High v/s Low Culture
Popularly speaking, being cultured means being well educated, knowledgeable of the arts, stylish, and well mannered. [1]
High culture—generally pursued by the upper class—refers to classical music, theater, fine arts, and other sophisticated pursuits. Members of the upper class can pursue high art because they have cultural capital, which means the professional credentials, education, knowledge, and verbal and social skills necessary to attain the “property, power, and prestige” to “get ahead” socially.
Low culture, or popular culture—generally pursued by the working and middle classes—refers to sports, movies, television sitcoms and soaps, and rock music. Remember that sociologists define culture differently than they do cultured, high culture, low culture, and popular culture.
In the context of an IPC, the inequalities that abound in our Earth based cultures creating this concept of high and low culture would not be possible for perhaps generations to come. The first peoples would all be worker class regardless of education or position in Earth society.
As described earlier, a meritocratic structure would most likely evolve which in itself prevents this division of cultural class. If in the future an attempt is made to change the governance model from meritocratic to something else, our history dictates there would be disastrous consequences, and probable failure. The colonial model ensures worker safety in a hostile environment and as long as the atmosphere is un-breathable by humans, this form of governance would be the only acceptable one.
The colonial model also installs the mechanisms of ensuring that leadership and authority are given, not taken, and that class separation would not exist.
Earth based governments, business elites and the wealthy may not be able to understand this concept and may try to exert their Earth based “self entitlements” on a colony world. As noted earlier, and supported by our history, a colonial society will always rebel against their distant masters, and the economically oppressed will always revolt. This would be magnified in an environment deadly to humans.
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