ABSTRACT
Our examination of the content of quality European newspapers’ culture sections – reflective of the content of what is considered to be legitimate and valuable culture – in Chapter 2 paints a twofold picture of the transformation that has taken place: the rise of popular culture and the decline of classical highbrow culture. Both processes, most sharply manifested inside the field of music, have contributed to the increased heterogenization and opening of the content of legitimate culture. But what is the deeper meaning and sociological significance of these trends? Our argument, which will be empirically substantiated in the course of this chapter, is that the essence of the transformation can be captured by conceptualizing them as two simultaneous processes: the one of legitimization of popular culture (signalling the trend ‘from entertainment to art’); and the other of popularization of traditional legitimate culture (signalling the trend ‘from art to entertainment’). Accordingly, if the boundary between highbrow culture and popular culture has lowered and lost at least some of its strength, it is not only because popular culture has been increasingly recognized as art (legitimization), but also because highbrow arts have been increasingly treated as entertainment (popularization). Previous studies have usually concentrated on one side of the process only, with much more sociological research being done on legitimation processes of popular culture. 1 Both sides are nevertheless important and corresponding parts in the post-1960s transformation of cultural hierarchies.
