The Love of Art
European Art Museums and Their Public
Museums and art galleries appear to be and would claim to be open
to all, and yet, in fact, they are visited only by a small segment
of the population. Who are those whose love of art brings them into
museums? What distinguishes them from the majority of people who
exclude themselves or who are effectively excluded?
In this classic study, Bourdieu, Darbel and Schnapper address
such questions on the basis of a wide-ranging survey of museum
visitors throughout Europe. By examining the social conditions of
museum practices, they show that cultivated taste is not a natural
gift but a socially inculcated disposition which is distributed
unevenly, and which predisposes some to distinguish themselves
through their love of art, while others are deprived of this
privilege.
Preface.
1. Signs of the Times.
2. The Research Process.
3. The Social Conditions of Cultural Practice.
4. Cultural Works and Cultivated Disposition.
5. The Rules of Cultural Diffusion.
6. Conclusion.
Appendices.
1. Timetable of Research.
2. The Questionnaires and the Sampling Method.
3. The Public of French Museums.
4. Verificatory Surveys.
5. Analysis of 250 Semi-directed Interviews.
6. The Public of European Museums.
Notes.
Selected Bibliography.
Index.
essential component of Bourdieu's oeuvre, and of his
contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the social basis
of High Culture. It also provides theorists of the arts with that
rare but necessary critical tool: factual information about the
world of the museum." Janet Wolff
"This is vintage Bourdieu, showing how class generates culture,
which in turn reinforces class." Museum Anthropology
