Assignment 3 ‘Boundary Work and “Bad” Taste’
Nicoletta Unghiatti (557293)
Arts, Culture and History CC9001
Julian Schaap
Date: January 18th, 2021
How does excessive body Art become ‘bad’ taste associated with
certain social groups?
Introduction
Have you ever thought about the constructed idea of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ taste? or heard someone say
“that is really bad taste!” Well, for this essay the idea of a body fully covered in tattoos will be
considered as this socially constructed notion of ‘bad’ taste, not the art of tattooing, but excessive
body art tattoos in every visual part of the body. For centuries a bad notion has been associated
with tattoos, having a negative connotation, specially because they can be associated with certain
socio-economic groups, tribes, gangs, or even socially corrupted humans like people from prison.
The following essay will examine excessive tattoos considered as ‘bad’ taste according to
Bourdieu’s distinction theory and will propose different approaches
where the consumption of arts is determined by social groups and
their taste.
The Social construction of ‘Bad Taste’ and Bourdieu
Any form of culture is a social construction, you cannot separate any
cultural product, style or taste from a social group, because societies
have been creating and forming them for decades. Taste is classified
within a certain social class and naturally associated with hierarchy,
depending on which layer of society you are in. According to
Alexander (2003), there is a distinction between upper and lower
Figure 1: Australian Gangster. 1
1
Fig. 1: John Kenney, 60, tattooed his entire body in an extreme form of self loathing after a life of crime and depravity as a Melbourne gangster. Taken from:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3562844/The-indelible-marks-colourful-life-reformed-gangster-drug-dealer-addict-thief-covered-inch-body-tattoos-EYEBALLS.html
classes related to the consumption of arts, where “highbrow is ‘one who has or affects superior
learning or culture’ whereas a lowbrow is ‘one having uncultivated tastes’ ” (p.228). There are
certain boundaries constructed by social systems between these different classes based on taste
and aesthetic options. Thinking about high or lowbrow according to Bourdieu relates directly to
what we have grown up to think about different social groups, so people completely tattooed for
instance, tend to be associated with ‘bad’ taste as they have excessive and not refined
consumption of body art. Consequently, ‘bad taste' was defined by high socio-economic groups as
the dominant classes, being a concept merely associated with lower social classes, less capital and
therefore, taste. About taste, we find Bourdieu’s distinction theory from his book Distinction
(1984), which formulates that quality is strongly related to class, so people make judgments like
‘pretty or ugly’ classifying not only something, but also themselves, showing their belonging to a
social group.
Considering excessive body art tattoos as lowbrow (fig.1) means it is ‘bad’ taste as we are
drawing boundaries by differentiating this group who uses tattoos all over their bodies. People
higher educated in a sense, prefer fewer tattoos or minimal ones, they still have them, but they are
not excessive or made in visual parts like the neck or face, they tend to be hidden because they
know it is not socially acceptable to have that many. Kang and Jones (2007) find that “young
people may find it necessary to cover their tattoos not only when looking for work but also on the
job” (p. 46). Therefore, Bourdieu talks about forms of capital leading to these inequalities, and
one of them is cultural capital, which means the accumulation of how you behave, your
educational background and cultural preferences, which takes years and years. These preferences
are mainly the artistic taste you have access to, like the amount of books, paintings and design
products you have in your house for instance, or in this case, the amount of tattoos you also have
acquired. Additionally, as a critique to Bourdieu’s distinction approach, Alexander (2003) says
there are ‘cultural omnivores’ as “people who consume a selection of art, both high and popular”
(p.231), as part of having high cultural capital with a broad range of taste, whereas people with
lower cultural capital tend to be more univore, being more interested in tattoos as it is the most
familiar way of covering their bodies. Consequently, tattoos reveal a certain identity that lower
classes like to show off and feel that many tattoos are representative of their lifestyle and socioeconomic background.
Nonetheless, related to how people categorize when they see something, they think it is
‘good or bad’ taste called symbolic boundaries by Lamont and Molnar in 2002, and we find these
kinds of categorization processes predominantly in cultural and aesthetic categories. The kind of
style something is, depends on the type of people establishing these trends, for example Adam
Levine (fig. 2) as an excessive tattooed celebrity, is not considered to have ‘bad’ taste. So,
probably higher social classes on one hand would agree with this idea of excessive tattoos as
‘bad’ taste, mainly people characterized as conservative from close upper circles, very concerned
about what people think. They tend to discriminate more on how you look and behave in society,
so having too many tattoos covering your body would not be considered ‘refined’ taste.
Thereupon, according to Kang and Jones (2007) “despite their increasing popularity, tattoos still
carry stigma and can provoke discrimination” (p.46). On the contrary, middle and lower classes
would disagree more with this idea of tattoos as ‘bad’ taste, as many people covered in tattoos are
just considered more authentic or care less about the ‘status quo, like celebrities, having renowned
artists like Levine, looking almost the same as an ex-gang member (fig. 3). Nevertheless, there is
a demarcated social stratification that determines they have ‘bad’ taste, so related to these layers
in society forming inequality, we tend to see different kinds of tastes and identities from different
stratas with distinctive preferences. Kang and Jones (2007) say that a “tattooed body serves as a
canvas to record the struggles between conformity and resistance, power and victimization,
individualism and group membership” (p.47). Therefore, as a social construction, there is no
objective reality cataloged ‘good or bad’, but has more to do with the labels we assign to these
practices and the things we often see around us.
