A graded conceptualization of taste

Most empirical sociological work on taste has attended to the determinants and consequences of taste while leaving the nature of taste unexamined. Furthermore, despite the advancements of a Bourdieusian conceptualization of taste, the empirical strategies sociologists have employed have encouraged a collective understanding of taste that is inconsistent, sometimes narrowly circumscribed and sometimes overly broad. We argue that a sociological definition of taste centers on three key dimensions. Tastes are (1) aesthetic preferences involving (2) automatic cognitive engagement and (3) serving a latent social function. Further, we develop a framework for organizing social research on taste we term the “graded conceptualization of taste”: the more a disposition reflects these three dimensions of taste, the closer it is to the core of a sociological conceptualization of taste, as opposed to a peripheral taste or non-aesthetic preference. Recognizing the multidimensionality of taste calls for methods that both complement and corroborate one another to yield a holistic understanding and observation of taste.