Why do people divide things into "high taste" and "low taste"?

Question

Why do some people pretend to follow certain things to show they have a high taste?

There are certain norms as per the society divides things into high taste and low taste.

For e.g. clubbing considered a part of high society and the people who don't party are treated as if they have no life or they have a defective personality.

Admiring skinng models comes in high taste. Do I have a low taste just because I don't admire Brityney Spears type figure? Or do I have a low taste just because I don't pay attention to the "figures".

Golf, Formula One come under "high taste" in some countries while other sports are considered low brow.

Listening to hip hop comes in high taste, while old music is low taste.

My question isn't just about the above examples but many other things divided into high and low taste. It can be anything.

Why do people thrust their opinions on others?

These norms have touched the level of snobbery.

I told a lady that I don't like clubbing. She looked at me as if I needed psychiatric counselling.

Answer 1

Hi Maddy, this question of high and low taste really depends on who thinks which way in regards to their own personal tastes. That woman who gave you that look obviously has a lot of fun clubbing, but another who doesn't would find your attitude refreshing. There are many diverse sections of society and as such it is difficult to conform to more than one. Due to this diversity we will always find those who look down on others. This tendency to look down on others arises from the need to feel superior.

For example: In fine resteraunts it is considered "high taste" or a refinment of taste to be able to knowlegably select a wine for dinner, to know which utinsile is used for what when presented with a layout of several forks and spoons, and to place a napkin in your lap as well as dress in formal attire. A person walking in to an establishment such as this in a shirt without a tie, flip flops, and jeans would be tossed out on his ear. Unless he shows a great deal of money at the door and then he may find himself presented with a dinner jacket and tie to put on if he expects to be allowed to stay and eat. There are many who feel completely uncomfortable in dinner jacket and tie, but others who wear suits even on their days off. This "high and low taste" is actually more properly deemed high and low class.

Those who go out "clubbing" can be of a viarity of income levels. Some clubbing establishments cater to the rich and famous while others are for the less finacially wealthy. Clubbing is basically for the youth, and more older individuals simply have outgrown this desire or at least in my opinion should have by the time they reach our ages. I think I am a bit older than you, so perhaps you are still in that age group which thinks "clubbing" the height of social gatherings for entertainment purposes. If you are one who does not enjoy clubbing there is nothing wrong with that. There are many other people your age who place more importance on different activities which they find enjoyable. For example somebody would call an individual who enjoyed attending the rodeo or truck pulls "rednecks". This tendency to lable others is a bad habit we all should strive to avoid. It makes those who do so appear narrow minded and bigoted. These folks who need to look down at others have little understanding of how it makes them appear and there are even those who take great pride in looking down their noses at others. These are the types of individuals who place a lot of value on materialistic items. They have to show off their wealth with flashy homes/cars and other expensive items such as clothing and personal gear such as iPods, HD large screen T.Vs, and the like. Those with "new" money are considered "crass" by those with "old" money. The black society looks down their noses at those who are lighter skinned than they are, their brethren can simply be too light to actually be considered "black". This is shown in the different treatment of the Richi girls. One is lighter skinned than the other and the darker skinned sister, not Nicole but her sister, was treated horribly at their private school to the point where she finally asked her father if she could attend a public school which was predominently black. These sisters experiances in life were vastly different. Nicole has embraced the white culture and is accepted by them while her sister is accepted in black society. However, both girls are still considered "half" breeds and are stigmatized due to this by one group or another, and even by all groups. This is simply sad. I watched an interview of the Richi family and was saddend by their story. One day in the future we will finally come to a place where our skin color does not dictate how we are perceived and treated was dignity and respect for our accomplishments and behavioral choices. Back to those with "old" money. These folks do not have any need to be flashy with their fortunes. In fact they live a prevleged but laid back sort of life. They do not believe in flashing their money around, treat their "servents" with dignity and respect and understand that how they treat their employees will determine hwo well those employees do their jobs. A maid or cook can make a persons life much easier, but if you mistreat the employee that same person who is capable of making life easier can make is miserable. Those who don't understand this and mistreat their personal emplyees are consistanlty having to hire new ones and train them.

Now, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While it is true that the definition of over all beauty today is those skinny models, in truth there are many men and women who prefer a partner with a bit more meat on their bones. My personal tastes tend to go both ways. I have an attraction for smaller, shorter men, which is how my husband is built, or men who have a bit of a tummy on them. I love to rub their tummy and cuddle up next to their larger bodies. However, I have never felt any particular attraction for men who are extreamly good looking or who have what is considered a "perfect" male body. I have found the majority of men who are as described above to be selfish, self centered and egosistical. I want a man with a bit of substance, who has built up his charactor and not his appearance. I enjoy an average man, one who attempts to be a good and decent person and is not afraid to exhibit his emotions. I also admire a man who is capable of being a man and is fully mature. I prefer men with substance in their minds and who do not choose to hold onto past injuries and make others lives miserable in an effort to make women in general pay for the crimes of a woman in particular. We grow from our experiances and if we are wise we understand that the world is a large place and as such there will be a vast difference in tastes and attitudes.

