Today there is a need to categorise within categories more and more, as a means of distinction, so to claim to be a fan of dance music for example is no longer as definitive as claiming to be a fan of, say, ambient hard house trance dance! Similarly, if we look at food consumption as a marker of distinction, it is no longer a choice between supermarket bought bread and the higher priced loaf from a baker. Certainly there is still a marked difference - we can buy a loaf of bread from the Tesco Value range or a loaf from Marks and Spencer's where no such range exists. The difference today is that there is a multitude of choice in between the two. Whilst we could purchase some organic ciabatta bread from Asda, some cheesecake from Tesco's "Finest" range, some pasta from Sainbury's own brand, and some Safeway's Savers orange juice, we can also invert this. Such is the diversity of range today; we have the option of buying ciabatta in Safeway's through to cheaper juice in Asda. Clearly the boundaries have blended - whereas society once consisted of an unambiguous hierarchical structure, (basically the proletariat, the middle and the upper class) today this structure is far less definitive and we look to other means of establishing our position within society. The fundamental objective of taste as a form of distinction and so as a classifier is a way of doing this. As Bourdieu states in "Distinction"; " Taste classifies and it classifies the classifier." (1996: p18) .
Inconsistencies in taste are not central to the discussion - rather it is the manner in which these differences are used as a form of distinction. When we examine these methods we can see how they could have withstood the test of time, and are applicable to contemporary society. Taste serves to reinforce social norms, and more importantly to reaffirm the control that the dominant classes have over society. Bourdieu is concerned with how we reproduce this control, not merely as groups of individuals, but as different groups in relations of power to each other.
