Why do some people enjoy opera while others prefer pop concerts? Why does one group savor fine wine while another loves fast food? At first glance, these seem like matters of personal preference. But Pierre Bourdieu’s landmark book Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (1979) revealed something more unsettling: our tastes are not purely individual. They are patterned by social class, shaped by cultural capital, and reinforced through everyday acts of judgment.
Taste as Social Marker
For Bourdieu, taste is never innocent. What we like—our music, food, art, fashion—signals our social position. The upper classes, endowed with cultural capital, cultivate “refined” or “legitimate” tastes: classical music, haute cuisine, abstract art. These tastes are not biologically superior; they are socially constructed as markers of distinction. In contrast, working-class preferences often align with practicality, comfort, or direct pleasure. Each group perceives its tastes as natural, while implicitly ranking others’ as inferior.
Distinction in Action
Taste becomes a weapon in the subtle struggles of social life. Choosing a certain wine, quoting a certain philosopher, or decorating a home in a particular style are not just aesthetic choices—they are signals of belonging and exclusion. By cultivating certain tastes, people draw symbolic boundaries that separate “us” from “them.” This process naturalizes inequality, making cultural hierarchies appear as personal sophistication rather than inherited privilege.
Why It Still Resonates
In the decades since Distinction was published, cultural landscapes have shifted dramatically. Popular culture, once dismissed as “low,” now commands enormous prestige, while global media has blurred boundaries between elite and mass culture. Yet Bourdieu’s insights remain strikingly relevant. Streaming platforms, food trends, fashion cycles, and even social media algorithms still sort people into cultural niches tied to class, geography, and education. The difference is that today’s markers of distinction are subtler: knowing the right indie band, following the right Instagram chefs, or adopting the right sustainability practices.
Distinction in the Digital Age
Social media has intensified the performance of taste. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok transform cultural consumption into visible signals of identity. From curated bookshelves to artisanal coffee shots, taste is staged as self-branding. But just as in Bourdieu’s France, these displays often reflect unequal access to cultural and economic capital. Digital distinction reproduces the same old hierarchies—only now they are wrapped in the language of authenticity and lifestyle.
Bourdieu’s critique pushes us to reconsider how we judge others—and ourselves. What appears to be “good taste” is not a matter of universal value but a reflection of social history and privilege. By unmasking taste as a mechanism of distinction, we gain the ability to question it. Can we imagine cultural value that does not reinforce hierarchy but instead celebrates plurality and shared humanity?
