Affiliation:
1. University of Cambridge and St John’s College, UK
2. Carroll School of Management, Boston College, USA
Abstract
This article examines the strategies used by individuals within cultural fields to make a transition from previously low-status categories to high-status categories, in order to rise in the status hierarchy. Using the case of gastronomy in the global cities of London and New York, we investigate how the once strict boundary between high-end and ethnic restaurants is being breached, leading to field transformations. An analysis of the process of recategorization undertaken by chefs and restaurateurs reveals how strategies of category detachment and emulation are employed simultaneously: on the one side, to achieve a distancing from those held to be lower in the culinary hierarchy (ethnic restaurants/chefs) and, on the other side, to emulate those perceived to be above them in status (high-end restaurants). A third strategy identified is horizontal differentiation within the category – initiated by newcomers to ensure distinction and further secure their membership to the higher status category. Our analysis reveals the agency of producers in enacting status change by a focus on mainly material practices, while showing that recategorization is made possible by external societal and cultural transformations.
Subject
General Social Sciences,Cultural Studies
Cited by
3 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献