Title: CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
1CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- Discussion about the relationship between culture
and economy in Slovenia provoked by a group of
younger economists - Their position
- (1) the market economy is a universal criterion
for assessing any activity in society - (2) all other spheres of social life are
expected to justify their existence using a kind
of econometric introspection (a test of their own
economic rationality benefits for society as a
whole)
2CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- Their demands Whoever wants to receive funds
from the public budget must first prove that -
- (1) tax payers and society as a whole will
benefit from the activity in question - (2) investment of public funds in a particular
project is better (more profitable) than
investment in some other project - In other words
-
- (1) no public investment as such qualifies as
worthwhile (for example, on the basis of expert
assessments) -
- (2) it may become worthwhile only in relation
to another (real or hypothetical) competing
subsidy or investment
3CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- Culture and all other social activities,
including those that the European (continental)
model has traditionally understood as components
of the welfare state, should be unconditionally
subjected to market forces and prove their worth
in competition with other market players. - This requirement of young Slovene economists
- culture should offer convincing arguments
(meaning acceptable to economists) proving the
benefits of culture for society as a whole, and
for the economy in particular - a late response to a process that began in the
USA in the mid 1960s, - later spread to Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
Great Britain - and gradually to west European countries.
4CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- The pioneering work in the field of cultural
economics - In the 1960s William Baumol, William Bowen
Performing Arts The Economic Dilemma - In the 1970s William Hendon founded the Journal
of Cultural Economics and an international
association that is still active (conferences
etc.) - In the meanwhile studies about the impact of
culture on the economy have become extremely
popular - At the beginning of the 1990s Anthony Radichs
review for the US National Endowment for the
Arts -
- Twenty Years of Economic Impact Studies of the
Arts
5CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- During the 1970s and the 1980s
- more than 200 studies in the US dealt with
economic impact of the arts, - discussing issues relating to 34 federal states
- and more than 100 cities
- Studies about the economic impact of culture
flourished especially in North America.
6CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- Cultural councils in the USA and Canada began to
offer simple do-it-yourself manuals and software
that could be used by cultural organizations to
calculate their economic impact on the
environment in which they operate a town, a
region or the like, e.g. - Assessing the Local Economic Impact of the Arts
A Handbook. 1997. Toronto Ontario Arts Council - or a simple software for a quick calculation of
the economic impact of a cultural activity
offered by the Americans for the Arts
organization at -
- http//www.artsusa.org/information_resources/rese
arch_information/services/economic_impact/calculat
or.asp
7CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- Social and political context of US and GB
important for understanding of the process - At the turn of the 1980s Ronald Reagan and
Margaret Thatcher came to power - Their politics was based on
- (1) cuts in public expenditure and
- (2) simultaneous strengthening of the private
sector. - Consequences for artsculture
- (1) considerable reduction in subsidies received
from the state budget - (2) immediate need to compensate the lack of
resources through market approaches
8CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- Chin-tao Wu Privatising Culture Corporate Art
Intervention since the 1980s (Verso, 2002) - Cultural organizations were pressed to get
accustomed to the competitive spirit of free
enterprise. - Particularly symptomatic the statements from
the representatives of Reagan and Thatcher
administrations and leading national funds, the
Arts Council in Great Britain and the National
Endowment for the Arts in the USA, such as - commercial films are as much art as
non- commercial ones - an artists reputation is made in the market
- and the like.
9CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- In these circumstances that were unfavorable for
culture, and non-commercial culture in
particular, and even a threat to its very
existence, cultural workers, their supporters and
advocates started to commission research projects
that were expected -
- (1) to provide hard (numerical, statistical)
indicators -
- (2) by doing so, to convince the economists and
politicians that investment in culture was - commercially justified
- that it could create new jobs
- contribute to increased consumption etc.
10CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- The aim of the impact studies was to convince
those who had power that subsidies for culture
produce so-called multiplier effect. - Why this conclusion is important?
-
- It shows that the study of the economic impact of
culture - did not emerge owing to some internal logic
inherent in the research field itself - was not motivated by a romantic search for
truth on the part of scholars, but - by the need to provide a politically convincing
argument that could be used effectively when
lobbying for culture.
11CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- In principle no reason to reject in advance
economic studies of any field of social activity,
including culture. - What worries experts in the field (Radich, van
Puffelen etc.) are - (1) the methodologically unacceptable
shortcuts used in collecting and selecting data - (2) attempts at self-interested interpretation
of statistically aggregated data - (3) simplifying /one-sided understanding of
cultural production - Many of these studies are
- (1) a product not of political economy, but
rather of politicized economy - (2) an uncritical instrumentalization of
economic studies for political purposes
12CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- Radich 2 key points of his analysis of impact
studies -
- (1) Their methodological (non)credibility, such
as - superficially conceptualized and inadequate
samples - insufficient researchers discipline in
collecting and interpreting data - wrong assessments when data are not available
- wrong assessments of the impact on the tax system
- inadequate methods of calculating the multiplier
effect - researchers being ideologically influenced by
commissioners etc.
13CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- (2) Impact studies are inconsistent with the
nature of the arts -
- structural problem of these studies because
-
- The arts have an economic dimension, but that
dimension does not constitute the essence of the
arts. Economic arguments for the arts do not
emerge from the central philosophy or strength of
the arts their creativity, their ability to
challenge, for example but rely instead on
central features of a non-arts discipline.
14CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- Radich indeed says that this conclusion does not
mean that economic analysis cannot be beneficial
for art. - For him, it is problematic only when the economic
value of an artistic or cultural project becomes
the only argument used to prove its cultural
value and significance for society. - If such arguing for the significance of culture
and justification of public expenditures becomes
the prevailing discourse, then sooner or later it
will be the economists who will take decisions
concerning culture instead of those to whom
culture means much more than just the number of
tickets sold.
15CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- In a debate in which the key argument is
economic rationality, the struggle is bitter,
and the winner is one who can convincingly prove
that - the designated activity is more profitable
- it brings more jobs and
- it ensures progressive development.
-
- Yet it is a question whether in such a struggle
it is truly possible to offer arguments
sufficiently solid as to protect culture from the
economic rationality of other, more profitable
sectors?
16CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- This by no means suggests that cultural
researchers should refrain from addressing this
subject. - On the contrary, to leave this important sphere
of cultural policy to economists exclusively
would be irresponsible. - Other disciplines that could contribute much to
this debate - - sociology and its specialized branches (the
sociology of culture, the sociology of work,
urban sociology etc.) - - cultural and arts history
- - communications studies
- - aesthetics and many more
17CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- Some economists seem to be unaware of the fact
that cultural practices and artistic creativity
are not necessary compatible with the competitive
principle of the market. - Radich, for example, thinks that the logic behind
the economic (i.e. market) success of culture is
devastating for the principle of collaboration
characterizing many actors in the fields of arts
and culture. - The ideology of economic rationality and market
success encourages competition rather than
collaboration and the atomization of individuals
and organizations rather than linking them
together.
18CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
-
- Art and culture are not means to economic ends
(as advocated by economic impact arguments),
but the economy is a means to artistic and
cultural ends. -
- Christopher Madden
19CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ECONOMIC RATIONALITY
- References
- Madden, Christopher. 2001. Using 'Economic'
Impact Studies in Arts and Cultural Advocacy A
Cautionary Note. Media International Australia,
No. 98, pp. 161-178 (see also http//www.fuel4arts
.com/content/files/ACF5A4E.pdf). - Milohnic, Aldo. 2004. Kultura in ekonomija
(Culture and the Economy). Revija 2000, No.
168-170, pp. 23-26. - . 2005. Mladoekonomisti proti kulturniškemu
lobiju (Young Economists against the Cultural
Lobby). In Autor, Sabina and Kuhar, Roman
(eds.). Intolerance Monitor Report No. 4.
Ljubljana Peace Institute, pp. 106-123. - Radich, Anthony J. 1992. Twenty Years of Economic
Studies of the Arts A Review. Washington, DC
National Endowment for the Arts. - Van Puffelen, Frank. 1996. Abuses of
Conventional Impact Studies in the Arts.
Cultural Policy, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 241-254. - Wu, Chin-tao. 2002. Privatising Culture
Corporate Art Intervention since the 1980s.
London, New York Verso.