Taste versus the Market: An Extension of Research on the Consumption of Popular Culture

Previous studies of cultural consumption have found a significant but weak relationship between expert judgment (EJ) and popular appeal (PA) and have suggested that this little taste phenomenon reflects a mediating role played by ordinary evaluation (OE) in diluting the association between EJ and PA. However, various weaknesses in this work have involved problems with sequential timing, nonindependence of measurements, and contamination by market(ing)-related influences. The present investigation of new data on motion pictures addresses these concerns to show that, when controlling for market success, consumers display aspects of good taste via indirect links from EJ to OE to PA.