50대 중산층 남성들의 사진 활동 이야기

A Study on the Experience of Photo Graphic Activity of the Middle-Class Men in Their 50s: Based on the Perspective of Cultural Capital Theory

본 연구는 문화예술교육을 시작으로 전개된 50대 중산층 남성 다섯 명의 사진 활동에 관한 이야기이다. 그리고 이들의 경험을 부르디외(Bourdieu, P.)의 문화자본론을 비판적으로 수용해야 한다는 공유된 문제의식을 기반으로 코스쿠너-발리와 톰슨(Coskuner-Bali & Thompson, 2013)이 제안한 ‘부차적 문화자본(subordinate cultural capital)’ 개념과 백룬드와 쿠언？W(Backlund & Kuentzel, 2013)의 ‘여가자본(leisure capital)’을 경유해 연구 참여자들의 사진 활동을 보다 구체적으로 이해하고자 하였다. 연구 참여자들은 경제 자본이 곧 ‘개인의 능력’이라고 인정받는 사회적 분위기 속에서 일상을 보내왔지만 어느새 문화예술에 대한 소양과 취향이 ‘개인의 정체성’이라는 가치관을 마주하게 된다. 이에 따른 주관적 결핍감과 함께 ‘노년 직전의 시기’라는 생애 주기적 특성은 심리적 동기를 실천에 옮긴 데에 영향을 미친 것으로 드러났다. 나아가 그들의 문화적 실천이 확장, 유지될 수 있는 이유는 새로운 관계 안에서 공고해지는 ‘문화예술인’으로서의 정체성에 있었다. 이렇게 사진 활동은 자본간전환을 통해 ‘적극적으로 자기 정체성을 구축하고 표현하는 중년 남성’이라는 상징적 지위를 부여하지만 이들이 얻게 된 상징자본이 작동하는 범위는 사생활의 영역이었다. 이에 따라 본 연구는 문화자본론의 관점에서 한국 사회를 이해할 때에 계급뿐만 아니라 ‘세대’도 유의미한 논의점이 될 수 있음을 고찰함으로써, 문화예술교육 논의에 있어서 문화자본론을 보다 유동적으로 이해했을 때 생겨날 다각적인 접근의 가능성을 엿볼 수 있다는 데에 의의가 있다.

This paper is a story about five middle-aged men in their 50s who suddenly began their photographic activities as they reached middle age. In the perspective of Borudieu’s cultural capital theory, this study observes five men in their 50s by implementing in-depth interviews about the motivation behind taking photographs, the experience of photography activities, and the rewards of these activities. The theory has undergone a theoretical revision with the criticism that factors other than the class can be influential. Based on these ideas, I have proceeded my study by preferentially grasping the notion of the ‘field’ in accordance with the specific history of Korean society. Therefore, this study sought to more specifically understand the various photographic activities of middle-class men in their 50s by referring Coskuner-Balli and Thompson’s argument(2013), which revised 2018’s cultural captial theory and proposed the concept of ‘subordinate cultural capital’ and ‘leisure capital’ who proposed by Backlund, E. A. & Kuentzel, W. F.(2013). As a middle-class men in their 50s, research participants have grown up and worked in a social atmosphere where economic capital is recognized as an individual’s ability. However, they are faced with the value that the knowledge and taste towards culture and arts is one’s identity. In addition to the subjective deprivation that arises from this situation, the lifespan characteristic of their age that it is on the brink of the old age appeared to have influenced them to put their psychological motivation immediately into practice. Economic capital was the main conversion terms to move form interest to practice, which includes ‘time’ as a resource as well as money. With the cultural practices being expanded since their creation of photographs, the reason that these expansions can be maintained more actively lies in their identity as ‘cultural artist’ that is consolidated in new relationships in the sharing of photographic activities. In this way, photographic activities grant a symbolic status of ‘a middle-aged man who actively builds and expresses his identity’ through the conversion of accumulating cultural capital and the conversion into social capital. Furthermore, the recognized scope of the symbolic capital acquired by the research participants is in the domain of the private life that is family and acquaintance. Especially, they were gaining a great psychological reward from their children’s recognition that they are not just a ‘breadwinner’ but ‘dad who cultivates himself with a culture and arts’. Accordingly, by considering that ‘generation’ other than class can be a meaningful discussion point when understanding Korea society from the perspective of cultural theory, this study is meaningful that a more flexible understanding of cultural theory can give a glimpse into the possibility of a more specific and diverse approach that will arise in the discussion of culture and arts education.