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Nerdery, Snobbery and Connoisseurship : Developing conceptual clarity within the area of refined consumption

Egan-Wyer, Carys LU orcid ; Ulver, Sofia LU ; Bertilsson, Jon LU ; Klasson, Marcus LU and Johansson, Ulf LU (2014) Consumer Culture Theory
Abstract
As consumers in Western consumer culture have increasingly turned from high cultural to low cultural consumption categories to cultivate themselves, the meanings of the traditional and socio-cultural concepts used to represent different forms of consumer expertise have been blurred or altered. Drawing upon sociocultural literature on taste and distinction we attempt to provide theoretical clarity to the concepts of connoisseurship, snobbery, and nerdery; concepts that are often used interchangeably and without rigor in both (contemporary) popular and academic discourse. The outcome of our conceptual analysis is concretised using a semiotic square to illustrate how the concepts differ from each other. Our analysis suggests that the... (More)
As consumers in Western consumer culture have increasingly turned from high cultural to low cultural consumption categories to cultivate themselves, the meanings of the traditional and socio-cultural concepts used to represent different forms of consumer expertise have been blurred or altered. Drawing upon sociocultural literature on taste and distinction we attempt to provide theoretical clarity to the concepts of connoisseurship, snobbery, and nerdery; concepts that are often used interchangeably and without rigor in both (contemporary) popular and academic discourse. The outcome of our conceptual analysis is concretised using a semiotic square to illustrate how the concepts differ from each other. Our analysis suggests that the democratisation of consumption through the imprinting of status meanings upon traditionally illegitimate cultural objects may lead to the “bastardisation” of taste regarding those same illegitimate cultural categories – a performance formerly restricted to high culture. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
conference name
Consumer Culture Theory
conference location
Helsinki, Finland
conference dates
2014-06-26 - 2014-06-29
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d0160bfa-dde7-4047-8679-32577c1cb577
date added to LUP
2020-02-22 13:58:10
date last changed
2020-02-26 08:46:28
@misc{d0160bfa-dde7-4047-8679-32577c1cb577,
  abstract     = {{As consumers in Western consumer culture have increasingly turned from high cultural to low cultural consumption categories to cultivate themselves, the meanings of the traditional and socio-cultural concepts used to represent different forms of consumer expertise have been blurred or altered.  Drawing upon sociocultural literature on taste and distinction we attempt to provide theoretical clarity to the concepts of connoisseurship, snobbery, and nerdery; concepts that are often used interchangeably and without rigor in both (contemporary) popular and academic discourse. The outcome of our conceptual analysis is concretised using a semiotic square to illustrate how the concepts differ from each other. Our analysis suggests that the democratisation of consumption through the imprinting of status meanings upon traditionally illegitimate cultural objects may lead to the “bastardisation” of taste regarding those same illegitimate cultural categories – a performance formerly restricted to high culture.}},
  author       = {{Egan-Wyer, Carys and Ulver, Sofia and Bertilsson, Jon and Klasson, Marcus and Johansson, Ulf}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Nerdery, Snobbery and Connoisseurship : Developing conceptual clarity within the area of refined consumption}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/76448488/Nerdery_Snobbery_and_Connoisseurship.pdf}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}