In this project, we focused on subscriber databases from the latter half of the 20th century. Institutions like the New York Philharmonic Orchestra have traditionally been bastions of cultural eliteness but over time a large body of work has shown that these types of institutions have become increasingly accessible to those outside of the elite. Dr. Accominotti’s work analyzes these trends with the aim of uncovering hidden changes in how these institutions operate under the shadow of democratization.
Research and Methods
My module of the project focused on the survey of two historical yearbooks of social and economic elites as they related to the chosen databases of New York Philharmonic subscribers: that is, databases for 1967, 1976, and 1997. The two yearbooks were the Social Register and Who’s Who in Finance and Industry (formerly Who’s Who in Commerce and Industry) 2. We obtained publications of these yearbooks that matched the year of our subscriber database, considering lead time of publication.
We used these yearbooks in two ways:
- As a Proxy for Elite Status: Membership in each of these yearbooks is quite exclusive. For the Social Register, membership requires deep familial ties and bonds within social institutions. For the Who’s Who, membership requires distinct economic status. If listed in one of these yearbooks, it is almost certain that you are a member of society’s elite. Depending on which of these yearbooks you are listed in, you may also be deemed to be more of a “social” and “economic” elite.
- To Learn More About our Subscribers: Both yearbooks provide substantial amounts of information for each member listed, including address, alma mater, profession, place of work, society and club memberships, and significant life achievements. We used this information to enrich our subscriber databases.
We employed a rigorous method to verify a subscriber’s listing in each of these yearbooks. To be considered a match, subscribers and listees thought to be the same person had to match names, current and/or former addresses, and spouses (if applicable/information was available).
This data was analyzed in three ways:
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On an Aggregate Scale: Taken together, the subscriber databases were analyzed to study subscriber income and education level trends within the population using census data compared to those in the broader Tri-state area over time.
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On a “Series-by-series” Basis: Subscribers to the Philharmonic can attend different concert series throughout the week, with traditionally differing prestige. It was important to cut the data to look at subscribers on a series-by-series basis.
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Geographically: Mapping subscribers in the New York tri-state area both on an aggregate level and on a series-by-series basis was necessary to see how social stratification translated to geographic location.
My module of the project focused on the first two areas of analysis.
Results from the Analysis
The results of my module focused on the analysis of the New York Philharmonic subscriber databases considering the information found from surveying the Social Register and Who’s Who yearbooks. The overall project uncovered two trends that characterized the subscribership of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra: a broad trend of democratization and a shift in the types of elite subscribers attending the Philharmonic. Important aspects of these results were found by my mentor, but for the purposes of this report I will focus on and report those data that I took charge of.
Democratization: Increasing Accessibility and Reduction in Elite Contrast of Subscribership
Combined with census data tracking income and education of subscribers against those in the tri-state area, the clear trend of a reduction of the proportion of listings in the Social Register and Who’s Who adds to the evidence supporting the notion of a democratization of subscribership. Census data (not pictured) showed a progressing convergence of subscribers and the general population in terms of income and education. The proportion of subscriber membership in the Social Register fell by 78% over the studied period, and the proportion of membership in the Who’s Who fell by 64% (see Figure 1).
Figure 1.
A Shift in the Types of Elite Subscribers
Figures 2 and 3 show the trend illustrated in Figure 1 in a new light: now analyzed by concert series. With the background knowledge of Friday’s relative “eliteness”, confirmed by census data analyzed by concert series, these figures suggest the precipitous drop of membership by a more “old money” elite in the Social Register and a less stark drop for “new money” elites in the Who’s Who . This data added to our developing conclusion of the development of a new elite who go to the Philharmonic on Thursday evenings and live in the city.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Another trend I analyzed was the prevalence of subscribers being listed in both yearbooks. Our hypothesis was that this would become less and less common as this “new elite” became more distinct. The data in Figure 4 confirms this. The proportion of subscribers listed in both the SR and WW drops from 15% in 1967 to 1.5% in 1997.
Figure 4.
A yet incomplete, but still quite relevant analysis, was the evolution of listed professions for subscribers. This analysis was done both on an aggregate level and for those in the “overlap” described in Figure 4. This data was limited in the sense that not every subscriber found in the Who’s Who had a profession listed. To give some context to this analysis, Figure 5 shows this data with professions grouped by sector/industry.
Figure 5.
Further analysis is yet to be done on a series-by-series basis as well as by each “type” of elite discussed in this report. Iterations of this project may include this data, but the other data tell the main story convincingly and with enough substantiation.
Summary and Some Implications
Overall, my contributions to the project provide a more granular look at the changes occurring in the dynamics of membership to the New York Philharmonic. The trend of democratization and the shift in the types of elite subscribers attending were hypothesized and substantiated both from the aggregate and geographical analyses mainly performed by Dr. Accominotti as well as my deeper dive into the Social Register and Who’s Who yearbooks.
The work adds to a growing area of research into how cultural institutions, capital, and status have changed in relation to social stratification. This study of the New York Philharmonic provides a glimpse into a prestigious cultural institution and how the trends described in this body of work have played out in real time.
Please note that this report gives the views and findings of the Undergraduate Research Assistant, and may not necessarily reflect those of their faculty supervisor, the US Centre or the London School of Economics.