In the fourth chapter (“Cultural Works and Cultivated Disposition”) of “The Love of Art Bourdieu”, the author continue with the argument that access to cultural works such as the ones exhibited in museums is a privilege of the more cultivated individuals in the society. The authors argue that the reason for this is that unlike the less cultivated individuals in the society, there is stronger “cultural need” in the more cultivated individuals that prompt them to visit museums and fulfill this cultural need. A cultural need is the propensity to consume rare objects such as the ones exhibited in the museum. According to the authors, a cultural need is different from a primary need because it is essentially brought about by education.
In the next chapter that is titled “The Rules of Cultural Diffusion”, the authors explore the classification of museum visitors and the objects on display into various levels. According to the authors, museums visitors are different kinds and their deciphering of information brought forth by the objects on display varies. For instance, it assumed that frequent visitors of the museum are essentially people who have mastered the code of deciphering museum information. Therefore, every museum should strive to categorize or classify its information into various levels that are consistent with those who visit the museum.
In the sixth part, which is titled “Conclusion”, the authors assemble all their previous assertions and attempt to come up with a single conclusion about museum visiting. The authors contend that at the end of the day, what really matters for art lovers is the aesthetic pleasure that they giant from admiring a piece of art on display. Whether, the art lover prefers to learn more about the piece of art such as its origin is a personal choice.
References
Bourdieu, P., Darbel, A., & Schnapper, D. (1990). The love of art: European art museums and their public. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.
