Following the worldview of Pierre Bourdieu’s “Distinction” leaves a chilly sensation in the heart. It leads to the bleak conclusion that art and discernment are ultimately fortress walls built by the strong, requiring an immense accumulation of capital and time.
Yet, a highly fascinating paradox occurs right here. The vast majority of those who pack modern museums today, paid-subscribe to esoteric criticism essays, and passionately follow an artist’s original perspective are not multimillionaires or members of the upper class. They are ordinary office workers or young people we see around us every day.
If the fortress of capital is so impregnable, why on earth do those who are not part of the upper class yearn for and chase art so intensely? To understand this phenomenon, we must peer into the secret of “Habitus”—the core concept to which Bourdieu dedicated his entire life of research.
Habitus: The Bizarre Circular Loop of the Hen and the Egg
The word “Habitus” might sound daunting, but it simply refers to the “tastes, habits, and lifestyle” deeply embedded in our bodies and subconscious. The reason this concept feels uniquely elusive is that it inherently harbors a bizarre, “chicken-or-the-egg” circular structure.
The environment we grew up in and our parents’ capital (the hen) shape the tastes of our subconscious (the egg). It is just like how a child who grew up listening to classical music naturally feels comfortable with that music as an adult. However, once we grow up, that very taste and discernment (the egg) dictates what clothes we wear, what people we meet, and what choices we make—either keeping us stuck in a specific class or moving us into another (the hen). It is a flawless loop where the hen creates the egg, and the egg creates the hen all over again.
According to this rigid formula, ordinary people without money (the hen) should theoretically be incapable of possessing a high-level artistic eye (the egg). Yet, right in the middle of the 21st century, a group of people has emerged to sever this circular loop head-on. They are the modern followers of art, equipped with a “new Habitus.”
A Generation Saving ‘Cultural Capital’ Instead of Economic Capital
The current generation coolly accepts reality. They recognize that the fortress of “economic capital”—where one diligently saves a salary to become the landlord of a building in Gangnam—has become far too high for an ordinary individual to scale. Left without the ability to own the hen, people have smartly pivoted their strategy. Instead of saving visible money, they have begun to deposit invisible “cultural capital” into their own bodies.
While they cannot afford a luxury car worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, they visit museums, devour independent publications, and diligently consume the original perspectives of artists. In doing so, they implicitly prove to the world: “Unlike the snobs who purely chase material wealth and money, I am a human being of sophisticated discernment who knows how to recognize spiritual, high-level values.”
In an era where one might not own a house but refuse to compromise on taste, art has become the sole and most elegant business card to elevate the value of one’s existence, bypassing the barrier of money.
A Declaration to Refuse to Become a Zombie of Pop Culture
Behind the act of the ordinary public chasing art today, there lies not only a pure admiration for starving artists but also a subconscious “instinct for Distinction” working in tandem. It is a manifestation of intellectual pride—a refusal to become a zombie of pop culture who settles for sensational short-form videos and shallow information spoon-fed by algorithms.
In the past, if you had no money, you lacked even the opportunity to set foot in this world of noble discernment. But today, with smartphones unlocking all the world’s knowledge and art for free, fierce “eggs” have been born—individuals who, despite inheriting no wealth from their parents, acquire an artistic Habitus that used to be the exclusive property of the upper class purely through “personal intellectual effort and passion.”
Though they are not upper-class, they have hacked the upper class’s most powerful weapon—”discernment and the power of interpretation”—and turned it into their own armaments. And in reverse, using that taste and perspective as a weapon, they become emerging knowledge entrepreneurs or creators who seize wealth and fame, effectively beginning to hatch their own hens.
To Those Breaking the Egg on Their Own
Therefore, we cannot mock those who visit museums every weekend and read esoteric essays to hold onto deep contemplation, dismissing it as “useless behavior that makes no money.” They are the shrewdest rebels of our time, severing the chains of class dictated by capitalism using the weapon of taste.
“If I cannot prove myself through money, I will prove myself through my discernment.”
There is no need to despond just because you lack the hen. The 21st century is a mesmerizing era that yields the stage first to those who break out of the egg on their own. As you sharpen your unique Habitus today while chasing invisible values, you are already an artist possessing the wealthiest spirit in the world.
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