Doctoral Dissertation Research: Peer Influence and Aesthetic Taste

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

SES-1203426 Omar Lizardo Sara Skiles University of Notre Dame Abstract Doctoral Dissertation Research: Peer Influence and Aesthetic Taste This project will examine how people's opinions influenced by their assessment of what other people think. The study contributes to a classic literature in the sociology of culture and applies it to a contemporary case study involving art appreciation. The project employs experimental methods. Specifically, a survey of 2,250 adult respondents requests their opinion of a particular painting twice, once before and once after receiving information about the opinions expressed by members of a hypothetical reference group. Variation in how such information changes the respondents' own opinions will enable us to assess the degree to which our aesthetic taste and opinions reflect efforts to engage in what is known as "symbolic boundary work." A central hypothesis is that respondents' taste expressions will be a function not only of their own social position, as has been demonstrated in numerous other studies, but also of attempts to draw symbolic boundaries between or around themselves and others, and that knowledge of others? tastes will be a significant predictor of such boundary work. Broader impacts: The project is designed to examine the connection between culture and inequality by investigating how people's opinions of art objects reflect larger social stratification dynamics. Findings from this study may be of interest not only to scholars, but to public and non-governmental organizations involved in art production and conservation. Findings may also influence art education programs and related forms of community outreach. Data from this project will be made publically available.