Symbolic Meanings of Prices: Constructing the Value of Contemporary Art in Amsterdam and New York Galleries

Velthuis, Olav

doi:10.17323/1726-3247-2008-3-33-59

Cited by 69 publications

(102 citation statements)

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“…Demand can constitute itself only when the potential purchasers can distinguish between the values of goods and the sellers can reliably demonstrate these values. The assignment of value to goods and the development of preferences are a complex affair and particularly difficult in markets such as the art market, where objective criteria, like technical standards do not exist (Velthuis 2003). In such markets the value of products depends upon symbolic assignments of value that must be constructed by market participants (Velthuis 2011).…”

Section: Ways To Look At Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing (Un)certainty in the Japanese antique art trade – how economic and social factors shape a market

Conrad

2015

Japan Forum

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And with whom and how do they cooperate? This article investigates how Japanese antique art dealers confront these issues. While offering a rich description and analysis of a hitherto understudied Japanese market, the article shows how economic and social issues are closely intertwined. It contributes to our understanding of behaviour in a Japanese market in three ways. First, it underscores how inclusion/exclusion, status, reputation, networks and hierarchies constitute a field that allows market exchanges to exist in the first place, while also channelling, and being impacted upon by these market exchanges. Secondly, contrary to neoclassical economic theory, where the idea of value has largely been abandoned, the findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between notions of value and price in the understanding of markets. Thirdly, the article shows how market actors actively shape market arrangements to address the specific challenges of their domain. In the case of the Japanese antique art market these challenges include high risks of fakes, a limited quantity of high quality material, market outsiders, and dealers with deep pockets.

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Section: Ways To Look At Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing (Un)certainty in the Japanese antique art trade – how economic and social factors shape a market

Conrad

2015

Japan Forum

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“…Observers of art dealerships (e.g., Moulin, 1987;Peterson, 1997;Plattner, 1996;Robertson and Chong, 2008;Velthuis, 2003Velthuis, , 2005 point out the irony that a dealership buys and sells works of art with the aim to make a profit, a commercial goal achieved by means of art, which is often seen as antithetical to commerce. Art dealers do not openly discuss art in terms of prices or as commodities; commercial discussions are held backstage, sotto voce.…”

Section: Changing Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Art at the crossroads: The arts in society and the sociology of art

Alexander

Bowler

2014

Poetics

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The arts face a number of challenges in the 21 st century brought about by various factors.These include rapid expansion of art markets at an international level, the impact of economic restructuring in public funding for the arts, the increasing dominance of neoliberal models of institutional and organizational success, changes in the definition of artistic work and artistic identity, and changes in the definition of audiences and new modes of arts participation in the face of technological innovations in communication technologies. In this paper, we identify and analyze six major themes central to the arts and the sociology of art: the marginalization of the arts in society and sociology, art and the state, arts institutions and organizations, artists and audiences, and issues of meaning and measurement. We argue that the arts and arts scholarship face a crossroads in the current environment. We conclude with some observations about directions for future research. Drawing inspiration from these changes in arts worlds and their implications for both the arts and arts scholarship, we explore six major themes central to the arts and the sociology of the arts in the current environment. Each of the themes-the marginalization of the arts in society and sociology, changing markets, art and the state, institutions and organizations, artists and audiences, and issues of meaning and measurement-includes observations about changes in the art world as well, as a discussion of scholarship in the area. We conclude with a discussion of directions for future research. It is our hope that this article will provide a useful overview of the state of arts scholarship at this challenging time, and suggestions for its future development. The articles in this special issue of Poetics are a contribution to that development. The marginalization of the arts in society and sociology 3The arts have occupied a marginalized position in both modern society and the discipline of sociology. Historically and today, the arts have been judged less important than other areas of study for the social sciences. As a recognized area of specialization, the sociology of art is relatively new and still developing (see below). The marginalization of art in society may be less obvious or even puzzling. After all, the arts hold an exalted, even sacred, position in society; they have the ability to confer status honor on the people who consume and possess expert knowledge about them; and expensive sales of art are reported frequently in the media. But as we demonstrate below, it is precisely this exalted status that results in the marginalization of the arts in the broader social context.The sharp, hierarchical distinction between the fine and popular arts that was drawn in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries created a dichotomous model of aesthetic objects and practices, the institutions and audiences to which they belong, and the functions or purposes they serve (DiMaggio, 1982a(DiMaggio, , 1982bLevine, 1988). 2 Put simply, the fine arts were ...

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“…In this market, assessments of value are established in interactive processes of recognition within the field of art itself. It is the recognition an artist finds among reputable and influential members of the art world, such as art critics, museum curators, galleries and collectors, that establishes the quality of his or her work (Becker 1982;Beckert and Rössel 2004;Velthuis 2003). Much the same is true of the wine market (Diaz-Bone 2005;Rössel 2007).…”

Section: The New Economic Sociologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The social order of markets

Beckert

2009

Theor Soc

359

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In this article I develop a proposal for the theoretical vantage point of the sociology of markets, focusing on the problem of the social order of markets. The initial premise is that markets are highly demanding arenas of social interaction, which can only operate if three inevitable coordination problems are resolved. I define these coordination problems as the value problem, the problem of competition and the cooperation problem. I argue that these problems can only be resolved based on stable reciprocal expectations on the part of market actors, which have their basis in the socio-structural, institutional and cultural embedding of markets. The sociology of markets aims to investigate how market action is structured by these macrostructures and to examine their dynamic processes of change. While the focus of economic sociology has been primarily on the stability of markets and the reproduction of firms, the conceptualization developed here brings change and profit motives more forcefully into the analysis. It also differs from the focus of the new economic sociology on the supply side of markets, by emphasizing the role of demand for the order of markets, especially in the discussion of the problems of valuation and cooperation.Markets are the central institutions of capitalist economies. The development of modern capitalism can be viewed as a process of the expansion of markets as mechanisms for the production and allocation of goods and services. This applies not just to labor markets, which only emerged on a significant scale with industrialization, but also to the organization of the production and distribution of consumer and investment goods, services, and commodities. The increasing separation of the economy from the household and its organization through market exchange allowed for a scope in the development in the division of labor and production of wealth that would otherwise have been unattainable.

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Symbolic Meanings of Prices: Constructing the Value of Contemporary Art in Amsterdam and New York Galleries

Cited by 69 publications

References 0 publications

Managing (Un)certainty in the Japanese antique art trade – how economic and social factors shape a market

Managing (Un)certainty in the Japanese antique art trade – how economic and social factors shape a market

Art at the crossroads: The arts in society and the sociology of art

The social order of markets

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