Which cultural objects are most likely to become topics of conversation between strangers who have little in common in terms of their cultural background? A widely shared view is that artistic products that play this role are likely to be “popular” in the dual sense of being both widely consumed and less legitimate. To test this proposition, we developed a unimodal network approach to analysing cultural consumption data. Using data from St. Petersburg (Russia) municipal library system, we reconstruct a network of 21,931 authors. We demonstrate that authors with predominantly university-educated readership are more likely to bridge cultural holes in taste networks, as measured by aggregate constraint and betweenness. At least as far as the literature is concerned, it is the legitimate figures that provide themes for “culture talk” across large cultural distances. We argue that the observed pattern might be explained as an outcome of two phenomena: (1) participation of lower-status audiences in the consumption of legitimate culture, particularly under pressure from formal educational institutions, and (2) asymmetry in tastes, with high-status consumers placing more value on the distinctiveness of their preferences.

哪些文化对象最有可能成为陌生人之间对话的话题，这些陌生人在文化背景上几乎没有共同之处？一种广泛认同的观点是，扮演这种角色的艺术产品很可能在被广泛消费和不合法的双重意义上是“受欢迎的”。为了检验这一主张，我们开发了一种单峰网络方法来分析文化消费数据。使用来自圣彼得堡（俄罗斯）市政图书馆系统的数据，我们重建了由21,931位作者组成的网络。我们证明，主要受大学教育的读者群的作者更有可能弥合味觉网络中的文化漏洞，这是通过总体约束和介于两者之间来衡量的。至少就文学而言，合法的人物为跨越较大文化距离的“文化对话”提供了主题。我们认为，观察到的模式可以解释为以下两种现象的结果：（1）低地位的受众参与合法文化的消费，尤其是在正规教育机构的压力下；（2）品味不对称，且文化程度很高。 -状态消费者将更多的价值放在偏好的独特性上。