The art world’s response to the challenge of inequality

Working paper


Cant, S. 2020. The art world’s response to the challenge of inequality. London International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science.
AuthorsCant, S.
TypeWorking paper
Abstract

This paper considers the challenges which rising economic inequality poses to the art world with a special focus on museums and galleries in the UK. Based on interviews with artists, curators and managers of leading art institutions in London, we discuss how issues of economic inequality are reflected in their thinking about cultural work and how these relate to questions of spatial power, post-colonial sensibilities and diversity issues. We show how increasing economic inequality brings about deep-seated, systematic and sustained challenges which extend well beyond public funding cuts associated with austerity politics to a wider re-positioning of the arts away from its location in a distinctive public sphere and towards elite private privilege. Against this backdrop, we put forward the term ‘the artistic politics of regionalism’ and suggest that the most promising approaches to addressing contemporary inequalities lie in institutions’ reconsideration of spatial dynamics which can link concerns with decolonisation and representation to a recognition of how economic inequality takes a highly spatialised form.

KeywordsEconomics; Inequality; Colonialism; Art; Privilege
Year2020
PublisherInternational Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science
Place of publicationLondon
Page range1-24
Official URLhttp://eprints.lse.ac.uk/103146/1/Kolbe_art_worlds_response_challenge_inequality_wp40_v2.pdf
Related URLhttp://www.lse.ac.uk/International-Inequalities
Output statusPublished
File
License
All rights reserved
Publication dates
OnlineJan 2020
Publication process dates
Accepted21 Jan 2020
Deposited05 Feb 2020
References

Acuff, J. & Evans, L. (2104) (Eds.) Multiculturalism in Art Museums Today. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Adorno, T. W. & Horkheimer, M. (1997[1944]). Dialectic of Enlightenment, London: Verso Edition.

Amato, S. (2006). Quai Branly museum: Representing France after empire. Race & Class, 47:4, 46–65.

Ang, I. (2005). The predicament of diversity Multiculturalism in practice at the art museum. Ethnicities, Vol 5(3), 305–320.

Barringer, T. & Flynn, T. (1998). Colonialism and the Object: Empire, Material Culture and the Museum, London: Routledge.

Becker, H. (1982). Art worlds. University of California Press.

Benhamou, F. (2002). L’Economie Du Star-System (The Star-System Economy). Paris: Odile Jacob.

Bennett, T. (2004). Pasts beyond memory: Evolution, museums, colonialism. London and New York: Routledge.

Bennett, T., Savage, M., Silva, E., Warde, A., & Gayo-Cal, M. (2010). Class, Culture, Distinction. London: Routledge.

Black, G. (2012). Transforming Museums in the Twenty-first Century. London & New York: Routledge.

Black, G. (2012). Transforming Museums in the Twenty-first Century. London & New York: Routledge.

Boltanski, L. and Chiapello, E. (1999). The new spirit of capitalism. London; New York: Verso 2005.

Boswell, D. & Evans, J. (Eds.) (1999) Representing the Nation: A Reader. Oxford: Routledge.

Chakravartt, P. and Silva, D.F. da (2012). Accumulation, dispossession, and debt: The racial logic of global capitalism. An introduction. American Quarterly, 64(3), 361-385.

Chambers, I.; De Angelis, A., Ianniciello, C., Orabona, M., Quadraro, M. (2014) The Postcolonial Museum: The Arts of Memory and the Pressures of History. Farnham: Ashgate.

Chiang, T. J. &. Posner, R. A. (2006). “Censorship versus Freedom of Expression
Davies, M. & Shaw, L. (2010). Measuring the ethnic diversity of the museum workforce and the impact and cost of positive-action training, with particular reference to the Diversify scheme, Cultural Trends, 19:3, 147-179.

Dawson, K. L. (2017). Playing the Game: Understanding the Gender Gap in Art Museum Directorships, MA Thesis draft, https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/17...

Dewdney, A., Dibosa, D. & Walsh, V. (2013). Post Critical Museology Theory and Practice in the Art Museum. London: Routledge.

Fasche, M. (2013). Making art history – wealthy private collectors and contemporary visual art, In Iain Hay (ed.), Geographies of the Super-rich. (pp. 171-185). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Frey, B. & Meier, S. (2006). The Economics of Museums, In Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, Elsevier.

Friedman, S., O’Brien, D., & Laurison, D. (2017). ‘Like skydiving without a parachute’: How class origin shapes occupational trajectories in British acting. Sociology, 51(5), 992-1010.

