Culture and the youngest. Insights for the future of cultural consumption from an Italian sample
Abstract
The paper explores the cultural consumption of teenagers, seen as consumers not yet independent from an economic point of view, but already independent in the choice and tastes. Our results apply to a sample of about 350 students living in the Cuneo province, in North-West of Italy, through a cluster analysis approach. Young consumers can be segmented into four homogeneous groups according to the level of consumption in five cultural sectors (music, cinema, museum, performing art, books) and the degree of direct engagement in cultural practices. There are significant differences in their cultural consumptions, family and individual cultural capital, school results and sports engagement. The cultural expenditure is differentiated accordingly. The existence of different cultural consumption clusters highlights the need, both for policy-makers and cultural industries, to better understand the next generation of adults, thus suggesting the importance to start a proper data collection at the national level.
In questo articolo vengono presentati i risultati di una prima indagine volta ad analizzare la partecipazione culturale degli adolescenti in Italia, in quanto consumatori non ancora indipendenti dal punto di vista economico, ma già indipendenti nelle scelte di consumo. Le riflessioni sono tracciate esplorando i dati di un’indagine su circa 350 studenti residenti a Cuneo, nel Nord-Ovest d’Italia. Attraverso una analisi cluster, sono stati individuati quattro gruppi indagati attraverso cinque settori culturali (ascolto di musica, visite al cinema, ai musei, alle arti performative e lettura di libri) e lo svolgimento diretto di pratiche culturali, alcune caratteristiche socio-demografiche, la spesa in prodotti culturali e l’utilizzo di dispositivi digitali. L’esistenza di diversi cluster di consumo culturale evidenzia la necessità, sia per i decisori politici che per le industrie culturali, di comprendere meglio quella che sarà la prossima generazione di adulti, suggerendo l’importanza di prevedere una mirata raccolta di dati a livello nazionale.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/2519
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