The breadth and depth of social class-based leisure participation: the cultural omnivore in a Canadian context

The link between social class and leisure participation has often been attributed to a stereotypical divide between those who have money, time and expertise and those who do not. In contrast, the cultural omnivore states that people of high social class participate in a diverse range of leisure activities. Previous literature has used highly specific leisure categories, suggesting that a more general leisure approach could help expand the understanding of the cultural omnivore. Additionally, while this broad taste for leisure has been examined, the depth of participation has been less tested. Therefore, this work examines a more general leisure sample while adding in the depth of the participation and testing possible explanatory factors, namely individualism versus collectivism. The findings suggest that the cultural omnivore pattern was replicated in a more general leisure context and that a proxy for individualism helps to explain the pattern for highbrow and middlebrow leisure activities.