Frigo, M. (2009). Ethical Rules and Codes of Honor Related to Museum Activities: A Complementary Support to the Private International Law Approach Concerning the Circulation of Cultural Property, International Journal of Cultural Property, Vol. 16(1), 49-66.

Geoghegan, H. (2010). Museum Geography: Exploring Museums, Collections and Museum Practice in the UK, Geography Compass, 4/10, 1462–1476.

Goetzmann, William N., Luc Renneboog, and Christophe Spaenjers. (2011). Art and Money. American Economic Review, 101(3), 222–26.

Gosden, C. & Knowles, C. (2001). Collecting Colonialism Material Culture and Colonial Change, Berg Publishers.

Gray, H. (2013). Subject(ed) to recognition. American Quarterly, 65(4), 771-798.

Gray, H. (2016). Precarious diversity: Representation and demography. In M. Curtain and K. Sanson (Eds). Precarious creativity (pp. 241-253) Oakland: University of California Press.

Hall, S. (1996). New ethnicities, In K.-H. Chen and D Morley, eds., Stuart Hall: Critical dialogues in cultural studies (pp. 441-449). London: Routledge.

Hall, S. (2000). Conclusion: The multicultural question. In B. Hesse (ed.), Un/settled multiculturalisms: Diasporas, entanglements, ‘transruptions’. (pp. 209-241). London: Zed Books.

Hanquinet L. (2013a). ‘Visitors to modern and contemporary art museums. Towards a new sociology of ‘cultural profiles’, The Sociological Review, 61(4): 790–813.

Hanquinet L. (2013b). ‘Mondrian as kitchen tiles? Artistic and cultural conceptions of art museum visitors in Belgium’, Cultural Trends, 22 (1), 14-29.

Hanquinet, H., O’Brien, D., & Taylor, M. (2019). The coming crisis of cultural engagement? Measurement, methods, and the nuances of niche activities, Cultural Trends, 1-22.

Hanquinet, Laurie and Mike Savage. (2012). “‘Educative Leisure’ and the Art Museum.” Museum and Society, 10(1), 42–59.

Harvey, D. (1989). The condition of postmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell.

Hutter, M. & Shusterman, R. (2006). Value and the Valuation of Art in
Economic and Aesthetic Theory. In V. A. Ginsburgh and D. Throsby Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, Vol. 1 (pp. 169–208) Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V.

Huyssen, A. (1986). After the great divide: Modernism, mass culture, postmodernism. Indiana University Press.

Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or, the cultural logic of late capitalism. Duke university Press.

Karpik, L. (2010). Valuing the Unique: The Economics of Singularities. Translated by Nora Scott. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Koh, S. Y. & Wissink, B. (2018). Enabling, structuring and creating elite transnational lifestyles: intermediaries of the super-rich and the elite mobilities industry, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44:4, 592-609.

Kolbe, K. (forthcoming). Performing Interculture – inequality, diversity and difference in contemporary music production in Berlin. PhD thesis.

Lapadre, P. (2014). Cultural Products in the International Trading System. In: Victor A. Ginsburgh and David Throsby (eds.) Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture Vol. 2. Newnes, 381-409.

Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

McAndrew, S., O’Brien, D. and Taylor, M. (2019). The Values of Culture: Value Divergence and Social Closure among British Creative Workers. Mimeo.

McClintock, A. (1995). Imperial leather: Race, gender, and sexuality in the colonial contest. New York: Routledge.

Nwonka, C. J. (2015). Diversity Pie: Rethinking Social Exclusion and Quota in Shaping Diversity Policy in The Film Industry: The Journal of Media Practice, 16:1, 73-90.

O’Brien, D., Laurison, D., Miles, A., & Friedman, S. (2016). Are the creative industries meritocratic? An analysis of the 2014 British Labour Force Survey. Cultural Trends, 25(2), 116-131.

Piketty, T. & Saez, E. (2003). Income Inequality in the United States, 1913– 1998, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 11:1, 1–39. (series updated to 2010 in March 2012).

Pogrebin, R. (2016). Art Galleries Face Pressure to Fund Museum Shows. The The New York Times, June 25. Retrieved December 27, 2017 (https://nyti.ms/2t6UzFw).

Robertson, I. and Chong, D. (Eds.) (2008). The Art Business. London; New York: Routledge.