Figure 2. Adam Levine covered in tattoos. 2
Figure 3. Ex-gang member covered in tattoos. 3
Type of viewing style by McCoy and Scarborough
Taste has also been examined by McCoy and Scarborough in 2014 by watching ‘bad’ television,
making a distinction on how is this type of consumption, identifying three main styles of
consuming; practicing “ironic consumption”, employing a “camp sensibility”, and viewing as a
“guilty pleasure”. I believe that excessively tattooing your body as a ‘bad’ taste example fits best
with the camp sensibility viewing style, which according to McCoy and Scarborough (2014), “the
camp viewer reveres the cultural object for how bad it is and admires the vision and passion of the
producer” (p.51). This means that the person watching knows that the show is objectively ‘bad’
but uses this type of sensibility to make it look even great, often admiring it. The same happens
with people tattooing all their bodies, as they have a certain addiction and fascination for tattoos
and their artists, the same as the camp viewers and the producers of the show, excessive tattooed
people understand it has a negative image, but they have this idealization for tattooers. This idea
is also discussed by Kang and Jones (2007) and it “is especially true for those who use tattooing
to criticize the consumer values of capitalist society” (p.45), because they are demonstrating
something or rebelling against certain institutions, so for them is kind of a celebration, just like
the camp sensibility viewers. These hardcore forms of tattooing considered ‘bad’ taste compared
to ‘bad’ television, have the same purpose, what people watch says something about them and
how they want to be seen, in this case tattooed people are proud of their body art, they identify
with this form of art by communicating their status. There is certain admiration to each tattoo
made, as every tattoo tells a story or has an important significance.
Linking the symbolic display of ‘bad’ taste to Goffman
Concerning this notion of ‘bad’ or ‘good’ taste as a social construct, Erving Goffman talked about
the social construction we made of ‘the self’, and how a great part of us is determined by society
and the world surrounding us, so he refers to a dramaturgical perspective where every person is
constantly acting or performing according to their context or situation. Macionis and Plummer
(2012) defined this performance as a self presentation, or “an individual’s effort to create specific
2
3
https://www.capitalfm.com/features/tattoos-celebrity/adam-levine/
https://www.booooooom.com/2016/11/02/powerful-portraits-of-ex-gang-members-with-tattoos-digitally-removed/
impressions in the minds of others”(p.221), seeing life as a stage, where you also have verbal and
non-verbal communication, like tattoos. In consequence, humans assume roles that are expected,
we automatically split from one role to another without knowing. So Goffman was aware of the
‘backstage’ and ‘frontstage’ behaviours, conceptualizing life as a play where we meet constantly
with people’s expectations and observations.
This dramatic life described by Goffman is strongly related to the symbolic display of
‘bad’ taste, as something that people have to show or hide, as Kang and Jones (2007) say that
“tattooing is especially popular among teenagers... a stage when young people are seeking to
assert their independence, tattoos may provide a way to ground a sense of self in a seemingly
changing and insecure world” (p.42). Therefore, these kinds of interactions influence everyone’s
self-image forming their personalities, when we interact we play a certain role unconsciously, so
how people respond and relate to us, is how we feel about ourselves and that makes us construct a
certain ‘self’ or version of us. People completely tattooed have an individual identity, they want to
differentiate with their bodies covered in tattoos, not because they consider it art, but because it
says something about their lifestyle.
Conclusions
It seems we judge people by their ‘good’ or ‘bad’ taste and that is essentially the same thing as
social class differentiation, we may see it in different terms, being interpreted as something that
has a lot to do with individual choices. We do not see social class in everyday life, but we do see
different choices in taste, habits or styles more evidently. The case of being completely covered in
tattoos can be socially considered as ‘bad’ taste being connected to lowbrow culture, as we have
analyzed previously. So, someone's taste can demonstrate social group belonging, depending on
what they like, buy or wear. Moreover, we tend to associate people with excessive body art as
people with lower taste, according to Bourdieu’s distinction. In sum, it is relevant how tattooed
people present themselves socially being proud of their artistic choices and also where they
normally gather, makes me wonder if I have classmates in university covered in tattoos? Maybe, I
will never know because I haven’t seen any or because they hide it so well, as they have to
maintain a certain cultural capital appearance.
References
Alexander, V. (2003). Sociology of the Arts: Exploring fine and popular Forms. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing, 225-243.
Jones, K., & Kang, M. (2007). Why do people get tattoos? Contexts, 6 (1), 42-47. DOI:
ctx.2007.6.1
Macionis, J., & Plummer, K. (2012). Sociology: A Global Introduction (5th edition).
England: Pearson Education Limited.
McCoy, C., & Scarborough, B. (2014). Watching ‘bad’ television: Ironic consumption,
camp, and guilty pleasures. Poetics, 47, 41–59.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2014.10.003
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