The logics of everyday judgements of taste

The follow up work for Friday's lecture required the class to read the journal article entitled: The logics of everyday judgements of taste, which examines taste in Australia.

The research group were asked to indicate in a few words what good and bad taste entail. From their responses the researchers created 77 different categories, 43 of which related to good taste and the remaining 34 related to bad taste. The data was then analysed and it revealed that 'people possess an assortment of conceptual schemes which they invoke to classify objects, behaviours, attitudes, or aspects of self-presentation into broad categories of tasteful or tasteless.'

These schemes are organised into three 'prominent analytic spheres: quantity, composition and quality.'


Quantity

Many of the respondents referred to quantity when describing good or bad taste. Results suggest that the public have a perception of the 'correct' amount of something or an acceptable quantity. This was applied to many everyday situations: knowing what too much/ or too little clothing is, there were too few/ many words in a social situation, too much make up or too much product in his hair. The one that stood out to me was that if a woman wears heels that are 1cm to high that could tip her in to the bad taste category, and its true. I think we all apply this idea of quantity when judging whether something is good or bad taste. Its worth knowing when 'enough is enough.'


Composition

One respondent described taste as when 'things go well together.' Words used to describe good taste in this sense were harmony, balance, flow. Whilst clashing, mismatched, garish were all used to describe bad taste. The question that researchers asked was how do we know when 'things go together' and the results suggest that, ' respondents suggest that they rely on subtle cues to help them gauge the taste expertise demonstrated in the verbal or physical presentation of others.


Qualities

For something to be in good taste the paper suggests that it must have a certain nonfunctional qualities. 2 examples 'used to describe good taste by two men: the first, a tertiary educated professional in the 36–45 age bracket says good taste is ‘‘enduring, timeless, understated, dignified, elegant, e.g. Jaguar cars, Italian woolen trousers and shoes’’, the other, a labourer with a trades certificate in the 26–35 age bracket, says ‘‘relaxing on a 38 foot boat a rod in one hand and a beer in the other’’. This shows that people have very different opinions on what good taste is, and this can be seen when looking into age, sex and level of education

The paper also highlights a topic covered in Friday's lecture whereby a male and female contestant were asked to play Mr & Mrs. They were both asked the same questions but they responded differently. Women tend to be more open with their answers, going into more depth and description or 'talk animatedly' whilst men give shorter answers often referring to 'practical issues.'

During the game of Mr & Mrs both contestants were also asked to describe good taste, the male couldn't come up with an answer whilst the girl struggled to come up with good manners. The journal notes that people find it much easier to say what they don't like compared to what they do. Many of the respondents found it hard to define good taste.

I personally find it hard to define what good taste is and have to admit that I can relate to many of the respondents thoughts on the subject. After reading the journal I think that a good definition of what people regard taste as is 'what is acceptable in the right time and place.'