Roque Rodríguez, A. (2017). Museums Are Not Neutral [Blog post]. Retrieved from: https://www.anabelroro.com/blog/museums-are-not-neutral

Rosen, S. (1981). The Economics of Superstars. American Economic Review, 71:5, 845–58.

Saha, A. (2018). Race and the cultural industries, London: Polity Press.

Saltz, J. (2015). The ‘New’ New Museum. Vulture, April 19. Retrieved (http://www.vulture.com/2015/04/jerry-saltz-on-new-whitney-museum.htm...).

Sandell, R. (Ed.). (2002). Museums, Society, Inequality. London & New York: Routledge.

Savage, M., et al. (2015). Social Class in the 21st Century. London & New York: Penguin Books.

Schimpfoessl, E. (2018). Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie. Oxford University Press.

Schubert, K. (2000). The Curator’s Egg: The evolution of the museum concept from the French Revolution to the present day. London: One-Off Press.

Simon N. (2010). Participatory museum. Santa Cruz: Museum 2.0.

Simpson, M. G. (1997). Making Representations Museums in the Post-Colonial Era, London: Routledge.

Srakar, A. & Čopič, V. (2012). Private investments, public values: a value-based approach to argumenting for public support to the arts, Cultural Trends, 21:3, 227-237.

Taylor, C. (1994). “Multiculturalism: examining the politics of recognition”. In A Gutmann (Ed.) Multiculturalism: Examining the politics of recognition, (pp. 25-73). Princeton: Princeton University.

UK Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (2019) Sponsored Museums and
Galleries Annual Performance Indicators 2017/18. retrieved here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/u... (accessed 18.06.2019).

Upton-Hansen, C. (2018). The Financialization of Art: A Sociological Encounter, PhD thesis, submitted to London School of Economics and Political Science.

Velthuis, O. (2014). ArtRank and the Flippers: Apocalypse now? Texte zur Kunst, 24(96), 34-49.

Zorloni, A. & Ardizzone, A. (2015). The Winner-Take-All Contemporary Art Market. Creative Industries Journal, 9:1, 1-14.

Permalink -

https://repository.canterbury.ac.uk/item/8qq58/the-art-world-s-response-to-the-challenge-of-inequality

