The thinker Pierre Bourdieu once exposed art as the exclusive property of the upper class—a brutal mechanism of “Distinction” used to separate themselves from the ordinary masses.
Decades later, the world seems to have changed beyond recognition. Today, we can appreciate masterpieces worth tens of millions of dollars for free on our smartphone screens and listen to lectures by the world’s top aestheticists right from our bedrooms. The threshold of museums has lowered, and platforms to write and discuss art are open to everyone. In terms of outward means and accessibility of information, perfect democratization seems to have been achieved.
Does this mean “Distinction” has met its demise? Absolutely not. Now that the barriers to the means have been overcome, the “depth of artistry” contained within has become a new form of fortress wall—separating your status from mine in an even more sophisticated, imperceptible manner than in the past.
From “What Do You Own?” to “How Do You Interpret?”
In the past, Distinction was clear and simple. It was a display of “ownership and economic power”—proclaiming, “I have the money to own this expensive painting,” or “I possess the capital to sit in the royal box of the opera house.” However, in a modern society where anyone with money can buy luxury goods and listen to classical music on YouTube, the mere ownership of material things is no longer an absolute weapon for Distinction.
Here, the strong have built a brand-new fortress wall: the “sophistication of interpretation.” When looking at an ordinary, ready-made object or an enigmatic piece of contemporary art, the vast majority shake their heads, asking, “Why on earth is this art?” In contrast, those who have received high-level education and underwent intellectual training decode the hidden context, historical background, and philosophical metaphors within it using fluent language.
Now, the criterion for Distinction is not the “money to buy artwork.” It splits invisible classes based on whether or not one possesses the “intellectual cognitive ability to crack the code embedded within that artistry.”
The Brutal Chasm Between ‘Snack Knowledge’ and ‘Deep Text’
While the proliferation of the internet has equalized the volume of information, paradoxically, human attention spans and literacy have become radically polarized. This is where the most brutal chasm occurs.
Those driven by immediate survival needs and stripped of mental leeway easily find their brains hijacked by “snackable stimuli” like short-form videos, three-line summaries, and sensationalist card news. The artistry and information they consume end up trapped in an intuitive, one-dimensional sensory realm.
On the flip side, high-income earners and the strong—those who can afford temporal and mental leisure—maintain the “intellectual stamina” to devour hundreds of pages of art criticism, gaze into complex conceptual art, and digest long-form essays. No matter how free a platform is, if one lacks the mental margin to process the deep texts inside it, they cannot step inside the fortress walls. If the art of the past whispered, “You can’t enter these gates because you have no money,” the art of the present sneers:
“I’ll leave the gates open, so come on in. But even if you do, you won’t have a single clue what you’re looking at, will you?”
Omnivorousness: The Most Sophisticated Intellectual Superiority
The true upper class of this era does not stubbornly stick only to highbrow classical music. They rave about street food and listen to hip-hop, while simultaneously appreciating esoteric contemporary art. In sociology, this is termed “Cultural Omnivorousness.”
They embrace lowbrow or popular culture not out of sheer kindness. It is a massive display of intellectual superiority, asserting: “I can reinterpret and control everything from the most vulgar, common culture to the highest forms of art through my own gaze.” While pretending to enjoy pop culture alongside the masses, they cleverly apply a sophisticated frame to separate themselves, uttering remarks like, “The public’s false consciousness embedded within this kitsch art is quite fascinating.”
The Sole Weapon to Tear Down the Walls
Even if the means have been democratized, the artistry contained within and the eye to recognize it still require a monumental accumulation of capital—namely time, education, and mental margin. Thus, art still operates meticulously as a brutal tool of Distinction.
Faced with this chilling reality, what can we do? Perhaps rejecting the quick hit of short-form stimuli to read a long-form essay, questioning unfamiliar ideas instead of chasing predictable trends, and thereby cultivating one’s own unique artistry and eye is the most powerful form of resistance.
Within a modern capitalist system that seeks to addict the masses to one-dimensional stimuli and strip away their power of thought, only those who refuse to abandon deep contemplation can tear down that monolithic fortress wall, which used to be the exclusive property of the strong. The gates are open. Walking inside, cracking the codes they hid, and shaking up the entire stage is now entirely up to us.
Leave a Reply