Testing the Omnivore Hypothesis in Russia

Abstract

In the last thirty years, a significant shift from the homology to omnivore argument has occurred in musical preference studies. Studies on the omnivore argument mainly come from North and South America, Western and sometimes Eastern Europe. To the best of our knowledge, there are no empirical tests of musical omnivorousness in Russia. The aim of this paper is to reveal omnivore musical preferences in Russia, and analyzes the links between musical preferences, social-demographic profiles, and tolerance. Our research also emphasizes the territory dimension.

The research setting is the Perm Region. A survey of 2,400 Perm Region citizens is analyzed using principal component analysis and linear regression provides evidence for the research. Our findings do not indicate omnivore musical tastes in Russia that contradicts the conclusions of the research in other cultures. Instead of finding the omnivore pattern, we found Bourdieu-like patterns of classical versus pop music taste and nostalgic taste versus contemporary taste. Representatives of each taste pattern have a specific social-demographic profile. The urbanization factor influences musical preferences as well. The paper discusses the limitations of the research and directions for further work.

Acknowledgements. The publication was prepared within the framework of the project “Intergenerational cultural dynamics” No 18-011-00548А supported by Russian Fundamental Research Fund.