The Division And Equality Of Aesthetic Tastes

As an important concept in western literary theory,Taste is a conceptual category related to the subject's aesthetic perception ability.Kant's disinterest taste sets the theoretical tone for taste.Bourdieu uses sociological methods and statistical tools to broaden taste objects from pure art to daily life,and introduces social existence into the taste utopia,revealing its social distinction.Starting from the distribution of sensible,Rancière believes that with the universality of sensibility,taste can achieve equality between subjects and has a democracy function.This thesis elaborates the taste connotation and the differences of the theoretical direction between Bourdieu's and Rancière,aiming at observing the development of taste connotation from Kant so as to form a more diverse and deeper understanding of taste.This thesis is mainly divided into five parts:The introduction firstly elaborates the writing ideas of this thesis,then introduces the research status of the study object,especially the achievement in "taste" and finally combs the life of the theorist.Chapter One explores the whole picture of Bourdieu's "taste" theory.Firstly,it explains Bourdieu's theoretical concepts,such as "field","capital" and "habitus".Secondly,it explores the formation and reproduction of Bourdieu's taste theory.Family inheritance and school education are the main ways to obtain cultural capital,in which the subject forms their aesthetic disposition,and habitus is the way of taste reproduction.The third section mainly discusses the characteristics of taste.Bourdieu divides taste into three types,and each type represents a different cultural capital,so different tastes reflect the position of the subject in the field.Since the majority of occupants of cultural capital plays a decisive role in the field,the class also formed between tastes.The taste of the ruling class obtains legality through the operation of capital,but the taste of the ruled class is at a marginal position,therefore,Bourdieu believes that taste can distinguish groups and become the standard of classement.Chapter Two is the introduction of the connotation and characteristics of Rancière 's sensible distribution theory.Rancière believes that the main body in the community is divided into two parts,one is the mainstream class,whose voices and reflections become a legal existence in the community,the other is the marginalized people in the community— "the part of those have no part",whose words are classified as the noise.However,sensible distribution is to struggle in the community,so as to achieve a recalculation of all individuals and parts.The realization of sensible distribution relies on the emergence of disagreement,which interrupts all habitual perceptions and makes all existing dominant powers be defeated,so "the part of those have no part" is possible to dissolve the community.The goal of sensible distribution is to gain equality in the community,and the realization of equality is reflected in two dimensions,one is the equality of the regime of aesthetic,and the other is the equality of intelligence between the subjects.The ultimate goal of aesthetic equality is to achieve political equality.Chapter Three discusses the differences between Bourdieu and Rancière 's taste connotations.First of all,regarding the idea of disinterest in Kant's taste theory,Bourdieu advocates returning to the field of history to examine the process of art production and to dig out the social system,art market,and capital status behind "pure gaze".Rancière argued that Kant's idea of "pure gaze" and "disinterest" broke the hierarchical order of the class and would not serve the reproduction of class distinction.Secondly,there are differences in the definition of the lower classes.Bourdieu's assumption lacks the passivity that the subject is breaking through the class.Rancière believes that there are no class differences between sensibility and intelligence,and advocates individuals' equality.In the practice of literary criticism,Bourdieu provides an effective way for artistic criticism from the perspective of sociology,which inevitably makes art the explanation of "history".The choice of subject matter,the consideration of language and the description of characters are regarded as the mirror of social history rather than taste.The result of this theory is that Bourdieu is unable to explain Flaubert's style of works.Rancière believes that the wrriten of Flaubert,namely the description of details and the excessiveness in words,is the embodiment of democracy,which has an important meaning of aesthetic equality.The conclusion displays the comment on the taste theory.