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People have always been obsessed with what’s considered good taste. We laud our “sophisticated” tastes and excuse our “guilty pleasures,” navigating the line between highbrow and lowbrow tastes and activities. Independent cinema versus superhero blockbusters. Haute couture versus fast fashion. Craft breweries versus mass-market beer and barista-made lattes instead of standard black coffee.
Today, in The Conversation Canada, professors Anissa Pomies from EM Lyon and Zeynep Arsel from Concordia University explain how people navigate between what’s seen as highbrow and lowbrow. Taking French coffee culture as an example, they argue that economically privileged “cultural omnivores” appreciate the quality of specialty barista-made coffee, but they are also able to enjoy the culture of traditional cafés.
While “lowbrow” coffee might not be as good, traditional cafés still provide a valuable space to spend time with friends, colleagues and family.
Also today:
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Ibrahim Daair
Assistant Editor, Culture + Society
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French coffee culture offers us some insights into the way cultural omnivores appreciate different activities and products.
(Shutterstock)
Anissa Pomiès, EM Lyon; Zeynep Arsel, Concordia University
Cultural omnivores are economically and culturally privileged people who can enjoy both “highbrow” and “lowbrow” cultural products, like good and bad coffee, simultaneously.
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A group of Russians smile at the border crossing Verkhny Lars between Georgia and Russia on Sept. 23, 2022. Long lines of vehicles have formed at border crossings into Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization to bolster his troops in Ukraine.
(AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov)
Richard Foltz, Concordia University
Russians crossing land borders into Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Georgia to avoid being drafted into the Ukraine war are experiencing very different receptions.
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The blood vessel dilation caused by sildenafil (Viagra) can be beneficial in lung diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
(Shutterstock)
Tyler Pitre, McMaster University; Dena Zeraatkar, McMaster University; Jasmine Mah, Dalhousie University
Sildenafil — better known as Viagra — may be helpful in treating lung diseases like pulmonary arterial hypertension and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, for which there are few effective treatments.
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An endemic means that COVID-19 is still around, but it no longer disrupts everyday life.
(Shutterstock)
Krista Collier-Jarvis, Dalhousie University
As COVID-19 transitions from a pandemic to an endemic, apocalyptic science-fiction and zombie movies contain examples of how to adjust to the new normal.
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Although pregnancy was celebrated in Renaissance paintings, like the ‘Primavera’ by Botticelli, the reality was quite different. Will Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government reverse abortion rights in Italy?
Uffizi Gallery
Heather Coffey, OCAD University
The baby drop box is a revival of centuries-old cultural practices from the Italian Renaissance when reproductive rights were zero.
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La Conversation Canada
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Sur cette photo prise clandestinement, on peut voir des femmes fuyant la police anti-émeute lors d'une manifestation dans le centre de Téhéran, en Iran. Ces manifestations sont réprimées brutalement.
(AP Photo)
Haidar Khezri, University of Central Florida
Le régime iranien met en œuvre des politiques et des pratiques de ségrégation et de discrimination similaires à celles pratiquées en Afrique du Sud sous l’apartheid.
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Ukraine Invasion
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Nina Srinivasan Rathbun, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Tactical nuclear weapons were designed to be used on the battlefield rather than for strategic defense, but that doesn’t mean there’s a plausible case for using them.
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Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham; Tatyana Malyarenko, National University Odesa Law Academy
The Kremlin claims 97% of votes counted are for the four occupied regions to join the Russian Federation.
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Business + Economy
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Ray Charles "Chuck" Howard, Texas A&M University; Abigail Sussman, University of Chicago; David J. Hardisty, University of British Columbia; Marcel Lukas, University of St Andrews
Understanding why people underpredict expenses could help them budget more accurately – and even encourage them to save more money.
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COVID-19
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Jolanta Burke, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
COVID-related changes in our personalities could go some way to explaining the widespread decrease in wellbeing.
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Environment + Energy
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Will Gorman, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Bentham Paulos, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Galen Barbose, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
A study of real-world disasters shows home solar and storage could keep the lights on and the air conditioner running during many outages, but not all.
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