Cultural Governance and the Crisis of Financial Capitalism

Authors

  • Jean-Louis Fabiani Central European University, Budapest, Hungaria/EHESS, Paris, France

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.146211

Keywords:

Cultural policy, creative society, neo-liberalism, democracy crisis, capitalism

Abstract

Cultural policies in Europe were designed, albeit in significantly different ways national and ideological lines, as an additional component of the Welfare State. They were supposed to bring about democracy in cultural consumption by removing the obstacles on the road to giving access to symbolic goods. Since the ‘80s and the neo-liberal turn, this democratic imperative has declined, and was even labeled a complete failure, and new goals for cultural policy emerged: developing the conditions for a creative society, supporting city branding, and encouraging private sponsorship. This change in political justification created new contradictions and some disenchantment among the professionals who were, in growing numbers, employed in the cultural sector. The current crisis of capitalism has two main consequences. Shrinking budgets add new limits on cultural policy as culture tends to be identified as a “supplement of soul” when basic needs are no longer addressed and new claims for full democratic access to cultural resources.

References

Alexander Victoria D. (2007): “State Support of Artists: The Case of the United Kingdom in a New Labour Environment and Beyond”, Journal of Arts Management Law and Society, 37:3, 185-200. DOI: 10.3200/JAML.37.3.185-200

Biass, Sophie & Jean-Louis Fabiani (2011): “Marseille: A City beyond Distinction?”, Nottingham French Studies, 50, Spring 2011, 83-94. DOI: 10.3366/nfs.2011.008

Bonet, Lluís & Fabio Donato (2011): “The Financial Crisis and its Impact on the Current Models of Governance and Management of the Cultural Sector in Europe”, ENCATC Journal of Cultural Management and Policy, 1:1, 4-11.

Boltanski Luc (2011): On Critique: A Sociology of Emancipation, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Boltanski, Luc & Eve Chiapello (1999/2005): The New Spirit of Capitalism, London: Verso.

COUNCIL OF EUROPE 2011 Results of a 2011 Survey with Governments on Culture Budgets and the Financial Crisis and Culture. Strasbourg. Publication of Council of Europe.

Dubois, Vincent (2013): La culture comme vocation, Paris: Raisons d’agir.

EUROSTAT 2011 Cultural statistics. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

Fabiani J.L.’s (2011): “Review of Luc Boltanski’s On Critique: A Sociology of Emancipation”, European Journal of Sociological Theory, 14, 401-406. DOI: 10.1177/1368431011412352

Florida, Richard (2002): The Rise of the Creative Class, New York: Basic Books.

Foucault Michel (1978): Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, London: Penguin Books.

Hardt, Michael & Antonio Negri (2000): Empire, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Inkei, Péter (2010): “The Effects of the Economic Crisis on Culture”, Culture Watch urope conference 2010 “Culture and the Policies of Change” EESC Headquarters, Brussels, 6-7 September.

McGuigan, Jim (2004): “The Cultural Public Sphere”, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 8, 427-443. DOI: 10.1177/1367549405057827

McGuigan, Jim (2011): “The Cultural Public Sphere: A Critical Measure of Public Culture?”, Gerard Delanty, Liana Giorgi & Monica Sassatelli (eds): Festivals and the Cultural Public Sphere, London: Routledge.

Menger, Pierre Michel (1999): “Artistic Labor Markets and Careers”, Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 542-543. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.soc.25.1.541

Menger, Pierre Michel (2002): Portrait de l'artiste en travailleur, Paris, Le Seuil.

Menger, Pierre Michel (2009): Le Travail créateur, Paris, EHESS-Gallimard-Seuil.

Mulcahy, Kevin V. (2006): “Cultural Policy: Definitions and Theoretical Approaches”, The Journal of Arts, Management, Law and Society, 35:4, 319-330. DOI: 10.3200/JAML.35.4.319-330

Nye, Joseph S. (2004): Soft Power: The Means To Success in World Politics, New York, Public Affairs.

Shockley, Gordon E. (2011): “Political Environment and Policy Change: The National Endowment for the Arts in the 1990s”, The Journal of Arts, Management, Law and Society, 41;4, 267-284. DOI: 10.1080/10632921.2011.628232

Schuster, J. Mark (2003): Mapping State cultural Policy: The State of Washington, Chicago: University of Chicago, Cultural Policy Center.

Downloads

Published

2014-02-20

How to Cite

Fabiani, J.-L. (2014) “Cultural Governance and the Crisis of Financial Capitalism”, Culture Unbound, 6(1), pp. 211–221. doi: 10.3384/cu.2000.1525.146211.

Issue

Section

Theme: Capitalism: Current Crisis and Cultural Critique