ABSTRACT Recent scholarship has argued that the concept of highbrow culture is undergoing radical changes, both in content and modes of appropriation. We introduce a new layer to this debate by bringing to the fore the format of the cultural product, distinguishing between “live” cultural products (concerts, exhibitions, live shows) and “recordings” (distributable items such as books or music albums). Using culture sections of newspapers (The Guardian, Le Monde, ABC, El País, Helsingin Sanomat, Dagens Nyheter) from 1960 to 2010 (n = 11,775) we ask what role the format of the cultural product plays for the highbrow/non-highbrow trajectories over time. We show that highbrow coverage faces a relative decline, mostly explained by the expanding non-highbrow arts coverage. Moreover, coverage on live events decreases, while coverage of recordings grows. This trend reflects the highbrow/non-highbrow divide, revealing that the “decline of the highbrow” phenomenon is under closer scrutiny a “decline of the highbrow live event”.

中文翻译：

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直播还是录播？使用 1960-2010 年欧洲报纸数据重新评估“高雅艺术的衰落”辩论

摘要 最近的学术研究认为，高雅文化的概念正在发生根本性的变化，无论是在内容还是占有方式上。我们通过突出文化产品的形式，区分“现场”文化产品（音乐会、展览、现场表演）和“录音”（书籍或音乐专辑等可分发物品），为这场辩论引入了一个新层次。使用 1960 年至 2010 年（n = 11,775）报纸的文化版块（The Guardian、Le Monde、ABC、El País、Helsingin Sanomat、Dagens Nyheter），我们询问文化产品的形式对高雅/非高雅人士有何作用随着时间的推移轨迹。我们表明，高雅的覆盖面面临相对下降，主要是由于非高雅的艺术覆盖面不断扩大。此外，现场活动的覆盖率下降，而录音的覆盖率增加。