Cultural participation in Europe: Shared problem or shared problematisation?

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Europe has a ‘problem’; it is becoming a ‘less cultural continent’ as fewer Europeans are ‘engaging in cultural activities’. This conclusion has been reached due to the findings of the latest cross national cultural participation survey. This paper questions the existence of this ‘problem’ and instead suggests that there is a shared problematisation across Europe sustained by common discursive archaeology that employs various discursive strands in relation to a dominant institutional discourse. The argument is that the ‘problem’ of ‘non-participation’ legitimates a ‘solution’ that predates its emergence: the state subsidy of arts organisations. The paper recaps the comparable problematisations that the researchers have previously identified in the policy texts of their respective countries. It progresses to consider three distinct but interwoven discursive strands upon which the problem representation in both countries, and potentially across Europe, appears to rely.
Original languageEnglish
JournalInternational Journal of Cultural Policy
Pages (from-to)1-18
Number of pages18
ISSN1028-6632
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Humanities - comparative cultural policy , cultural participation , Scottish cultural policy, Danish cultural policy, non-participation, cultural participation surveys

ID: 137056552