Culture is bad for you

Brook, Orian; O’Brien, Dave; Taylor, Mark

doi:10.7765/9781526152152

Cited by 170 publications

(43 citation statements)

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“…The trajectories of artistic careers are arduous, exceptionally precarious, and pervaded by structural inequalities (Bain & McLean, 2013;Brook et al, 2020;De Dios & Kong, 2020;Gill & Pratt, 2008;Glauser et al, 2020;Neilson & Rossiter, 2008;De Peuter, 2014). Rather than an output of mere individual talent, research shows that artistic production is a social and spatialized process: communication and space are two fundamental dimensions of this process.…”

Section: Artistic Careers and Local Art Scenes: Proximity Visibility And Production/ Consumption Lifecyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artistic careers in the cyclicality of art scenes and gentrification: symbolic capital accumulation through space in Bushwick, NYC

Valli

2021

Urban Geography

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Why and how do artists engage in activities that likely lead to gentrification, despite their awareness of its effects and despite that they will possibly be among the displaced groups? I highlight a missing link in existing literature explaining the recurring patterns of art scenes and gentrification in US cities-the cyclicality of artistic careers trajectories in art scenes' spatiality. The study shows that the shifted reputation of the neighborhood in early stages of gentrification is instrumental to positioning individual cultural producers in the cultural field through the local art scene's collective accumulation of symbolic capital. Early-career artists accumulate symbolic capital through space. Paired with the capitalist and racist legacies of the US city, this contributes to reproducing gentrification. Theoretically, the article draws from Bourdieu's theory of the cultural field and geographical literature of the symbolic economy. Empirically, it draws on interviews with cultural producers in Bushwick (Brooklyn, NYC).

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Section: Artistic Careers and Local Art Scenes: Proximity Visibility And Production/ Consumption Lifecyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artistic careers in the cyclicality of art scenes and gentrification: symbolic capital accumulation through space in Bushwick, NYC

Valli

2021

Urban Geography

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“…These patterns have complex and longstanding roots. Historical analysis of social mobility into key creative occupations suggests these class imbalances have been with us for a long time (Brook, O'Brien, and Taylor 2020b). This is not to say that the broader ecology of creative activity, theatre included, has always had a 'class crisis'.…”

Section: Is There a Class Crisis?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Very few people at all will 'make it', in comparison to the numbers who would like to. Forms of solidarity may be difficult to sustain when individuals, of whatever demographic characteristic, are confronted with the demands of low or no pay, high levels of insecurity and uncertainty, and the unequal geography of creative production centred on London (Brook, O'Brien, and Taylor 2020b).…”

Section: Is There a Class Crisis?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are also more likely to have the cultural and social resources, or capitals, which offer them access to networks, along with the confidence that comes from having a sense of place and possibility within an industry staffed and attended by people like them. These social and cultural capitals pay off in the context of an industry where, in order to minimise the risks and uncertainties inherent within artistic production, hiring is, in a variety of ways, a form of cultural matching (Friedman and Laurison 2019;Brook, O'Brien, and Taylor 2020b).…”

Section: Is There a Class Crisis?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Brook, O'Brien, and Taylor 2018) and AHRC funded Who is missing from the picture? Projects, and the subsequent Culture is bad for you book (Brook, O'Brien, and Taylor 2020b).…”

Section: Can There Be a Winner In Culture's Class War?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Class and the problem of inequality in theatre

O’Brien

2020

Studies in Theatre and Performance

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Theatre stakes a claim to represent individuals, communities, and nations. Yet both the workforce and the audience are marked by significant inequalities. There are absences of people of colour and those from working-class origins, along with significant gender inequalities in specific roles and specific productions. Awareness of these issues has, in part, been driven by recent research from social science. The techniques from social science that make inequalities visible can be at odds with the preferred modes of understanding inequality favoured by theatre practitioners. This paper is situated at the intersection of social scientific and theatre practice, considering the potential and pitfalls of methods of making inequality visible. In doing so, it frames the discussions that follow in the special issue, as well as suggesting ways that theatre and social science might have productive working partnerships. KEYWORDS Class; inequality; cultural and creative industries Theatre stakes a claim to be an artform that represents and reflects society. British society is currently marked by a range of social divisions that stretch far beyond the cultural sector. As a result, inequalities in the workforce and audience for theatre should not be a surprise. British theatre and the associated performing arts industries are characterised by exclusions by gender, by race, and by class (O'Brien et al. 2016). Class-based exclusions in theatre and performing arts manifest in a variety of ways. They are present in the employment statistics demonstrating the overrepresentation of those from affluent, middle-class, social origins, in key occupations such as acting (Friedman, O'Brien, and Laurison 2017). These same statistics make clear the absence of those from working-class origins. Class exclusions are there in public discourses. Discussion of class, in particular the struggles and exclusions of those from working-class origins, is a persistent feature of media discussions. Some of these discussions involve older, more established workingclass origin theatre practitioners worrying about the chances of people like them making it in the industry today. Others reflect younger working-class origin creatives sharing stories of class-based inequalities and discriminations. These sets of working-class origin discourses are counter-posed by the persistently consistent dismissal of class issues by those, most often men, from middle-class social origins. Even where those at the top of the profession are sympathetic to class inequalities, they struggle to make changes to their institutions (Brook, O'Brien, and Taylor 2020a (in press)).

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Well-being, Values, Culture and Society

Oman

2021

New Directions in Cultural Policy Research

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This chapter looks at the relationship between culture and well-being. It introduces how the ‘the culture-well-being relationship’ is invoked in advocacy for culture’s role in social policy, resting on a philosophical lineage. It demonstrates how this relationship has been theorised, naturalised and popularised to become ‘common sense’ for some, while its use in policy has seen it institutionalised, operationalised, metricised and monetised. This chapter reviews this process through a brief survey of cultural policy, asking who decides which—or whose—culture is good for society from Victorian to contemporary cultural value debates. This chapter presents the increasing presence of well-being data in this story, as well as the role of cultural measures in national well-being data from the UK to Bhutan.

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Culture is bad for you

Cited by 170 publications

References 0 publications

Artistic careers in the cyclicality of art scenes and gentrification: symbolic capital accumulation through space in Bushwick, NYC

Artistic careers in the cyclicality of art scenes and gentrification: symbolic capital accumulation through space in Bushwick, NYC

Class and the problem of inequality in theatre

Well-being, Values, Culture and Society

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