1 *This is the version before proofreading and final corrections were made, please refer to the published version for citation (available on googlebooks). The cultural omnivore thesis: methodological aspects of the debate For Handbook of Sociology of Arts and Culture, Hanquinet, L. and Savage, M. (eds.) Irmak Karademir Hazır and Alan Warde Introduction The concepts of ‘the cultural omnivore’ and ‘cultural omnivorousness’, coined by Richard Peterson in 1992, have become central to sociological controversies about cultural dynamics. The terms refer to repertoires of cultural practice, emerging in the late 20th century, which are marked both by an increased breadth of cultural tastes and participation and by a willingness to transgress previously entrenched boundaries between hierarchically ranked cultural items or genres. ‘Eclecticism’ is sometimes preferred as an alternative designation. 1 The debate has become an obligatory point of passage for empirical studies in cultural sociology concerned to map taste and participation. The debate began from a somewhat technical question of audience segmentation for the Arts in the USA, but quickly became part of a wider concern about the contemporary importance of social class hierarchy, and especially the patterns of cultural consumption of the higher echelons of the middle class. The issue was whether people of high socio-economic status had distinctive cultural tastes, if so whether these were diverse or exclusive, and whether this led to a sense of social or aesthetic superiority. A contrast was 1 However, eclecticism does not capture the importance of increased volume or intensity of cultural engagement.