As part of a larger study of the Norwegian middle class, I explore the following question in this article: Do the middle class draw cultural boundaries to other groups in order to construct a middle class identity? Cultural education (correct manners, taste, appreciation of literature, art, classical music, etc.) has been considered a distinctive hallmark of the highly educated middle class. Normally, sociologists tend to regard cultural taste as being hierarchically ordered as a relation between the << high >> culture of the middle class (bourgeoisie) and the << popular >> culture of the people (working class), with middle class culture the superior and the << legitimate >> one of the two. Having command of this culture, it might be used to draw boundaries. But is there a << legitimate culture >>? And what is its content? These questions must be answered before one can analyse the social effects. I examine these questions based on interviews with 113 highly educated people in Norway. My data suggest that if there is a << legitimate culture >> among the middle class in Norway it is most likely one of entertainment (a popular culture). Informants very rarely pass cultural judgements. In fact, cultural judgements are often seen as a form of judging people. The middle class has internalized the egalitarian structures deeply embedded in Norwegian society and mobilized against cultural hierarchies, hence culture is closely connected with moral judgements.
