A bit of artistic insight |Your aesthetic sense reveals your social circle!

Is aesthetics a covert division of social classes?
As sociologist Pierre Bourdieu put it: “Aesthetic tastes are not purely personal preferences, but rather the result of social class.”

The high-end aesthetic is never fixed; instead, it is formed through continuous reconfiguration as “aesthetic divisions”. The once influential aesthetic benchmark of the middle-class movement, Lululemon, gradually lost its distinct social layer distinction as it was widely adopted by the general public. However, the one referred to as the representative of “white woman aesthetics”, Alo, took its place and quickly became the new favorite among the high-end group. Its “high-end sense” lies not only in the design but also in the cultural capital behind it, such as “small-scale recognition, environmental protection concepts, and healthy lifestyle”. Ordinary people followed the trend but failed to understand the symbolic meaning behind the social layer, and could only imitate superficially. This is what Bourdieu calls the cultural capital barrier: The high-end group defines aesthetic standards and keeps those lacking corresponding cognition out of the social layer.

The cultural capital behind aesthetics is the key to social mobility. Enhancing aesthetics essentially means accumulating the ability to decode the rules of different social circles. When we can understand the cultural logic behind aesthetics rather than blindly following trends, we are breaking through the barriers of social classes and transforming aesthetics into a core competitive advantage that transcends social circles.

The tea for today is all gone. Next time, I’ll brew a fresh pot and enjoy art with you again.