The Size of One’s Wallet Rules What Music one Listens to

Social class continues to inform our cultural choices, especially the way we choose our music, researchers found.

People enjoying in a rock concert. Image used for representational purposes only. (Photo: iStock)

Poorer, less-educated people like musical genres such as disco, golden oldies, heavy metal and rap, while their wealthier and better-educated peers prefer classical, jazz, opera, pop and rock, scientists have found.

Social class continues to inform our cultural attitudes and the way we listen to music, researchers said.

Breadth of taste is not linked to class. But class filters into specific likes and dislikes.

— Gerry Veenstra, study author and professor at University of British Columbia (UBC)‘s Department of Sociology.

The study involved nearly 1,600 telephone interviews with adults in Vancouver and Toronto, who were asked about their likes and dislikes of 21 musical genres.

(With inputs from the PTI)