Hi,

Some people think that cultural capital transmits passively, like diffusion - and it does, sometimes - but can you rely on a passive process?

Aren’t some things so key to our culture that its not worth leaving their exposure to chance? Maybe key isn’t the right word. They’re just so good. Imagine how much poorer the lives of some will be without some of the greatest art ever produced. So sometimes TGT isn’t about an obscure life. It’s about explicitly introducing one of the greats.

When I introduced Aretha Franklin to my tutor group about two thirds had heard of her. Half of them were familiar with some of her work. We talked briefly about her life but they didn’t take the bait of me describing her as a ‘nepobaby’. So we mostly spent a joyous ten minutes or so watching the Blues Brothers version of ‘Think’ and her Kennedy Centre performance of ‘A Natural Woman’.

For the third of kids who’d never heard of Aretha they had their world opened up a touch further. For the other two thirds, nothing was lost by spending time enjoying ‘retha.

-Bill