Ongoing History Daily: The curse of musical snobbery. What causes it?

If we’re honest, we’re all music snobs to some extent. But what shapes those musical tastes? Why do you hate and disdain some genres of music while loving others? What is it about our environments that make us the music fans we are? What is behind musical snobbery?

A study in the Canadian Review of Sociology entitled “Class Position and Musical Tastes: A Sing-Off between the Cultural Omnivorism and Bourdieusian Homology Frameworks” seeks to explain this.  Written by Gerry Veenstra at the University of British Columbia, it polled about 1,600 people in Vancouver and Toronto on their musical preferences. 

Here’s the gist: Canadians in lower income classes (and with less education) show a preference for country, disco, easy listening, oldies, metal and rap. Canadians in higher income and (and with more education) dig pop, rock, reggae, classical, blues, jazz, opera, world music and musical theatre.

I have no idea what you can do with this information but try not to abuse it.