  • 384
    total views
  • 202
    total downloads
  • 15
    views this month
  • 2
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Safe nights out: Workers’ perspectives on tackling violence against women and girls
Makinde, M., Cant, S., McCusker, S., Chatterjee, A., Schutte, L., Barbin, A. and Matthews, K. 2023. Safe nights out: Workers’ perspectives on tackling violence against women and girls. Canterbury: Canterbury Christ Church University.
How to be a social researcher: Key sociological studies
Dvorak, J. and Cant, S. 2023. How to be a social researcher: Key sociological studies. Harper Collins.
Powerful or disempowering knowledge? The teaching of Sociology in English schools and colleges
Cant, Sarah and Chatterjee, Anwesa 2022. Powerful or disempowering knowledge? The teaching of Sociology in English schools and colleges. Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385221107299
How to be a sociologist: an introduction to A Level Sociology
Cant, S. and Dvorak, J. 2021. How to be a sociologist: an introduction to A Level Sociology. Harper Collins.
Social polarisation at the local level: a four-town comparative study on the challenges of politicising inequality in Britain
Koch, I., Fransham, M., Cant, S., Ebrey, J., Glucksberg, L. and Savage, M. 2020. Social polarisation at the local level: a four-town comparative study on the challenges of politicising inequality in Britain. Sociology. 55 (1), pp. 3-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038520975593
Generational Encounters with Higher Education The academic–student relationship and the university experience
Cant, S., Bristow, J. and Chatterjee, A. 2020. Generational Encounters with Higher Education The academic–student relationship and the university experience. Bristol Bristol University Press.
Generational Encounters with Higher Education The Academic–Student Relationship and the University Experience
Bristow, J., Cant, S. and Chatterjee, A. 2020. Generational Encounters with Higher Education The Academic–Student Relationship and the University Experience. Bristol Bristol University Press.
Medical pluralism, mainstream marginality or subaltern therapeutics? Globalisation and the integration of ‘Asian’ medicines and biomedicine in the UK
Cant, S. 2020. Medical pluralism, mainstream marginality or subaltern therapeutics? Globalisation and the integration of ‘Asian’ medicines and biomedicine in the UK. Society and Culture in South Asia. 6 (1), pp. 31-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/2393861719883064
Are students these days more fragile?
Bristow, J., Cant, S. and Chatterjee, A. 2019. Are students these days more fragile?
The graduate generation: how students navigate the contradictions of higher education.
Bristow, J., Cant, S. and Chatterjee, A. 2019. The graduate generation: how students navigate the contradictions of higher education.
Knowledge, scholarship, and the ‘schoolification’ of the University
Bristow, J., Cant, S. and Chatterjee, A. 2019. Knowledge, scholarship, and the ‘schoolification’ of the University.
Popular but peripheral: the ambivalent status of sociology education in schools in England
Cant, S., Savage, M. and Chatterjee, A. 2019. Popular but peripheral: the ambivalent status of sociology education in schools in England. Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038519856815
Who cares about the university?
Bristow, J., Cant, S. and Chatterjee, A. 2018. Who cares about the university?
Hidden in plain sight: exploring men’s use of complementary and alternative medicine
Cant, S. and Watts, P. 2018. Hidden in plain sight: exploring men’s use of complementary and alternative medicine. The Journal of Men's Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/1060826518778839
Hysteresis, social congestion and debt: towards a sociology of mental health disorders in undergraduates
Cant, S. 2017. Hysteresis, social congestion and debt: towards a sociology of mental health disorders in undergraduates. Social Theory & Health. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-017-0057-y
Mainstream marginality: professional projects and the appeal of complementary and alternative medicines in a context of medical pluralism.
Cant, S. 2017. Mainstream marginality: professional projects and the appeal of complementary and alternative medicines in a context of medical pluralism. PhD Thesis Canterbury Christ Church University Faculty of Social and Applied Science
The 'knowledgeable doer': nurse and midwife integration of complementary and alternative medicine in NHS hospitals
Cant, S. and Watts, P. 2015. The 'knowledgeable doer': nurse and midwife integration of complementary and alternative medicine in NHS hospitals. in: Gale, N. and McHale, J. (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Perspectives from Social Science and Law London Routledge. pp. 98-110
“Precarious professionalism: attempts by nurses and midwives to position themselves as competent practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine in the UK National Health Service”
Cant, S. and Watts, P. 2013. “Precarious professionalism: attempts by nurses and midwives to position themselves as competent practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine in the UK National Health Service”.
Complementary and alternative medicine: gender and marginality
Cant, S. and Watts, P. 2012. Complementary and alternative medicine: gender and marginality. in: Kuhlmann, E. and Annandale, E. (ed.) The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Health Care Basingstoke Palgrave. pp. 488-520
The knowledgeable doer: nurse and midwife integration of complementary and alternative medicine in NHS hospitals
Cant, S. 2011. The knowledgeable doer: nurse and midwife integration of complementary and alternative medicine in NHS hospitals.
Empowerment and marginality
Cant, S. 2011. Empowerment and marginality.
The rise and fall of complementary medicine in National Health Service hospitals in England
Cant, S., Watts, P. and Ruston, A. 2012. The rise and fall of complementary medicine in National Health Service hospitals in England. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice. 18 (3), pp. 135-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2012.05.004
The reluctant profession: homoeopathy and the search for legitimacy
Cant, S. and Sharma, U. 1995. The reluctant profession: homoeopathy and the search for legitimacy. Work, Employment and Society. 9 (4), pp. 743-762. https://doi.org/10.1177/095001709594006
