Impact of place on museum participation

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of place on museum participation in England. For the first time in the cultural field, we use a multilevel logistic model to examine whether place matters after accounting for individual characteristics and area level compositional factors. Our findings show that the traditional social order remains intact, although other social cleavages have become important, and that significant variation exists in museum participation simultaneously at both the neighbourhood and local authority district spatial scales. We conclude by arguing that future research into cultural consumption patterns must take account of the fact that individuals reside in different places. That individuals cluster in space, interact in these places and spaces, and that environmental forces impact on museum participation. Put simply, both theoretically and empirically, studies of cultural behaviour should take account of place, because place matters. IntroductionScholarly work in the field of cultural consumption has focussed on social position, education and other socio-demographic characteristics to explain why people are engaged or disengaged in culture (Bennett et al, 2009). While accepting and acknowledging the importance of such drivers, this paper claims that key empirical analyses of cultural consumption have largely ignored the importance of place and macro contextual forces, the range of mechanisms and the different spatial scales in which participation takes place. Consequently, we examine whether the places in which people live out their lives acts as a further cleavage in consumption behaviour. We question how important place is and whether contextual mechanisms inhibit or facilitate cultural participation. To test this hypothesis we empirically examine participation in museums and galleries using the Taking Part Survey (TPS) 2005 -2006.The aim of this paper is threefold. Firstly, after controlling for stratification and other compositional measures, we examine whether variation in museum participation still exists at the area level. Put simply, whether variation in consumption behaviour can be accounted for by place. Secondly, we determine whether this variation differs across spatial scales and is therefore indicative of different contextual process occurring. Thirdly, we examine whether place fosters or inhibits cultural behaviour and whether living in deprived areas acts as a further barrier to cultural and social exclusion. Unlike previous cultural studies, we focus on whether place matters, specifically after accounting for established individual attributes and area level compositional factors. Our findings suggest that, whilst class and education still matters most, other drivers are now salient measures of participation. However, primarily, we stress the importance

Omnivorousness in sport: The importance of social capital and networks

“…Whether gender is strongly associated with omnivorism depends upon the domain of activity selected for the analysis, as shown by the differentiated gender effects found in a number of studies (Van Eijck, 2001;Sintas and Alverez, 2002, Warde andGayo-Cal, 2009). Similarly, age effects have been contested, with some scholars suggesting that younger age cohorts are more inclined to be omnivores (Widdop and Cutts, 2012; Stichele and Laermans, 2006;Van Eijck, 2000), whilst others disagree (Warde et al, 2007;Warde and Gayo-Cal, 2009; Van Eijck et al, 2002).But apart from the odd study (Widdop and Cutts, 2012a), the existence of omnivores and other participation patterns in the sporting field have been under-researched. Moreover, if they resemble other cultural fields, what determines their existence remains a source of considerable debate.…”

“…Similarly, age effects have been contested, with some scholars suggesting that younger age cohorts are more inclined to be omnivores (Widdop and Cutts, 2012;Stichele and Laermans, 2006;Van Eijck, 2000), whilst others disagree (Warde et al, 2007;Warde and Gayo-Cal, 2009;Van Eijck et al, 2002).…”

Libraries and the geography of use: how does geography and asset “attractiveness” influence the local dimensions of cultural participation?

“…Given that the libraries with the largest usage by members and greatest use by members from other catchment areas are also amongst the most attractive, and conversely those with the lowest usage are also ranked in the least attractive, we can conclude that this is a useful approach to understanding everyday cultural participation more generally. Thus, and echoing Widdop and Cutts (2012) in this study of libraries, we have demonstrated that location is an important factor for participation. In addition, though we have shown that the availability of everyday facilities surrounding a destination provides another important influence on participation.…”

“…In analysing the impact of location on participation, we are developing from a number of recent studies which have also sought to reveal the effects of supply and proximity on participation (e.g. Brook, 2013Brook, , 2016Hooper-Greenhill, Phillips, & Woodham, 2009;Widdop & Cutts, 2012). Brook (2013) demonstrates that geographic variables (in particular accessibility) used alongside socio-demographic variables are a better predictor of attendance at Opera venues in London than using socio-demographic variables alone.…”

“…Where Brooks measured accessibility on the basis of proximity, we add measures of transport access points and routes to the geospatial variables used for assessing accessibility. Using data from the Taking Part survey, Cutts (2012 andsee 2016 for a further development of this work looking at the regional level) argue that after accounting for individual socio-demographic characteristics, "place" as a variable is significant to understanding participation in museums. In their multilevel logistic model results, they demonstrate that place matters, but they do not continue to assess what it is about a place that could cause this effect.…”