Fame and prestige in contemporary culture. Changes of the hungarian cultural canon

Abstract

Abstract in this paper I study the reputation (fame and prestige) of contemporary Hungarian cultural actors with the help of a representative nationwide survey (N=1000). Comparing my data with previous surveys among members of the Hungarian elite, the results show that the contemporary cultural canon is strong and legitimate: the elite and other social groups agree on the most outstanding figures in contemporary Hungarian culture. This reputational elite is going through a generational change. The most prestigious members of the next generations work in theatre and film, while in the field of literature a certain ’reputational vacuum’ could be observed. However, there is a sharp difference between the opinion of the whole population and the elite. While the strong political cleavage among elite members means that the reputation of cultural actors is politically determined, the case is different among the general population - respondents of the national survey did not categorise or assess cultural actors according to political sides. Hence, ’culture wars’ are internal affairs of the elite and political discourse does not affect significantly the legitimacy of the contemporary cultural canon. Keywords: cultural elite, reputation, cultural canon, polarisation, survey