Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Theories of value
- 3 Cultural capital and sustainability
- 4 Culture in economic development
- 5 Economic aspects of cultural heritage
- 6 The economics of creativity
- 7 Cultural industries
- 8 Cultural policy
- 9 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Name index
- Subject index
3 - Cultural capital and sustainability
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Theories of value
- 3 Cultural capital and sustainability
- 4 Culture in economic development
- 5 Economic aspects of cultural heritage
- 6 The economics of creativity
- 7 Cultural industries
- 8 Cultural policy
- 9 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
Nina: the only living life is in the past and the future … the present is an interlude … strange interlude in which we call on past and future to bear witness we are living.
(Eugene O'Neill, Strange Interlude, 1927)Introduction
One means of bridging the gap between economics and culture is to propose an approach to representing cultural phenomena that captures their essential characteristics in a manner comprehensible within both an economic and a broadly cultural discourse. Such a means is provided by the concept of ‘cultural capital’. Although this term is in use in sociology to describe certain characteristics of individuals, it is gaining acceptance in economics in a somewhat different form, much closer to the ideas about capital which have long been standard in economic thought. As we shall see below, cultural capital in an economic sense can provide a means of representing culture which enables both tangible and intangible manifestations of culture to be articulated as long-lasting stores of value and providers of benefits for individuals and groups. It can be suggested that both cultural theorists and economists should be able to recognise these sorts of attributes in culture from their respective disciplinary standpoints; if so, the concept of cultural capital can provide a common basis from which the analysis of both economic and cultural aspects of cultural goods, services, behaviour and other phenomena can proceed.
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- Information
- Economics and Culture , pp. 44 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000
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