Towards The Cultural Contextualization Of Social Distinction

The article draws on the sensibility of a comparativist which leads to scepticism about the possibility of any general theory of social distinction applicable to most societies. The first part shows how the version of cultural analysis favoured by the author (concerned with patterns of meanings) sheds doubt on the transferability of Bourdieu's model elaborated for the French case in the 1960s. It is argued that this reading grid has privileged a specific version at the expense of the multi-faceted and often contradictory workings of social distinction throughout the world. Particularly, but not exclusively, when societies are structured according to vertical axes, the Bourdieusian scheme proves to be non-operative because ‘symbolic struggles’ are experienced very differently. Comparative studies should therefore question the explanatory value of classic theoretical frameworks by contrasting singularities. The second part of the article contributes to the analysis of social distinction by suggesting ways forward for empirical investigations. Six avenues of research, considered to be significant to the understanding of divergent manifestations (and logics) of distinction, are successively discussed: the meaningfulness of signs of distinction; the contrasting attitudes of ostentation and subduedness; the question of paragons; synecdochic strategies; the relative value placed upon quantity and quality in establishing a prestigious life-style; and processes of involution.