By Sara Suarez‑Fernandez, Juan Prieto‑Rodriguez and Maria Jose Perez‑Villadoniga

Education is the socioeconomic variable that has the greatest (direct and indirect) impact on cultural participation. In this paper, we analyze the effect of education on cultural consumption once the impact of income is controlled for. We find that the effect varies between activities, with its marginal effect more relevant for highbrow activities than for popular culture. This result is consistent with the idea that highbrow cultural consumption involves the comprehension of more complex symbolic elements, and individuals’ decoding abilities depend more on education than on income. Continue reading “FROM POPULAR TO HIGHBROW CULTURE: THE CHANGING ROLE OF EDUCATION” →