This article investigates the contemporary meaning and value of traditional highbrow taste in the United States. Hypotheses rooted in cultural capital theory and social psychology are tested in a nationally representative survey experiment. The results of the experiment are threefold. First, signals of traditional highbrow taste have a positive, cumulative effect on perceptions of social class and competence, while signals of traditional lowbrow taste have a negative, cumulative effect on perceptions of class but not competence. Second, the effect of signals of taste on perceptions of social class is the primary pathway through which signals of traditional highbrow taste shape perceptions of competence. Third, the effect of signals of taste on social perceptions varies across cultural domains and according to respondent gender and social class. Results suggest that traditional hierarchies of taste can persist even as elite patterns of taste change.

本文探讨了美国传统高雅品味的当代意义和价值。植根于文化资本理论和社会心理学的假设在一项具有全国代表性的调查实验中得到检验。实验的结果是三倍的。首先，传统高雅品味的信号对社会阶层和能力的感知具有积极的累积效应，而传统低俗品味的信号对阶级感知具有负面的累积效应，但对能力没有影响。其次，品味信号对社会阶层感知的影响是传统高雅品味信号塑造能力感知的主要途径。第三，品味信号对社会认知的影响因文化领域以及受访者的性别和社会阶层而异。