New distinctions : the impact of class and race on the cultural preferences of youth in Cape Town and Belo Horizonte

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorSeekings, Jeremyen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorSchenk, Jan-Christofen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-08T11:40:45Z
dc.date.available2015-12-08T11:40:45Z
dc.date.issued2015en_ZA
dc.description.abstractSociological treatments of the reproduction of social inequality in South Africa largely focus on its historical, political and economical aspects while references to popular culture are commonly used to describe differences, often in combination with racial discourse, rather than explain them. As a result much of South African cultural sociology, especially with regards to youth culture, is entailed in in-depth ethnographic descriptions of particular subcultures. Less common is scholarly work dealing with the role of taste and cultural preferences in the reconfiguration of common perceptions of 'otherness', both in class and race terms. This dissertation shifts the focus towards the structural aspects of popular culture and, particularly, youth culture. First, inspired by Bourdieu's work on distinction, it explores the segregating potential of contemporary youth culture in South Africa, especially where class and race con- notations meet. It then follows this thread of adapting Bourdieu's work to contemporary South African youth by identifying the media as a crucial factor alongside family and school for the preservation of racialised class characteristics. In a third step it takes the observations made in the South African context and compares them to youth culture in Brazil in order to establish the existence of common structures of difference that exist in different countries as a result of glocalization. The thesis established in this dissertation is that the cultural preferences of youth often come with class and race connotations. This interplay between class and race can be explained historic- ally as well as structurally through media consumption, which plays a significant role in the way young people learn to dress, speak, carry themselves and generally position themselves in relation to others. Due to global cultural flows these processes do not remain purely local phenomena but they find expression in localised forms as common structures of difference around the globe, thus structurally undermining local efforts to build a non-racial, non-classist society. These conclusions are based on primary research using a multi-method approach combining surveys on taste and racial attitudes with school-going youth in South Africa (Cape Town, n=1196) and Brazil (Belo Horizonte, n=860) with in-depth focus group interviews (only Cape Town). Using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis (survey data) combined with qualitative data analysis (interviews) it was possible to demonstrate that there are clear differences in the cultural and media preferences of South African youth along class and race lines, which are reflected, to a lesser extent, in the cultural and media preferences of Brazilian youth.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationSchenk, J. (2015). <i>New distinctions : the impact of class and race on the cultural preferences of youth in Cape Town and Belo Horizonte</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Sociology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15684en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationSchenk, Jan-Christof. <i>"New distinctions : the impact of class and race on the cultural preferences of youth in Cape Town and Belo Horizonte."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Sociology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15684en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationSchenk, J. 2015. New distinctions : the impact of class and race on the cultural preferences of youth in Cape Town and Belo Horizonte. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Schenk, Jan-Christof AB - Sociological treatments of the reproduction of social inequality in South Africa largely focus on its historical, political and economical aspects while references to popular culture are commonly used to describe differences, often in combination with racial discourse, rather than explain them. As a result much of South African cultural sociology, especially with regards to youth culture, is entailed in in-depth ethnographic descriptions of particular subcultures. Less common is scholarly work dealing with the role of taste and cultural preferences in the reconfiguration of common perceptions of 'otherness', both in class and race terms. This dissertation shifts the focus towards the structural aspects of popular culture and, particularly, youth culture. First, inspired by Bourdieu's work on distinction, it explores the segregating potential of contemporary youth culture in South Africa, especially where class and race con- notations meet. It then follows this thread of adapting Bourdieu's work to contemporary South African youth by identifying the media as a crucial factor alongside family and school for the preservation of racialised class characteristics. In a third step it takes the observations made in the South African context and compares them to youth culture in Brazil in order to establish the existence of common structures of difference that exist in different countries as a result of glocalization. The thesis established in this dissertation is that the cultural preferences of youth often come with class and race connotations. This interplay between class and race can be explained historic- ally as well as structurally through media consumption, which plays a significant role in the way young people learn to dress, speak, carry themselves and generally position themselves in relation to others. Due to global cultural flows these processes do not remain purely local phenomena but they find expression in localised forms as common structures of difference around the globe, thus structurally undermining local efforts to build a non-racial, non-classist society. These conclusions are based on primary research using a multi-method approach combining surveys on taste and racial attitudes with school-going youth in South Africa (Cape Town, n=1196) and Brazil (Belo Horizonte, n=860) with in-depth focus group interviews (only Cape Town). Using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis (survey data) combined with qualitative data analysis (interviews) it was possible to demonstrate that there are clear differences in the cultural and media preferences of South African youth along class and race lines, which are reflected, to a lesser extent, in the cultural and media preferences of Brazilian youth. DA - 2015 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - New distinctions : the impact of class and race on the cultural preferences of youth in Cape Town and Belo Horizonte TI - New distinctions : the impact of class and race on the cultural preferences of youth in Cape Town and Belo Horizonte UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15684 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/15684
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationSchenk J. New distinctions : the impact of class and race on the cultural preferences of youth in Cape Town and Belo Horizonte. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Sociology, 2015 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15684en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Sociologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherSociologyen_ZA
dc.titleNew distinctions : the impact of class and race on the cultural preferences of youth in Cape Town and Belo Horizonteen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_hum_2015_schenk_jan_christof.pdf
Size:
2.3 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
PhD / Doctoral