In times of cultural omnivorousness, authentic products are highly valued by high-status consumers. The article scrutinizes the social and individual preconditions for attributing hedonic and economic value to authentic products. Taking the concept of cultural capital as a starting point, it argues that cues indicating a product’s authenticity affect taste and price evaluations only if individuals perceive authenticity cues correctly (descriptive beliefs) and regard authenticity as an important product feature (evaluative beliefs). This interplay of descriptive and evaluative beliefs explains the appreciation of authentic products. The model is tested by combining an experimental tasting of apple juice samples with a survey. We find that cues of authenticity causally influence the hedonic evaluation of products only for consumers with both strong descriptive and evaluative beliefs. Attribution of economic value depends on descriptive beliefs only. In addition, such beliefs are socially structured: descriptive beliefs correlate with higher formal education, whereas evaluative beliefs covary with highbrow cultural practices.

在文化杂食的时代，正宗的产品受到高地位消费者的高度重视。文章仔细审查了将享乐和经济价值归因于正宗产品的社会和个人先决条件。以文化资本的概念为出发点，它认为只有当个人正确感知真实性线索（描述性信念）并将真实性视为重要的产品特征（评估信念）时，表明产品真实性的线索才会影响品味和价格评估。这种描述性和评价性信念的相互作用解释了对正宗产品的欣赏。通过将苹果汁样品的实验品尝与调查相结合，对该模型进行了测试。我们发现，真实性的线索只对具有强烈描述性和评价性信念的消费者产生因果影响的产品享乐评价。经济价值的归属仅取决于描述性信念。此外，这些信念是社会结构的：描述性信念与高等教育相关，而评价性信念则与高雅的文化习俗相关。