Class, Status, and Aesthetics - Virtual Reading Group

Class, Status, and Aesthetics – Virtual Reading Group

UK time

This reading group will follow four sessions of the blueprint ‘Class, Status, and Aesthetics’. The sessions will be run by Quentin Pharr (independent researcher) and Clotilde Torregrossa (Uppsala University), who also designed the blueprint, on the following dates:

Session 1 – Thursday November 5th 2026, 3 – 4 pm (CET).
- Readings:
  - King, Alex. High Art, Low Art, and the Status of Aesthetics (blog post)
  - Eaton, A.W.. A Lady in the Street But a Freak in the Bed: On the Distinction Between Erotic Art And Pornography.
Session 2 – Thursday November 12th 2026, 3 – 4 pm (CET).
- Readings:
  - Excerpts from Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste;
  - Excerpts from hooks, bell. Art on My Mind: Visual Politics.
Session 3 – Thursday November 19th 2026, 3 – 4 pm (CET).
- Readings:
  - Excerpts from hooks, bell. Art on My Mind: Visual Politics;
  - Excerpts from Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions.
Session 4 – Thursday November 26th 2026, 3 – 4 pm (CET).
- Readings:
  - Starr, Ellen Gates. ‘Art and Labour’;
  - Du Bois, W.E.B.. ‘Criteria of Negro Art’`.

You can sign up here. We will share the readings and the link to join the meetings with you.

Diversity Reading List