5. Discussion and concluding remarks

We used the culture supplement to the 2005 GSS to examine the main socioeconomic factors that might influence participation in selected culture activities. In line with past empirical research, our multivariate analysis showed that household income is an important positive covariate of participation, regardless of the activity. Similarly, we provided evidence suggesting that a person's educational attainment is highly associated with his or her level of culture participation, whether activities take place at home or in a public venue. Also, we found that people whose parents have advanced educational qualifications are significantly more likely than those whose parents have lower educational attainment to attend most culture activities. However, our results indicated that the impact of the mother's educational qualifications exceeded that of the father's for attendance at, or participation in, most activities.

Among all culture activities analyzed, we found that the educational qualification of an individual's conjugal partner is positively associated with higher participation in culture events of all kinds. It is worth noting that for most selected culture activities, the importance of the conjugal partner's education surpassed that of a parent's level of education, regardless of the participation level. This finding is consistent with Upright (2004) who showed that in the United States, a spouse's background has a positive and strong influence on people's arts participation comparable to their own characteristics and that this effect remained even net of their spouse's own participation. We noted that age plays an influential role when it comes to attendance at theatrical performances, historic sites and public galleries and art museums. This result is in line with other works which uncovered similar age-based differentials (see, for instance, DiMaggio and Ostrower 2004; Montgomery and Robinson, 2005). In contrast, we found that the likelihood of attending popular music performances, going to parks or conservation areas, going regularly to movies, using library facilities frequently or viewing videos more often decreases with age. However, age has a neutral effect on the predicted odds of reading magazines, regardless of reading frequency.

Moreover, in terms of a gender effect, women are more likely than men to be regular consumers of theatrical performances, popular music performances, public galleries and art museums, books, libraries and magazines. Collins (1992, 1998) argued that due to their prominence in cultural production occupations such as journalists, teachers, artists and performers, women are most likely to be the majority audience members at most culture events. Our study showed, however, that men are more likely than women to frequently view videos, and to regularly visit historic sites, nature parks and conservation areas. In addition, regional location appeared as a significant determinant of the level of consumption of most culture commodities. For example, Quebecers and residents of Atlantic Canada are less likely, and British Columbians are more likely to be regular readers of magazines, in comparison with Ontario residents. Quebecers are also less likely than Ontario residents to watch videos on a regular basis. By contrast, residents of the Prairies are more likely than Ontario residents to engage in this activity occasionally and to do so regularly.

The other determinants of the degree of culture consumption in Canada are in line with the empirical literature. For instance, people living with young children, and those who are married, widowed or living in common-law relationships (compared to people who are divorced or separated) are less likely to be found in culture audiences. At the same time, occupation, not household income or educational attainment, is the dominant social correlate of participation in activities such as theatrical performances, popular music performances, and visiting public galleries, art museums and historic sites.

Several socioeconomic and demographic characteristics are generally inter-linked. For instance, people who stay longer in the education system generally earn higher incomes, are more likely to be employed and tend not to be in the youngest and the oldest age groups. Also, a higher income might imply a release for more time for leisure pursuits. But the increased opportunity cost of leisure time might give rise to supplementary work effort, causing people to substitute work for culture participation. Although descriptive studies may show how culture participation differs by personal and family factors, they may not be able to determine the key factors. A major contribution of this study is to use advanced multivariate techniques in order to determine which socioeconomic and demographic attributes are most important in explaining culture participation in Canada.

More research needs to be conducted, since many important issues remain unresolved. The most importunate of these questions pertains to the type of cultural commodities mostly consumed by lower income individuals and people who have lower educational attainment. Identifying the forms of cultural interaction and consumption enjoyed by these individuals can lead to a tangible growth in the number of culture consumers and substantially aid the economic viability of the culture sector in the long run.