Battle of the classes: news consumption inequalities and symbolic boundary work

Abstract

Previous research has revealed a connection between news consumption and class, both in terms of how much and what kind of news is consumed. By deploying a cultural sociological perspective on how young people from different class positions make sense of their differences, this study breaks new ground in the study of news use and inequality. Focus group interviews with young working-class and middle-class people show how social groups mobilize differences in news consumption to draw symbolic boundaries between each other. The moral economy surrounding “productive” or “unproductive” approaches towards news and journalism is a venue that allows social groups to construct an other, over whom a sense of social, cultural, and moral superiority can be maintained. The study takes the understanding of news consumption inequalities beyond the standard concern with gaps in knowledge and participation by locating news consumption inequalities in relation to symbolic struggles between social groups.