Social Status and Newspaper Readership

TLDR

The authors investigate how social status influences newspaper readership. They use a multinomial logistic regression controlling for education as a proxy for information‑processing capacity. The study finds a strong, systematic link between social status and newspaper choice, with parental and peer status also shaping preferences, and status effects outweighing class influences.

Abstract

In this article, the authors explore the social bases of cultural consumption by examining the association between newspaper readership and social status. They report a strong and systematic association between status and newspaper readership which is consistent with the expected link between status in the classical Weberian sense, on the one hand, and cultural level and lifestyle, on the other. This association persists in a multinomial logistic regression model in which the authors take into account, among other things, educational attainment which serves as a proxy for the respondent’s information‐processing capacity. The social status of respondent’s father and best friend also have significant and substantial effects on newspaper preference. Finally, the authors report results that indicate that the effects of status on newspaper readership are generally more important than those of class.