Men and women who feel such a strong need to one up another, and/or look down their noses at them, have low self esteem and low levels of confidence. They need "stuff" to feel important, viable and successful. My definition of successful is an individual who learns from mistakes, is consistantly looking for ways to improve oneself, and trys very hard to not engage in the manner you outlines in your question. I also strongly feel that if a person fails in the home then any "success" at work is unimportant as the most important area of life has been failed and therefore the entire life has failed. If one is unable to sustain and maintain interpersonal relationships yet is able to amass a fortune, where will this individual find love and comfort in life? How is this a successfull life? If ones children are dysfunctional how can one say they are successful? To use money to mark successes and use it as an excuse to look down on others less fortunate is the height of hypocrisy. To look down on anyone is shamefull. However, it is human nature and goes to your question of judging others and butting into anothers business. This is very simular to that, with some minor differences. The most major of those minor differences is this is so much more dependant upon ones self esteem and level of confidence. Those who feel the need to be snobs are most defenitly of low self esteem.

I use to always see the good in individuals and still tend to do so. However, I had poor skills with personal bounderies and as such was a victem of those who use others and take advantage of nice people. I was hurt a great deal due to my own lack of bounderies and lack of self esteem. I just allowed people to walk all over me and made excuses for them consistantly. I use to deeply care what others thought of me and how they thought really harmed my self image. This tendency of society to lable woemen who are larger as lacking feminenity simply deeply hurt my self image. It is true that many view larger women as lacking in self control, as piggish. It is a shame because there is ample proof that most larger women are not large due to an excess of food, but rather because their genetic makeup determines their body size and porportion. I was lucky to be tall, and in porpotion, in other words my upper is simular in height to my lower body and my height allowed me to "carry my weight well". There are those women who are shorter but weighed the same as I did and due to their shorter heigth appeared a lot larger than I. They also had the misfortune to not be in porportion which can lead to an appearance of a larger top verses a bottom, or a larger bottom verses the top. and/or excessive child bearing creating flabby stomics which have rolls. This is also due to a lack of proper exercise which is lamitable but advertable. I use to exercise five to six times weekly both with aerobic and weights. Which helped me keep in good shape, and a firmness that I otherwise would not have had. So, while a woman may not be able to control her overall size, she can indeed have an huge impact on the way she looks and carries herself. The same goes for men as well. Now there are other factors which attributes to attractiveness regardless of size too. A person who has good posture is more attrractive than one who does not. A person who has confidence is much more attractive than one who does not. A person who has intelligence is often more attractive than one who does not, though many men are happy with a brainless barbie doll as a trouphy to carry around on his arm. Those who feel a need to have a trouphy lacks self worth and confidence and as such is not very attractive to me. This exhibits a very unattractive inability to appreciate beauty in all its forms.

I now no longer choose to surround myself with people who are lacking in charactor. By this I mean people who lack a moral compass or who is extreamly bigoted, hurtfull, selfish, not capable of returning the level of friendship I am, or who simply has little understanding of what true friendship entails. This has reduced my social circle and I am perfectly fine with that. I am much happier now with less friends than I was with a lot of "friends". The truth of the issue is these folks were not real friends at all, and they used me up as quickly as I would allow them too. The key word here is "allow". I am not a victem of their actions but of what I allowed in my own life. I choose not to be around people who behave as you outlined above. It is not that I negitively judge then more than I use too, well, honestly I suppose I do a bit, but not excessively, it is just I am have learned to institue stronger bounderies and not allow any close relations with those who choose to not respect my bounderies or who choose to treat me in abusive or other negitive manners. Each of us has to determine what is in our own best interest and act according to our ethics, morals and integrity. I regrett nothing in my past as each event and occurance has helped me to grow into who I am today. I greatly enjoy life and all it offers and look forward to growing much more before I leave here. My husband's father had this saying, which I find very true: There is a place for perfect people and I am not yet ready to leave this life. How apt is that? lol

I so enjoy answering your questions Maddy. It is questions like yours which brings me here to Answers. I look forward to answering more in the future. I was temporarily emotionally out of commission but have gotten past the worst of the worse. You know to what I am referring.

I wish you a great day and a wonderful week.

Answer 2

If you are a natural person you should try cognitive behavioral therapy. It was the only thing that has helped me with my horrible health anxiety. Read here https://tr.im/xJr9h

Your thinking determines your quality of life. Your thinking is what causes you these feelings:

Anxious, fearful, stressed or depressed
Constantly worried, or angry about something that is happening in your life
Struggling to overcome obsessive and negative thoughts.

If you change your thinking, you will change your life. This is the basic idea behind CBT for anxiety. The Cognitive part is where you learn nee methods and ways to change your same old habits and thinking patterns. If you keep thinking and expecting the worst – You will continue to suffer.