Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Core Module 1: Cultural Policy

How does cultural policy work? Who are the policy makers? Where does power lie in the making of decisions about cultural policy - with the many or with the few? Are there differences between forms of cultural policy in terms of how they function and what they are intended to do? These are some of the key questions that this module examines. It is concerned with not only the practice of cultural policy activities but also with the distributional effects that such policies have, and how these policies can be evaluated. Attention is paid to specific examples of cultural policy in practice - from local culture and regeneration strategies in South Korea, to national policies for supporting the Australian film industry, to the impact of UNESCO, the WTO and the European Union on national cultural policies - and students are encouraged to to develop their knowledge and understanding of cultural policies through case-studies.

Introductory reading:

E. Belfiore & O. Bennett, The Social Impact of the Arts (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)

G. Bradford et al, The Politics of Culture (New York, The New Press, 2000)

A. Briggs & P. Burke, A Social History of the Media (Cambridge, Polity, 2009)

P. Cairney, Understanding Public Policy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)

C. Gray, The Politics of the Arts in Britain (Macmillan, 2000)

S. Knell et al (Eds), National Museums ((Routledge, 2011)

J. McGuigan, Rethinking Cultural Policy (Open University Press, 2004)

M. Pyykkonen et al (Eds), What About Cultural Policy? (Helsinki, Minerva, 2009)

S. Roodhouse, Cultural Quarters (2nd Ed, Intellect, 2012)

L. Smith, Uses of Heritage (Routledge, 2006)

D. Throsby, The Economics of Cultural Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2010)

The most recent collection of essays on cultural policy in different countries is:

P. Poirrier (Ed), Pour Une Histoire des Politiques Culturelles dans le Monde 1945-2011 (La Documentation Francaise, 2011)