While listening to your enjoyable and informative conversation with xxxxxxxxx, I couldn’t help but think of the “cool kids” in high school. Those kids happen to like a band few have heard of and then, suddenly, that band becomes mainstream. Do the cool kids still gain “cultural capital” by listening to the now popular band? Of course not. So, they move on to the next unknown band all while making fun of the late adopters who are fans of a band that “sold out.”

I suspect this same dynamic would occur if your efforts to extend “cultural capital” to different groups succeeded. If, say, everyone got to experience exceptional art, experiencing exceptional art would no longer be “cool.” After all, if everyone has “cultural capital,” nobody has it, and that’s something competitive humans don’t generally tolerate.