Cultural consumption across countries: A multi-level analysis of social inequality in highbrow culture in Europe

•Investigates highbrow cultural consumption in cross-national perspective.•Social inequality in cultural consumption found in all countries of Europe.•Cultural consumption linked with country's wealth, mobility and cultural funding.•Countries with much wealth and cultural funding: more highbrow consumption.•Countries with much mobility: less highbrow consumption and educational differentiation.

Participation in highbrow culture for individuals is often recognized as an important but unequally distributed asset. Although numerous studies have confirmed social differentiation in highbrow cultural consumption, cross-national research on social inequality in the cultural domain is still scarce. We contribute to the existing body of knowledge by examining to what extent social inequality in highbrow cultural consumption varies between European countries. We further test to what extent this social inequality in cultural consumption is moderated by a country's wealth, social mobility, and level of cultural funding. Multi-level regression models are employed using Eurobarometer data on 20,622 individuals living in 29 countries. Our results show that highbrow cultural consumption in European countries is affected by a nation's wealth, social mobility level, and level of cultural funding and supply. Furthermore, we find that educational and affluence inequality in cultural consumption is less outspoken in wealthy countries as compared to less wealthy countries. It is also shown that educational differentiation in highbrow cultural consumption is less profound in countries with large social mobility.