Taste and Social Distinction. The Chav Coleen McLoughlin in the Daily Mail between 2004 and 2006

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine how the representation of Coleen McLoughlin in terms of chav taste in the Daily Mail between 2004 and 2006, reinforced class distinctions and classed notions of femininity. Making recourse to Pierre Bourdieu’s terms of cultural capital and symbolic capital, this article demonstrates how the category of chav, identified with a lack of cultural and symbolic capital, reproduces historically classed associations and upholds the values of the symbolic order.