Demarcation and transformation within homoeopathic knowledge. A strategy of professionalization
Cant, S. and Sharma, U. 1996. Demarcation and transformation within homoeopathic knowledge. A strategy of professionalization. Social Science and Medicine. 42 (4), pp. 579-588. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(95)00158-1
Familiarity breeds contentment: Enabling student transitions into HE through taking a holistic approach approach to level IV delivery
Cant, S. and Watts, P. 2009. Familiarity breeds contentment: Enabling student transitions into HE through taking a holistic approach approach to level IV delivery.
Soft, strong and very, very long: An integrated approach to fostering student retention and success
Cant, S. and Watts, P. 2009. Soft, strong and very, very long: An integrated approach to fostering student retention and success.
Risk and protection: CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) use in the NHS
Ruston, A., Cant, S. and Watts, P. 2009. Risk and protection: CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) use in the NHS.
Negotiating competency, professionalism and risk: the integration of complementary and alternative medicine by nurses and midwives in NHS hospitals
Cant, S., Watts, P. and Ruston, A. 2011. Negotiating competency, professionalism and risk: the integration of complementary and alternative medicine by nurses and midwives in NHS hospitals. Social Science and Medicine. 72 (4), pp. 529-536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.11.034
Pure and dangerous: complementary and alternative medicine, risk and governmentality
Cant, S. and Watts, P. 2010. Pure and dangerous: complementary and alternative medicine, risk and governmentality.
The state and complementary medicine: a changing relationship?
Cant, S. and Sharma, U. 2002. The state and complementary medicine: a changing relationship? in: Nettleton, S. and Gustafsson, U. (ed.) The Sociology of Health and Illness Reader Cambridge Polity Press. pp. 334-344
Recycling old ideas for a new age
Cant, S. 2002. Recycling old ideas for a new age. in: Jenkins, T. (ed.) Alternative Medicine: Should We Swallow It? Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 15-30
Team tactics: a study of nurse collaboration in general practice
Cant, S. and Killoran, A. 1993. Team tactics: a study of nurse collaboration in general practice. Health Education Journal. 52 (4), pp. 203-208. https://doi.org/10.1177/001789699305200403
All change in the NHS? Implications of the NHS reforms for primary care prevention
Williams, S., Calnan, M., Cant, S. and Coyle, J. 1993. All change in the NHS? Implications of the NHS reforms for primary care prevention. Sociology of Health and Illness. 15 (1), pp. 43-67. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.ep11343790
Principles and practice: the case of private health insurance
Calnan, M. and Cant, S. 2007. Principles and practice: the case of private health insurance. in: Burrows, R. and Marsh, C. (ed.) Consumption and Class: Divisions and Change Basingstoke, UK Palgrave Macmillan.
Medical pluralism
Cant, S. 2004. Medical pluralism. in: Gabe, J., Bury, M. and Elston, M. (ed.) Key Concepts in Medical Sociology London SAGE Publications Ltd. pp. 183-187
On the margins of the medical marketplace? An exploratory study of alternative practitioners' perceptions
Cant, S. and Calnan, M. 1991. On the margins of the medical marketplace? An exploratory study of alternative practitioners' perceptions. Sociology of Health and Illness. 13 (1), pp. 39-57. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.ep11340313
Using private health insurance. A study of lay decisions to seek professional medical help
Cant, S. and Calnan, M. 1992. Using private health insurance. A study of lay decisions to seek professional medical help. Sociology of Health and Illness. 14 (1), pp. 39-56. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.ep11007151
Professionalization of complementary medicine in the United Kingdom
Cant, S. and Sharma, U. 1996. Professionalization of complementary medicine in the United Kingdom. Complementary Therapies in Medicine. 4 (3), pp. 157-162. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0965-2299(96)80001-X
Reflexivity, ethnography and the professions (complementary medicine). Watching you, watching me, watching you (and writing about both of us)
Cant, S. and Sharma, U. 1998. Reflexivity, ethnography and the professions (complementary medicine). Watching you, watching me, watching you (and writing about both of us). The Sociological Review. 46 (2), pp. 244-263. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.00118
Understanding why people use complementary and alternative medicine
Cant, S. 2004. Understanding why people use complementary and alternative medicine. in: Lee-Treweek, G., Heller, T., Spurr, S., MacQueen, H. and Katz, J. (ed.) Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine: A Reader Abingdon, UK Routledge. pp. 222-231
From charismatic teaching to professional training: the legitimation of knowledge and the creation of trust in homoeopathy and chiropractic
Cant, S. 2004. From charismatic teaching to professional training: the legitimation of knowledge and the creation of trust in homoeopathy and chiropractic. in: Lee-Treweek, G., Heller, T., Spurr, S., MacQueen, H. and Katz, J. (ed.) Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine: A Reader Abingdon, UK Routledge. pp. 222-231
Mainstream marginality: ''non-orthodox'' medicine in an ''orthodox'' health service
Cant, S. 2009. Mainstream marginality: ''non-orthodox'' medicine in an ''orthodox'' health service. in: Gabe, J. and Calnan, M. (ed.) The New Sociology of the Health Service Abingdon, UK Routledge. pp. 177-200
Knowledge or imagination? The challenges widening participation poses for the teaching of sociology
Cant, S. and Watts, P. 2007. Knowledge or imagination? The challenges widening participation poses for the teaching of sociology. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning. 9 (2), pp. 6-15.
The social organisation of food consumption: A comparison of middle class and working class households
Calnan, M. and Cant, S. 1990. The social organisation of food consumption: A comparison of middle class and working class households. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. 10 (2), pp. 53-79. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013092