The Cultural Consumption Barometer [2006]

The 2006 Cultural Consumption Barometer is a resumption of the research made in 2005 and it facilitated the in-depth understanding of the cultural consumption infrastructure, habits and needs in Romania.

The barometer was carried out in November-December 2006, in cooperation with a company specialised in public-opinion polls. It consisted in a nationally-representative survey for the population aged over 15.

Some of the themes proposed for analysis were: the new communication technologies, the cultural consumers’ typologies, the cultural consumption behaviour on each sector, the attitude of the population towards the restoration of the national heritage, as well as comparisons with other countries.

The results do not reveal major differences between 2005 and 2006. The need for press kiosks, libraries and bookstores still exists and the preference for television and radio remains the same. A new element is given by the tests on the cultural capital, which show the small dimension of the cultural middle class in Romania. However, as far as the cultural consumption is concerned, a strongly-specialised and very active niche-public has emerged.