The Patterns of Cultural Attitudes and Preferences in Estonia

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant from the Estonian Science Foundation (5854) and by the targeted research financing program of the Estonian Ministry of Science and Education (grant 0180017s07).

Notes

Notes

1 A–highly cultivated taste, characterized by the dominance of aesthetic, creative criteria over pragmatic and social criteria: high culture; B–cultural taste of the upper-middle class, oriented towards aesthetic values of high culture, but prefers ‘solid’, ‘classical’ and ‘mainstream’ to the search for the new and is characterized by the transfer of socially appropriate and generally recognized norms: upper-middle culture; C–lower-middle class taste, which is built on the ‘pleasant’, such criteria as closeness to life and morality: lower-middle culture; D–low vulgar cultural taste that tends to see art as entertainment, offering excitement and sexual enjoyment: low culture; E–separate from the hierarchical scale, a distinct taste oriented to alternative culture or authentic heritage culture: quasi-folk, low culture.

2 We do not use the word ‘culture’ here in its social-anthropological meaning (as values, traditions, norms and rituals) but apply it in a more restricted sense as practices and relationships in the process of participation in the field of cultural production and consumption.

3 The empirical survey Me. The World. The Media was conducted by the University of Tartu in November 2005. The data were collected using self-fulfilling questionnaires combined with face-to face interviews. The national representative sample of population aged 15–74 was used (1,500 respondents, from those 1,000 were ethnic Estonians and 500 represented the Russian-speaking minority).

4 The formation of culture consumption index. Respondents were asked to evaluate the sufficiency of finances for different expenditures. Seven different types of expenditures were considered in forming the indices of culture consumption–journal and newspaper subscriptions, book purchases, sports, travel, entertainment and hobbies, studies and self-improvement, theater and concert visits. The index of wealth was defined from 0 to 14. Each answer of ‘generally sufficient’ added two points to the index; each answer of ‘sometimes sufficient’ added one point. The index of lack of means was defined from 0 to 7, showing the sum of the answers ‘not sufficient’. The index of indifference was from 0 to 7, showing the sum of the answers ‘not necessary’. The averages of the indices of different groups were compared (characteristics: financial wealth, lack of finance, consumption indifference), based on seven culture-related types of expenditures; the averages of the indices were compared among social-demographic groups.