Bourdieu on Distinction and Classification Struggle Regarding Taste in Society

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Bourdieu on Distinction and classification struggle regarding taste in society to propagates
existing power structures
Class is an important concept in human life that defines the differences between different
groups of people within society. This means that the way people behave, the choices they make
and even the tastes that they have are supposed to be defined by the class distinction that exists
between them. This has been presented by Bourdieu who argues that classification struggles of
taste exist within the society as people try to live within the social status that is propagated by the
class that they belong (Rahkonen p.132). Through habitus, people perceive and categorize things
in the world since it is based on how one was raised thus creating the structural tastes that exist
in the society. Since human beings are social animals, they belong to social groups that are
defined by cultural elements of identity (Bourdieu p.170). These cultural identity elements define
what people see as appealing to what they see. The same is similar to tastes especially in food
practices and consumption where people tend to define the social class that they come from. This
means that in a market environment, class struggles exist as people make choices over the tastes
that fit them. This is propagated by the class struggles that have been created in the media to
differentiate between the classes.
Distinction is used to create tastes through classification and classifying the classifier
through creating differences that can be used to understand people. This implies that the
distinctions that people make within the society on what is beautiful and ugly, the distinguished

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and the vulgar are based on the social position that one holds within the society. Stewart (40)
adds that in this case, it means the choice of food and the choice of restaurants that people eat are
defined by the social position that people hold in society. This is because class constitutes spaces
that are defined by the distribution of economic and cultural capital which leads configuration of
lifestyle and tastes according to through mediation of the habitus (Bourdieu p.260). When
restaurants are opened, they are designed in a way that creates a distinction between the different
groups in the society to create a certain social status that defines the type of people that utilize
them. Thus the upper-class, the middle class and the lower class will all have distinguishing
factors that they look within a commodity. Since taste is related to class, it means that the
restaurants are supposed to have certain elements that reflect the nature of the people that they
seek to serve. For example, the design of the restaurant and the kind of cutlery that they use will
define the status of the restaurant. These items will become more expensive as one moves up the
social ladder.
Bourdieu argues that aesthetic stances are used to create an environment that allows
people within the society to assert their position and the social ranks that they hold. Here the
dominant classes will affirm their social status through the consumption of cultural forms that are
consecrated by institutions. In his characteristic of the food space, he argued that curry and light
meats like beef have been legitimized while non-light meats are not (Bourdieu p.246). By
legitimizing these foods, restaurants tend to create a social distinction through arbitrary
distinctions designed to assert or confirm status within the society. In this case, it means that the
foods sold in restaurants will depend on what has been legitimized as fitting the social group that
the restaurant serves. This is when created advertisements for fancy restaurants, the marketer will
focus on creating a brand for such a restaurant through focused on light-meats that are regarded

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as meals for the fancy people. Ashwood and Bell (632) add those esthetics allow people to
embody their attachments on the cultural tools that define their social power. This means that the
taste is regarded as a tool that people use to define their social status.
Advertisements are used to lure people towards products and services that restaurants
have. This means that every restaurant needs to have a specific taste that it seeks to serve. In this
case, Bourdieu conceived that the choices that people make for one restaurant over another are
based on the constant struggles of everyday life where people sample through tastes to determine
what is good (Arsel and Bean p. 903). Since taste through food is a cultural game, then it implies
that taste is the basis of consumption that people use to classify themselves. There are three types
of attitudes or dispositions towards the culture that are connected to class positions. The first is
the sense of distinction that belongs to the dominant class, the cultural goodwill belonging to the
middle-class and the necessary choice that belongs to the lower class. In this case, the dominant
class will always strive to distinguish itself from the other categories through a demarcation line
that differentiates them from others. This is seen in upper-class restaurants where the dominant
class tends to distinguish itself with a different taste that cannot be compared to other classes
(Asteriti p.199). This aspect of taste is not only reflected in the kind of foods that these
restaurants serve but rather through the kind of foods that they serve and the cultural aspects of
eating that determine the way people need to eat. Since the taste is limited to the dominant class
who are few, then it means that when the taste changes to a popular one that is similar across the
classes, then it has turned form distinct to vulgar. What happens here is a new taste has to be
invented to distinguish between the classes.
The existence of vulgar and distinct means that there is a struggle for good taste which is
a symbolic power struggle that exists within the consumer. This changes the preparation of meals