I'd agree that American consumerism takes this aversion to high culture to its apotheosis. But the split between mass culture and counterculture needn't be based on mutual contempt. The exoteric-esoteric split can happen because the majority aren't trained to appreciate fine philosophical distinctions or their taste in art is uncultivated (because they're illiterate peasants, for example). The masses might not resent high culture, but they're still not prepared to understand it. The split happens organically, then, as we go where our interests, talents, and resources take us.

On these more Leo Straussian lines, the latter division is likely more universal than the American style of hostility to excellence.