson (1992) found high-status omnivores and low-status univores; Peterson and Kern (1996) traced a historical shift.

Boundaries persist

Bryson (1996) showed the educated dislike genres of the least educated. Breadth itself becomes cultural capital.

Debates

Chan and Goldthorpe (2007) linked consumption to status; Warde and colleagues (2007) questioned omnivore homogeneity; Lizardo and Skiles (2012) tied it to habitus.

FAQ

What is it in simple terms?: Elites now enjoy everything from classical to pop, not only high culture.
Has class distinction disappeared?: No, broad taste itself signals status and some genres remain excluded.

Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26

References

Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste (R. Nice, Trans.). Harvard University Press. The homology thesis the omnivore idea challenged.
Peterson, R. A. (1992). Understanding audience segmentation: From elite and mass to omnivore and univore. Poetics, 21(4), 243–258. Coined the omnivore–univore distinction.
Peterson, R. A., & Kern, R. M. (1996). Changing highbrow taste: From snob to omnivore. American Sociological Review, 61(5), 900–907. Evidence of a shift from snob to omnivore.
Bryson, B. (1996). "Anything but heavy metal": Symbolic exclusion and musical dislikes. American Sociological Review, 61(5), 884–899. Shows exclusion persists through dislikes.
Chan, T. W., & Goldthorpe, J. H. (2007). Social stratification and cultural consumption: Music in England. European Sociological Review, 23(1), 1–19. Tests the thesis with English data.
Warde, A., Wright, D., & Gayo-Cal, M. (2007). Understanding cultural omnivorousness: Or, the myth of the cultural omnivore. Cultural Sociology, 1(2), 143–164. A critical re-examination.
Lizardo, O., & Skiles, S. (2012). Reconceptualizing and theorizing "omnivorousness": Genetic and relational mechanisms. Sociological Theory, 30(4), 263–282. Reconnects omnivorousness to Bourdieu.

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This article was last updated on October 27, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.