Culture: A New Look at Who's Interested

"Arts study a culture shock, Oxford University reports idea of upper class forming cultural elite no longer valid" - "Toronto Star" (January 5 2008)

Oxford researchers studied how people consume culture, and came up with a four-way split:

• Univores: the biggest of these groups, consume a lot of television, pop music and "Hollywood flicks" (no black-and-white foreign films, apparently); and that's about all
• Omnivores: number two in size, these people buy pop culture by the bucket, but go to things like the ballet, concerts, or opera, too
• Paucivores: there aren't many of these: they'll go to something like a must-see museum opening, but not much
• Inactives: don't do much except zone out in front of a television set

The article didn't say whether the researchers had checked the Inactives for brain activity. A little more seriously, the Toronto Star's piece did some hand-wringing over how The Arts don't get enough money from the people, and how regrettable it is that national governments might not spend enough.