Banal Cosmopolitanism? Values and Cultural Repertoires of Youth in Adriatic Croatia

Abstract

The field of cultural consumption features an abundant body of research addressing the relationship between the local and global. While this research concentrates on issues of cultural repertoires and socio-economic context, the investigation of values continues to be been under-researched. An extended interpretation of the concept of banal cosmopolitanism is proposed as an attempt to describe the relationship between cultural consumption and values. Based on quantitative research (N = 2650) of high-school students in major cities of Adriatic Croatia, using cluster analysis, three value types were identified: modern, transitional and traditional. Our research shows that the modern type is mainly correlated with highbrow cultural practices and stronger preference towards foreign cultural artefacts, whereas traditional type is more prone to be involved in the local culture that uses national language. The article concludes that there is a positive relation between values and preference towards global culture that can be interpreted as a form of embodied cultural capital, adding a stronger emphasis on values to the current discussion on the relationship between cosmopolitanism and culture.