Eminem to Beethoven: An Analysis of Cultural Omnivorousness of Musical Preferences in Princeton Undergraduates

Abstract

This thesis merges the quantitative analysis of a survey conducted on Princeton Undergraduate students and the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (1982-2012), as well as the qualitative analysis of interviews with 12 students. The analysis serves to examine music preferences in order to understand cultural omnivorousness and how student preferences are socially constituted. As my hypotheses deal with whether and how cultural omnivorousness in musical taste is widespread among Princeton students, the results of this mixed-methods study not only reveal that we are indeed a cultural omnivorous campus and that omnivorousness increases among the classes, but it also validates the theory that upper class cultural omnivores on this campus have the ability to cross hierarchical boundaries. However, relative of social status, students demonstrate the ability to listen to new genres through mediums such as socialization and the self-discovery of music.