Crafting Legitimacy: Status Shifts, Critical Discourse, and Symbolic Boundaries in the Cultural Field of Craft Beer in the United States from 2002 to 2017

Over the last few decades, the production and consumption of craft beer in the United States has witnessed a spectacular increase. According to the Brewer's Association (2020), there were approximately 89 breweries operating in the United States in 1978 compared to 8,386 in 2019. Along with this rapid market expansion, the cultural status of beer also underwent significant changes. Despite the exponential rise in the number of craft breweries as well as the emergence of a craft beer culture, little empirical scholarship on the field of craft beer exists. In this study, I analyze the rapid status shift of craft beer by exploring its social history of changes that occurred both exogenously to the cultural field of craft beer as well as endogenous developments within the field. Further, I examine in detail the emergence and role of a critical discourse surrounding craft beer culture in relation to its involvement in the elevation of status as well as the construction of symbolic and social boundaries. The theoretical foundation for this study draws on insights from work on cultural fields (Bourdieu 1993), art worlds (Becker 1982), cultural and artistic legitimation (Baumann 2001; 2007a; 2007b; 2011), social and symbolic boundaries (Lamont and Molnar 2002), and the production of culture perspective (Peterson and Anand 2004). Data for this project come both from secondary and original sources including All About Beer magazine and semi-structured face-to-face interviews with craft beer industry professionals. My findings suggest that while the status elevation of the field of craft beer has closely followed those of other legitimized fields (e.g., film), unique discursive and institutional dynamics are also salient. Specifically, I find that through critical discourse, the status elevation of craft beer in the United States context was directly related to a.) the establishment of beer travel as a cultural good, b.) the linkage of craft beer to predominantly white, middle-class leisure activities, c.) the association of beer to other high status gastronomic fields, and d.) the historicization of the field craft beer particularly via the mythologization of early pioneers.