Technologies of Distinction: Social Stratification in Young People's Video Consumption Practices

At the turn of the 2000s, many sociologists revisited the social stratification of cultural consumption initially described by Pierre Bourdieu. This shift saw cultural legitimacy give way to diversity and even omnivorousness (Coulangeon, 2003; Peterson, 1992). A key demographic impacted by this change is youth, often viewed as highly responsive to mass media and at the forefront of the collapse of symbolic boundaries between social classes in terms of cultural preferences. However, the past two decades have witnessed a profusion of new ways to consume culture. This technological boom challenges the notion of homogenization in consumption practices.

In this communication, I confront homogenization assertions by focusing on the social stratification of audiovisual consumption practices, particularly through modes of access. This approach moves beyond analyzing taste preferences (such as genres or works consumed) to investigate how individuals access cultural goods—considering consumption contexts, technologies, and mediums used. As Vegard Jarness emphasizes, my focus is less on the "what" than on the "how" (Jarness, 2015).

Drawing on data from the French 2018 "Pratiques Culturelles" (Cultural Practices) survey (N=9238), employing geometric data analysis (MCA) and regression models, I demonstrate that significant segmentation in audiovisual consumption persists among youth, differentiated by education and social origin. Contrary to the "digital-native" myth, which assumes that young generations are universally engaged in digital consumption, my findings reveal that modes of access expose underlying distinctions in what might otherwise appear as massified consumption patterns. My study also bridges the gap between digital inequality literature and cultural practices sociology, suggesting that technology choices can be seen as markers of distinction rather than merely skill-based. I argue that Bourdieu's framework — where the upper class performs an illusion of “cultural free will" and the working class experiences a form of "choice of necessity" — remains highly relevant in analyzing contemporary distinction.