Social status and cultural consumption: The case of reading in Chile

This paper examines the association between status and cultural consumption in the domain of reading in Chile. After empirically obtaining a status hierarchy based on the marriage patterns of occupational incumbents, I examine the influence of individual status position on book reading, frequency of reading, and diversity of book genre preferences. The findings indicate that position in the status hierarchy has a significant influence on book reading, and that this influence is net of educational attainment, income, and social class. Furthermore, status, but not education or economic resources, affects the preference for a more diverse book genre portfolio. In contrast, status is not an important determinant of magazine and newspaper reading, while education and income are. A historical account of these contrasting effects suggest that while newspapers and magazines have lost their elite character, diversifying in order to cater to popular taste throughout the 20th century, books remain a marker of ‘elite culture’ in contemporary Chilean society.