De-Institutionalization of High Culture? Realized Curricula in Secondary Education in Flanders, 1930–2000

Abstract

Based on findings and suggestions originating from educational research, several cultural sociologists have claimed that the education system has contributed to the erosion of the institutionalized character of fine arts throughout the 20th century. However, empirical research to substantiate this claim is scarce. We focus on secondary education in Flanders to study the centrality of high culture. Our goal is twofold. First, we want to reflect on the ways the education system can – via the process of institutionalization – infuse certain cultural products with status. Second, we offer an exploratory analysis by studying whether the extent of institutionalization of traditional high culture in the education system has decreased over the course of the 20th century. Our analyses indicate that, in the period 1930–2000, both high and low cultural forms are increasingly being represented in the school context. However, we find that the increase of high culture is especially situated in the academic track – the most prestigious track, designed to cultivate the future elite. In this way, throughout the 20th century, the education system continued to channel high culture to the upper social strata of society, thus infusing these forms of culture with status.